LK Advani was the BJP’s main chariot-driver whose yatra still needed Vajpayee for the last stretch. The question is — who will be Narendra Modi’s Vajpayee?
Barkha Dutt writes.
Tragedy-driven rhetoric comes easy to us; it's far tougher to create and sustain genuine respect for our soldiers, writes
Barkha Dutt.
The State has destroyed the lives of many young men by implicating them in false terror cases. But there is no policy to help them restart their lives.
Barkha Dutt writes.
Social media is not above the law. Nevertheless, a draconian IT law can't have the last word over what we write and how we think.
Barkha Dutt writes.
The middle classes are angry with politicians but don't want to take part in politics. This aversion towards politics is bad news for Arvind Kejriwal - as well as India.
Barkha Dutt writes.
Negotiation is one thing, surrender is another. But, above all, politicians must stop politicising the Maoist problem. A long-term solution is needed, writes Barkha Dutt.
We must overcome class-based discrimination to end the politics over quotas. The best way to do so would be to open the gates of private schools to poor children, writes
Barkha Dutt.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to engage with Parliament much more. The House needs to respect itself before people do the same.
Barkha Dutt writes.
India is slipping into a quicksand of anger and intolerance. This is making people express their disagreement of thought in a way that crosses the bounds of civility,
Barkha Dutt writes.
The UPA’s wounds are entirely self-inflicted. The absurd political mismanagement over the lokpal bill has led to this impasse. Barkha Dutt writes.
India's mood is negative today because of the ossification of politics. If our politicians don't reclaim their constitutional space, interlopers will take over. Barkha Dutt writes.
The hard truth is that Pakistan’s problem today is not India and the Kashmir conflict but the ‘many Pakistans’ that exist within it.
Barkha Dutt writes.
‘It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare,” wrote political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke. Barkha Dutt writes.
‘Serious sport has nothing do to with fairplay,’ wrote George Orwell in 1945, sweepingly dismissing the primal emotion that defined international sporting events as ‘orgies of hatred’. Barkha Dutt writes.
The BJP must abandon its Tiranga Yatra to Jammu and Kashmir. The fragile peace in the state must be given a chance, writes Barkha Dutt.