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
Turkey, Syria and the real threat beneath India’s feet
India, which has the Indian Plate pressing onto the Eurasian Plate, which sculpted the Himalayas by colliding, has a similar razor’s edge right along the great Himalayan arc
Updated on Feb 16, 2023 07:57 PM IST
In his death, Gandhi joined a mortal act to an immortalisation
As the rest of India hailed Independence, Gandhi mourned its division. This year marks 75 years of a mortal act that led to an immortalisation. May Gandhi’s ideals always remain a guiding light on the power of ahimsa
Updated on Jan 30, 2023 08:34 AM IST
Ode to a remarkable era of cartoonists, and their ideals
Cartoons can pack a power punch that can bore a tunnel through sanctimony, vileness, and folly among the powerful. This is the legacy of several remarkable cartoonists that we must remember as we mark Republic Day.
Updated on Jan 21, 2023 07:43 PM IST
A call to treat India’s prisoners fairly and humanely
A Madras HC ruling to amend prison rules in accordance with global guidelines is admirable and may bestow prisoners with a life of dignity. This is an urgent need for India’s 550,000-plus prisoners, especially as most of them aren’t even convicts
Updated on Jan 16, 2023 01:11 PM IST
A message from Gandhi to a very troubled world
A bust of the Mahatma will be installed at the headquarters of the United Nations on December 14, affirming his global legacy of truth and non-violence.
Updated on Dec 10, 2022 07:49 PM IST
Dadabhai Naoroji, a leader who served India and Britain
This year, 2022, marks the 130th anniversary of the election, in 1892, of the first person of Indian origin to the House of Commons.
Updated on Nov 05, 2022 11:33 PM IST
Crafting an ethical mode of governance for India
Gopalkrishna Gandhi outlines his vision for an India@100 that places ethics at the core of its governance
Published on Oct 29, 2022 08:30 PM IST
S Radhakrishnan: A man of egoless impartiality
Constitutional authorities should be impartial guardians, capable of standing apart from the government if need be. Who or what determines that “need be”?
Updated on Sep 09, 2022 07:44 PM IST
The scorching truth of Rushdie’s ordeal
The attack on author Salman Rushdie results from judgment blinded by intolerance. We need honesty to see that the greats of history apart, it is innocents who will suffer if intolerance is not stopped from becoming violent
Updated on Aug 14, 2022 07:13 PM IST
Double trouble that haunts me during nighttime reading
Every night, these last few nights, as I settle down to my mandatory bedtime reading, a mosquito appears. And so does my ‘Covid-worry’.
Published on Jul 18, 2022 09:50 PM IST
We owe our freedom to the salt of our earth
This jubilee year, this year of collective recalling and celebrating, is, therefore, not just about the leaders but about those who made the leaders, powered the movements, gave the struggle its voltage, velocity and — victory
Updated on Jun 28, 2022 10:07 PM IST
India must protect its own ‘Antarcticas’ too
By enacting this The Indian Antarctic Bill, India gives itself the moral right to tell the world that its policy towards the earth’s only non-human continent should be: Respectful distance
Updated on May 13, 2022 05:50 PM IST
100 years ago, a movement of Hindu-Muslim oneness
The Khilafat movement’s leaders, the brothers Maulanas Mahomed Ali and Shaukat Ali, with Gandhi’s lead brought his ideal of Hindu-Muslim unity to near-fruition
_1649429229758_1649429263639.jpg "Zuleikha’s grave is in Kolkata (in photo), her husband’s, Abul Kalam Azad’s, in Delhi. Distance separates them, faith in the destiny of India clasps them in love. (Wikimedia Commons)")
Published on Apr 08, 2022 08:19 PM IST
An inspiring statement of honesty and courage
Ashish Jha’s statements as Biden’s new Covid-19 response coordinator comes from a keenness to own mistakes on a road that is rough, to learn from them, and to correct them
Published on Mar 25, 2022 07:28 PM IST
Another Lata will not be born again
There’s no one the singer admired more than Mahatma Gandhi for the love he bore for everyone
Published on Feb 06, 2022 08:41 PM IST
Abide With Me must continue
