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Chanakya

Chanakya

History has an uncanny way of intruding into contemporary life and shaping our public conversation. A new controversy emerged recently over the relationship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose.

Articles by Chanakya

Could India have handled President Trump better?

The Indian political and street mood is now, justifiably, furious at how the country has been treated by the US even as everyone realises the importance of that country and the bilateral relationship. (PTI)

Updated on Aug 17, 2025 01:34 pm IST

Exit polls have spoken; electors will on Tuesday

Patna, Bihar, India -May .01, 2024: Polling officials during submission of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and other election materials after the end of the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha election at A.N. College in Patna, Bihar, India, Saturday,01, 2024. (Photo by Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Published on Jun 02, 2024 12:05 am IST

On election eve, a tale of two BJPs 20 years apart

India�s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) waves to his supporters from atop a vehicle during a road show as part of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) election campaign ahead of national elections in Hyderabad on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Noah SEELAM / AFP)(AFP)

Published on Mar 16, 2024 11:34 pm IST

Revival of the NDA, on terms set by BJP

BJP supporters at a rally in Varanasi. (HT Photo)

Published on Mar 10, 2024 01:47 am IST

The many promises and challenges of new India

New Delhi, Feb 7 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi replies to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha during the Interim Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo/SansadTV)(ANI)

Published on Feb 10, 2024 10:00 pm IST

What the temple says about the new India

A grand Ram Temple was inaugurated in Ayodhya on January 22. (HT photo)

Published on Feb 03, 2024 10:17 pm IST

Twin transitions in the Bharatiya Janata Party

BJP workers celebrate party's victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. (HT Photo)

Published on Dec 16, 2023 10:15 pm IST

When Mandal 2.0 gets to confront Hindutva

The implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations was among the most polarising moments in post-independent India. (HT)

Published on Oct 07, 2023 10:00 pm IST

How inflation may play out in the 2024 elections

The government has been battling high retail inflation and vegetable prices in the country rose by a whopping 37.34% in July. (PTI)

Published on Aug 26, 2023 10:21 pm IST

India’s economy can scale new highs. Here’s a plan

India will need to generate mass employment that guarantees a base minimum income.(HT Archive)

Published on Jul 29, 2023 08:54 pm IST

BJP moves to rebuild NDA ahead of 2024

In the past week, the BJP engineered a split in Maharashtra’s largest regional party, the Nationalist Congress Party,(ANI)

Published on Jul 09, 2023 09:54 am IST

India-US relationship takes a leap of trust

Biden, who got elected to the US Senate in the early 1970s in his late 20s, and Modi, who joined a political-cultural movement in the 1960s in his teens, trusted their experience and instincts. (President Biden Twitter)

Published on Jun 24, 2023 08:24 pm IST

Signals from the south for next round of polls

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar along with Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and former state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah holds hands during their visit to Sri Chamundeshwari Temple, Mysuru, (ANI)

Updated on May 20, 2023 07:45 pm IST

The myth and reality of the SCO grouping

Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Zhang Ming, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Russain defence minister Sergei Shoigu before the start of the SCO meet in New Delhi,(REUTERS)

Published on Apr 29, 2023 08:40 pm IST

How the Karnataka elections may play out

The state of 61 million people, born by piecing together four distinct British-era provinces, encapsulates a bouquet of drastic shifts in political equations in each of its six regions, granular caste-based voting patterns, and diverse language and faith dynamics. (Arijit Sen/HT Photo/Representative Image)

Published on Apr 09, 2023 03:36 pm IST

Can a regional front put up a credible challenge to BJP?

