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Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi read English Literature at St Stephen’s College, Delhi. A civil servant and diplomat, he was Governor of West Bengal, 2004-2009. He is currently Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Ashoka University

Articles by Gopalkrishna Gandhi

A podium to speak and heal, not wound further

John F Kennedy’s Inaugural Address is made of ideas and words we can hardly believe came from where they did. Every paragraph of that speech crafted by Kennedy is of epic voltage. (Getty Images)

Updated on Apr 18, 2026 14:35 IST

Two leaplings who nearly changed India’s history

Morarji Desai was capable of doing some unexpected things.As prime minister he held secret parleys with Israel’s defence minister Moshe Dayan, in the interests of India’s security. (HT Archive)

Updated on Mar 2, 2026 15:31 IST

If clocks do not stop on Sundays, life too shouldn’t

Such a mystique hangs over that last day of the week, that it cannot be regarded as just like any other day. (PTI)

Updated on Feb 21, 2026 16:01 IST

Remembering the heroes of our resilient Republic

The Republic of India salutes the sagacity and statesmanship shown by the founders of the nation. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

Updated on Jan 26, 2026 01:49 IST

A few silver linings on the South Asian horizon

Terrorism hurts and will continue to do so. It has to be met with unequivocal force. But alongside that use of force, there has to be use of a higher force — sanity and humanity — to defeat the larger aim of terrorism, which is the deepening of fault lines, of hates and fears. (HT Archive)

Updated on Jan 10, 2026 16:50 IST

Building on the gains, reversing the decline

One of the permanent strengths that will keep us safe is Gandhi’s truth, saluting ahimsaic love unto the last human being. (HT Archive)

Updated on Dec 31, 2025 14:49 IST

A prescription for getting Delhi to breathe fine again

Enforce without remorse the retrenchment of air-polluting vehicles after a verification of their quality levels after pollution checks. These vehicles do no less damage to national safety than infiltrators. (PTI)

Updated on Dec 20, 2025 15:26 IST

Khrushchev era lessons on ceasing nuclear tests

At a time when both the US and Russia are speaking openly of giving up on all arms control and on CTBT-governed codes on nuclear testing, there can be no greater crown on President Putin’s visit than an announcement from Indian soil by the visiting dignitary that Russia will stay its option of resuming nuclear tests. (AP)

Updated on Dec 4, 2025 16:58 IST

Diplomat for difficult times, friend for all seasons

Nuance, subtle differentiation, the adjudication of the competing claims of importance, urgency and immediacy were Raghavan’s forte

Updated on Nov 28, 2025 16:52 IST

His noble soul remains country’s inner monitor

The Statue of Unity.

Updated on Oct 31, 2025 01:30 IST

Today’s nuclear world needs Gandhi’s values

Today, nine countries in the world stock between them a total of 12,331 nuclear warheads. (HT Archive)

Updated on Oct 1, 2025 15:29 IST

An age for introspection, reflection and gratitude

For an Indian with public responsibilities, crossing the average life expectancy at birth and reaching the diamond jubilee of 75 years, must lead to introspection, atma vichara , and to unadvertised acts of self-abnegation. (@NarendraModi via PTI)

Updated on Sep 16, 2025 14:52 IST

An Independence Day message from Red Fort

Red Fort has witnessed the fabric of India’s social cohesion being torn, shredded repeatedly, only to see it becoming whole again. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Updated on Aug 14, 2025 15:14 IST

Consequences if Yemen executes Nimisha Priya

Should India consider getting all Indian nationals still remaining in that part of Yemen – said to be a few thousand – back ? Whether it hurts Yemen or not, the point would have been made that India does not trust the safety of its nationals there (Shutterstock)

Updated on Jul 22, 2025 15:04 IST

When India was turned into a vast prison house

Jayaprakash Narayan, as he was being taken to jail, is said to have remarked vinasha kaale vipareeta buddhi. (HT Archive)

Updated on Jun 21, 2025 14:49 IST

Organic intelligence in the time of artificial intelligence

AI should neither be worshipped as a new God nor be viewed in terror as Faustian. It should be kept in its place. (Bloomberg)

Updated on May 17, 2025 13:32 IST

After Pahalgam, a nation united in battling terror

There is something very important in this preparedness we must remind ourselves at all times: Readiness for war is one thing, the mongering of war quite another (Hindustan Times)

Updated on Apr 26, 2025 14:31 IST

We, the people; neither free of fear nor fearless

Rabindranath Tagore’s great pre-independence song, Chitto jetha bhoyshunno (Where the mind is without fear), today holds hope for us, the brave and good people of India. (Indian Consulate in Seattle)

Updated on Mar 21, 2025 14:21 IST

For politics which runs without fear or favour

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor speaks during the Kerala Legislative Assembly International Book Festival, in Thiruvananthapuram, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (PTI Photo)(PTI01_08_2025_000133B) (PTI)

Updated on Feb 19, 2025 14:40 IST

The Republic’s journey so far, the journey ahead

Children perform during the rehearsals for the country's upcoming Republic Day parade in Amritsar on January 24, 2025. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP) (AFP)

Updated on Jan 25, 2025 14:26 IST

The right choices for a world at the crossroads

TOPSHOT - This picture taken from Gaza City shows smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in the north of the Palestinian territory on December 29, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) (AFP)

Updated on Dec 31, 2024 14:31 IST

Prime minister, great economist, a greater ethicist

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during an executive session on the second day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at the Hyatt Hotel on November 28, 2009 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad And Tobago. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Updated on Dec 27, 2024 15:35 IST

The need to protect the sanctity of the Preamble

The Constitution was sufficiently secular in spirit and socialist in direction without the Preamble saying that in as many words

Updated on Dec 7, 2024 14:38 IST

Silence on portents of a global conflict

TOPSHOT - Palestinians warm by the fire in the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 16, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Updated on Nov 17, 2024 16:10 IST

In Gaza and Beirut, the echoes of a tragic past

A boy sits next to a mattress and blankets with other children in the yard of the Shuhada (Martyrs) school, which was hit by Israeli bombardment, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on October 24, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) (AFP)

Updated on Oct 26, 2024 15:06 IST

Listening to the inner voice for inner peace

31 October 1974 - Jayaprakash Narayan Addressing a Rally - HT Photo by Rane Prakash.

Updated on Sep 23, 2024 15:33 IST

HT@100 | India’s conscience keeper

Mahatma Gandhi and Ghanshyam Das Birla (left) leave for London to attend the Second Round Table Conference in 1931. GD Birla became a majority shareholder of Hindustan Times after it became a Limited Liability Company in 1927.

Updated on Sep 21, 2024 19:53 IST

Of freedoms gained, lost, and gained again

TOPSHOT - An aerial view shows school students carrying a large Indian national flag on a road during the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign on the eve of the country's Independence Day celebrations in Vijayawada on August 14, 2024. (Photo by Idrees MOHAMMED / AFP) (AFP)

Updated on Aug 14, 2024 15:44 IST

The dangers of breaching parliamentary propriety

The Parliament House in New Delhi, India, on Monday, June 24, 2024. Photographer: Prakash Singh/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

Updated on Aug 3, 2024 16:00 IST

Two young girls, from Gurugram and Hathras

FILE PHOTO: Relatives mourn the death of stampede victims in Daunkeli village, Hathras district, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, July 3, 2024. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo (REUTERS)

Updated on Jul 11, 2024 15:37 IST

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