Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Punjab faces many mortal threats. For most of these the people of Punjab are themselves responsible. And unless they take a brutal hard look within, their future generations have to be resigned to continue living with this constant slide, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'You can presume that Modi and his party will now focus on the economy.' 'But then, there is the Jharkhand election next month, Delhi soon thereafter and so on.' 'And this isn't a political leadership that takes even a panchayat election lightly,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
It is in no way a government of the economic Right. The Right is limited to religion and nationalism. The rest is as Left as the Congress or any other party, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Any Indian government at this juncture would have voted and spoken exactly this way. It isn't just about the vast Indian dependence on Russian-origin military equipment. It is also about trust, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
With betting in Indian Premiere League tournament estimated to be around Rs 66,000 crore business, Central Bureau of investigation Director Ranjit Sinha today said there is no harm in legalising betting as there was no point in a ban which cannot be enforced.
Parekh says drafting new I-T law is hindered by the lack of experience.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Now we do not know if the Board bugs the dressing room or employs Pegasus in players' phones. But nothing stopped them from speaking with Kohli, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Modi-Shah have understood the risks their cynical mixing of domestic political motivations with strategic national interests was soon going to become counterproductive asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The Modi government's defeat on farm laws underlines the perils of governing an entire continent-sized, diverse and federal nation like the chief minister of a state, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'This army has lost Pakistan's territory, ideology, financial and intellectual capital, ruined its institutions, democracy, the respect for its passport and, like it or not, reduced its status to a globally acknowledged university of jihad,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Delhi's air is a desperate problem, but some of the solutions have been too desperate and unthinking.
'Too much energy these three years has been invested in turning the party into an election-winning machine.' 'To recover its mojo, the Modi government needs a more impressive set of economic figures to flaunt,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Will the age of majority be decided on a case-by-case basis by judges?' 'Does a 24-year-old woman still need "care, protection and guidance" and only from parents?' 'Is a Facebook post enough to declare a person a dangerous radical?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
The strategic success of the surgical strikes has not matched their brilliant tactical achievement, says Shekhar Gupta.
If the BJP wins by getting Hindu voters to consolidate, its opponents can't beat it by bundling together the Muslims and some of the 'others', observes Shekhar Gupta.
The BJP believes that the only party still capable of leading a credible challenge against it is the Congress. Please note how BJP campaigners in states where the Congress may count for a cipher or thereabouts, mostly attack the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh shocked world number 5 Fabiano Caruana as India 'B' pulled off a superb 3-1 win over number 2 seeds USA in the eighth round of the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai on Saturday.
'And Indians are loving it,' says Shekhar Gupta.
With the Indian teams doing well so far, they can run into one another in the competition.
India's most powerful prime minister in five decades gets publicly admonished -- if gently -- by the US vice-president. The question is, would this make him reflect on how and why, or which ones of his government and party's missteps exposed his flank like this? asks Shekhar Gupta.
AFSPA can be safely lifted from almost 90 per cent of Nagaland, argues Shekhar Gupta.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, gave a week time to all the states to submit their brief note of submissions after some of them sought time.
Even a doomsayer like Nouriel Roubini says India is in a sweet spot. If only we'd live up to the promise, says Shekhar Gupta.
That's how our politics is with no inner-party democracy. That's why we should listen to British MP Hilary Benn's speech, says Shekhar Gupta.
The BJP expelled Vinod Arya and his son from the party, a day after the leader's another son was arrested in the murder case of a woman receptionist at a resort in Uttarakhand's Pauri.
Irrespective of their voting preferences, most voters would find this comparison with ISIS revolting. More specifically, would it persuade anybody who voted for Narendra Modi to change her or his mind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Stories of rural India, campus capers, realistic family dramas and urban romance that are no longer picked up by film-makers, find their way to the Web, and the viewing experience is richer for the variety available.
Why should an elected government, any party's government, need a law to protect itself from its people? asks Shekhar Gupta.
For some, he's a bully and probable 'blackmailer' who targeted the rich and famous, especially in Bollywood, for fame, and allegedly, ransom. For others, he's finally the one brave narc who decided to do his job, no matter how powerful his quarry, observes Shekhar Gupta.
If the Taliban have proved one thing over these two decades, it is that they are way smarter than their big brother, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Budget 2018 bears imprints of a government unsure of second term with clear majority, says Shekhar Gupta.
We understand the electoral compulsions, the desperate need for the BJP to have at least 50 per cent of the Hindus vote for them in Uttar Pradesh in a few months. For that, you need polarisation, put your own Muslim compatriots on the 'other' side. This is how your domestic politics runs contrary to your national, strategic interest, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'While I am personally pained at the raids on Dr Roy's home, I want to ask five questions of those crying themselves hoarse over the attack on the "freedom of the press",' says Sudhir Bisht.
You aren't dealing with a normal, civilised, law. The NDPS Act, in its preconditions for bail, and insistence on evidence of innocence rather than guilt, is worse than UAPA. Imagine yourself or your child at the other end of this, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Speaking with Shekhar Gupta, the Editor-in-Chief and Chairman of The Print, on his Off The Cuff show, the former soldier and two-time chief minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh expressed 'personal' hurt over the way the Gandhis treated him and asked for his resignation.
'How long can you lead a life like this?'
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