For five decades, the 1847 composition has been Beating Retreat’s heartbeat. It is deeply soothing and healing in its quiet impact. Without the song, the ceremony will lose something at its heart
Updated on Jan 23, 2022 09:18 PM IST
South Africa’s Parliament will rise from its ashes
Whatever be the cause of the fire, the old National Assembly building is now to be spoken of in the past tense – an unbelievable thing
Updated on Jan 06, 2022 07:57 PM IST
Vajpayee: The BJP’s star, and his own person
He had a ghar — the BJS and then the BJP, in which he resided with several others. But he also had a gharana — of which he was the creator, the practitioner, of which he was the sole occupant
Updated on Dec 24, 2021 08:27 PM IST
In an era of diminishing expectations, the judiciary gives hope
Judges can miss the chance to intervene decisively. For now, however, the rise in diminishing expectations has been given a pause by the judiciary
Updated on Nov 23, 2021 09:13 PM IST
Gandhi’s two lieutenants: Panditji and the Sardar
Let no one suggest that Nehru and Patel weren’t different or didn’t differ. But let no one deny that they overcame those differences for the majesty of India
Updated on Oct 31, 2021 12:45 PM IST
A civilisational triumph for a newly independent country
Held between October 1951 and February 1952, the first election was a carnival of celebration, a festival of avowal, a rite of anointment by the people of India of the great cast of the theatre of Swaraj
Updated on Oct 25, 2021 12:00 PM IST
The frolic, gentle, and sharp Keshav Desiraju
Keshav Desiraju, who died suddenly after a few hours’ struggle with a collapsing heart on Sunday, September 5, epitomised all that was “frolic and gentle”. Laughter came to him like a breeze on a mountain top, as did jokes at the expense of their subjects but never of taste
Updated on Sep 08, 2021 05:56 PM IST
From India, a note of concern about South Africa
That Nelson Mandela’s rainbow nation should have to experience a dance of death with fire — spewed from petrol bombs — being its chosen weapon, is not something that the world expected
Updated on Aug 16, 2021 05:00 PM IST
Four deaths, the right to life, and the Jayaprakash Principle
The government’s prerogative to prosecute is not to be questioned. Nor the court’s to punish. But this much can and needs to be said: No undertrial or convict should be rendered vulnerable and susceptible to disease or morbidity with the condition reaching the point of becoming fatal. He or she must, on sickness being verified, get medical aid promptly and professionally with the prospect of supervised release.
Updated on Jul 20, 2021 07:19 AM IST
The architecture of India’s governance
Form, trust, mutual respect constitute the bedrock of the politician-civil servant relationship. Sardar Patel understood it
Published on Jun 13, 2021 07:54 PM IST
In search of today’s community leaders
Unless community leaders speak up, we will not be able to prevent a third and a fourth and more waves, each deadlier than the one before
Updated on May 17, 2021 07:50 AM IST
An open letter to farmers: Suspend your agitation
I have this appeal to make to you, great farming-soldiers, soldier-farmers: Recognising the peril of the virus and the grim fact that your agitation is unwittingly fuelling the virus, please suspend your agitation now, says Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Published on Apr 22, 2021 05:36 PM IST
Elections and violence do not make Bengal; its history and people do
Bengal is bigger, much bigger, than this small tumour of violence in its life and its people are greater, infinitely greater than the unseemly, untypical and unwelcome “goons” who hide within the crevices of its society
Updated on Apr 15, 2021 07:01 AM IST
How we the people are responsible for the spread of the virus
Can the authorities who are serious about supporting the vaccination roll-out with a compliance roll-in, consider three urgent suggestions?
Updated on Mar 11, 2021 06:42 AM IST
The monetisation and dramatisation of TN’s politics
In the years to come, the state may well witness a battle between a splintered Dravidian movement and resurgent Hindutva
Published on Feb 12, 2021 08:29 PM IST