For electoral success, it may be more prudent to look beyond the fog of Opposition unity to the head-to-head contests between the BJP and the Congress. Unless there is a perceptible shift in the dynamics of those seats, 2024 will be a tough battle for India’s Opposition. (HT Photo)

Published on Mar 25, 2023 07:22 pm IST

Decoding India’s economy and its impact on politics

At a time when government food stocks are running low, wheat inflation is trending above 20% and rural demand is going to be a key pillar of support for the economy, a sub-par crop will hurt. Then there is the threat of the 2023 monsoon being weak because of El Nino conditions. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo)

Published on Mar 04, 2023 06:53 pm IST

A year later, the Ukraine war changes the world

Spy Balloons In Ukraine: A Ukrainian national flag flutters near the buildings destroyed by Russian military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the town of Borodianka, in Kyiv.(Reuters)

Published on Feb 18, 2023 06:04 pm IST

The election of an Opposition in Gujarat

For the BJP, this dilemma of the Opposition voter has three possible political implications. In the immediate context, it can split votes and add to the BJP’s strength, though the AAP’s ability to also take away a segment of the traditional BJP votes is a matter of a concern for the party. In the medium-term, it throws up a viable state-level alternative to voters. And in the larger national theatre, it can reinforce the AAP and Kejriwal as a potential national challenger (AP)

Updated on Dec 03, 2022 09:02 pm IST

In the Gujarat of 2022, a triangular electoral battle

The BJP enters the race as the favourite. It has excellent ties with large community groups in the state, a stable government and a record of bringing big-ticket industrial projects to the state. (PTI/Representative Image)

Published on Nov 06, 2022 02:20 pm IST

The road ahead for the next Congress president

The Congress planned this election as a showcase of its robust internal democracy as part of its initiative to simultaneously revamp both its organisation and grassroots connect in a bid to rejuvenate its cadre, dispirited after a string of brutal electoral reverses.

Published on Oct 15, 2022 08:07 pm IST

Halfway through 2022-23, the economy’s report card

If food security has worked to India’s advantage, then energy insecurity could work to its disadvantage, throwing budgetary math out of gear, and reviving inflationary fears. (Keshav Singh/HT Photo)

Published on Sept 17, 2022 08:05 pm IST

Behind the exodus from India’s Grand Old Party

In two national elections now, the Indian electorate has decisively rejected Gandhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Published on Aug 27, 2022 08:06 pm IST

Five questions which we must answer on freebies

State governments, especially ones ruled by non-BJP parties are increasingly finding it difficult to counter the BJP’s narrative of “double-engine” growth, which seeks to usurp the Opposition’s voter base by evoking the welfare programmes of the Centre. (HT Photo)

Published on Jul 30, 2022 07:55 pm IST

From Colombo, some lessons for South Asia

Sri Lanka has entered a new phase. If the war ended in 2009, the post-war phase has ended in 2022. What comes next is unclear, but economics, not ethnicity will define its future. Colombo must convert the crisis into an opportunity. And the world must help (AP)

Updated on Jul 16, 2022 07:53 pm IST

The genesis of the electoral and ideological crisis in the Sena

Despite the fluidity in the political situation now, it is certain that Sena’s attrition will transform Maharashtra’s politics. The benefactor is the BJP, which has not only avenged its humiliation post the 2019 polls but has emerged as the de-facto Hindutva mainstay in the state(PTI)

Updated on Jun 25, 2022 09:00 pm IST

What Rajya Sabha polls tell us about Indian politics

With 57 members either newly elected or returning to the House, the Rajya Sabha may wish to reflect on how to make the institution more effective in meeting the original constitutional vision. (HT Photo)

Published on Jun 11, 2022 08:29 pm IST

In a charged UP, why 2022 may be different from 1992

Though the new disputes may not be as important to the BJP, they keep the pot boiling and give the more extreme elements of its coalition an ideological goal at a time of increasing economic distress. (PTI)

Updated on May 14, 2022 06:24 pm IST

Centre-state ties: A new federal compact is key

When it comes to the issue of fuel price rise, which is politically contentious with huge inflationary consequences, non-BJP ruled states believe they have little room to cut duties while the Centre believes it has done its bit and would like states to act. (HT Photo)

Updated on Apr 30, 2022 06:22 pm IST

The next steps in the India-US partnership

The US must continue to show the maturity it displayed last week. It must rein in voices that believe threatening India with consequences can change Indian behaviour. And it must show India how it can help meet Indian interests more effectively. (PTI)

Published on Apr 16, 2022 07:50 pm IST

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