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Outlook
A Pandora's Box
Manipur is going through one of its worst moments
5 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
Death Will Follow
This is a work of fiction. The author wrote it as an entry for an annual crime writers' short-story competition, hoping it would make at least the longlist
7 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
The Fiery Himanta
“EVERY woman will receive benefits from the Orunodoi scheme if you vote the BJP back to power,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma declared at a public meeting in March, just before transferring Rs 9,000 under his government’s flagship welfare scheme, barely a month before elections were announced in Assam.
2 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
Maverick Vijay
On the last day of campaigning for the Tamil Nadu election, actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay was scheduled to address a public meeting at the YMCA Ground in Chennai.
2 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
One-Party System
It is difficult to predict whether the political order shaped by the BJP will endure as long as the Congress system did
2 min |
May 25, 2026
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Piggybacking Politics
Due to numerical weakness, regional parties in Assam always ended up providing significant support to national parties but could seldom emerge on their own
5 min |
May 25, 2026
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All Fall Down
The march of the saffron party has been relentless in the East. It has moved through the cracks left behind by ageing regional satraps, turning every faultline into a foothold
10 min |
May 25, 2026
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The Algebra of Expansion
The emerging political order reflects a form of federalism in which regional voices still matter-but national priorities will prevail
6 min |
May 25, 2026
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Southern Discomfiture
The recent election results in Kerala suggest that a crack may be emerging in the state's long-standing political pattern
8 min |
May 25, 2026
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Declawing the Tiger
The Bharatiya Janata Party didn't just defeat the Shiv Sena; they dismantled it from within
5 min |
May 25, 2026
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Experiencing the Bodhisattva
Sangha Tales captures the contemporary perception of Buddhism in India. It gives a real-time ethnographic coverage of Buddhism being shaped beyond the sectarian conflicts of various yanas
5 min |
May 25, 2026
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The Single Pole OF POWER
Regional strongholds are turning into besieged fortresses, facing the relentless advance of the BJP with the ambition and machinery to ocupy the national centre almost alone
9 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
The Great SHIFT
If you board a train from Haryana to Howrah, you will pass through five Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled regions—Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
1 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
Paradigm Shift
The drift towards national parties, with the Congress as the distant competitor of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is quite evident today
5 min |
May 25, 2026
Outlook
Come As You Are
He sits down across the kitchen dining table. He has just moved the dining plates from his kids—some broccoli still on the plates—into the dishwasher.
3 min |
May 25, 2026
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Beyond Regionalism
At the systemic level, the BJP is not just defeating regional parties; it is redefining their space and narrowing their horizons unless they adapt structurally and culturally
6 min |
May 25, 2026
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The Street Fighter
FOR West Bengal’s new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, politics was always an exercise in establishing presence.
2 min |
May 25, 2026
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Maach, Muri, Manush
While disputes around the legitimacy of 27 lakh voters remain unsolved, filmy heroism, comic relief, barbs and jibes added colour to the tainted West Bengal elections
8 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
The Width of the Gulf
The Iran crisis has exposed the fragility of the Gulf's traditional security paradigm while forcing its states to confront a more complex and uncertain strategic environment
4 min |
May 11, 2026
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Samadharma 2.0
This election will test the strength of the 'Dravidian Model' in Tamil Nadu
4 min |
May 11, 2026
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Broadcasting Without Rules
While critics say the prime minister's recent televised address to the nation violated the poll code, is there a need to address the deeper structural gaps in the airspace framework?
5 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
The Final Countdown
THE longest and toughest fight in the four states and a union territory that went to polls in this blistering hot poll season has been in West Bengal.
2 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
Where so Few of Us Women
THE conversation about improving women's political representation in India has been going on for years.
2 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
House Full
From Bill burning, to a star debuting in the political arena and the tussle with the Centre, the precursor to the Tamil Nadu elections was full of drama. Will the climax be as dramatic?
7 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
HALF THE SKY
IN a state still fractured by conflict, Nemcha Kipgen's elevation to Deputy Chief Minister reflects the uneasy politics of navigating both power and grievance.
10+ min |
May 11, 2026
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Derided We Fall
The deeper concern is not about Pakistan's diplomatic ambitions, but about our own interpretive habits
5 min |
May 11, 2026
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The Merchant of Images
Raghu Rai, the pioneer of photojournalism in India, had a way of bringing out the soul of a picture
1 min |
May 11, 2026
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While Women Lead
Women voters may not have stood in front rows in election rallies, but they were at the centre this election. Their centrality to Tamil Nadu's political story did not begin today
5 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
To Make Bengal Great Again
It sounds unreal that in the 18th century Murshidabad accounted for five per cent of world trade. Today, it is one of West Bengal's poorest districts. That's the story of the state missing in these elections
9 min |
May 11, 2026
Outlook
A Persistent Unrest
Nearly three years since ethnic violence first tore through Manipur, the casualties and the cumulative toll of conflict keep accumulating. Even as the current political climate in India continues to be defined by the reverberations in mainstream poll-bound states, in Manipur, peace appears to have adopted the form of a managed illusion: one that is brittle, fragile and heavily policed
5 min |