(The article was originally published by The Daily Star on May 12, 2023 . Views expressed are personal.) This confluence of two mighty oceans connected by the Straits of Malacca has become the most happening region in the world in the 21st century. Indo-Pacific is the flavour of the season. With the emergence of the Quadrilateral […]
Articles
Building a partnership of equals with the US
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on May 6, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) During a recent visit to an East Asian country, I had the opportunity to meet a senior minister who asked me an interesting question: “Will India lead us?” […]
All NCERT has done is present the facts about Gandhi’s assassination
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on April 22, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) It was afternoon time on December 23, 1926, in Delhi. Swami Shraddhanand, a senior Congress leader and a colleague of Gandhi, had just returned from a long trip […]
The Caste Conundrum
(The article was originally published by OPEN Magazine on April 16, 2023 . Views expressed are personal.) BR Ambedkar insisted that wherever Indians go, caste follows. It may not be completely untrue. Over centuries, caste has got deeply entrenched in the Indian psyche. It is also true that some sort of a caste identity pervades […]
Maps that deceive
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on April 8, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) “ALL WARFARE is based on deception”, Sun Tzu, the famed Chinese military strategist averred in his treatise. Deception is integral to the Chinese leadership’s machinations. India has been […]
Tension in Indo-Pacific and Russia-Ukraine conflict are symptoms of an emerging global disorder
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on March 25, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) At the height of tensions between the US and China over the South China Sea, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in […]
Don’t Cry For Democracy
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on March 11, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) Fareed Zakaria argues in Future of Freedom that democracies are hardly perfect and while there are many illiberal democracies, there are some that are excessively liberal. India is […]
Questions on Seattle
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on February 25, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) THE UNITED STATES of America is variously described as an “idea”, a “dream” or “a land of opportunities”. The American dream has attracted millions from across the world […]
The Road to India 2047
(The article was originally published in OPEN Magazine on February 22, 2023. Views expressed are personal.) “Jamsetji Tata was more than an industrialist—he was a nationalist with a fervour to see India ranked among the great nations of the world,” the Tata Group’s website proudly proclaims. It was this passion that drove the group from […]
How Pakistan can fix itself
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on February 11, 2023 as a part of Dr Madhav’s bi-weekly column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.) “We will eat grass, even go hungry,” Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as foreign minister in Ayub Khan’s government in Pakistan, famously declared in 1964, insisting that his country would […]