Shekhar Gupta

Why the Sikhs are hurting

The causes of anger are broadly four: Existential threat, incarceration of Bandi Singhs, those accused of sacrilege not being caught, and a rhetorical one, what's wrong with a Sikh Rashtra?

Conglomerates, cronyism, brandless growth

It's good that cronyism is being debated robustly. But the much bigger failure of incredibly powerful, rich and successful conglomerates - Adani, Ambani, Tata- lies in India's fully brand-free growth

Finding Nellie's smoking gun

How a policeman's wireless message that could have saved 3,000 lives, but was ignored and covered up, was uncovered

RSS, power & pitfalls

The Sangh is the most powerful it's ever been in its history. At the same time, one could also argue that it has never been so weak. How do we resolve that contradiction?

How Roys walked the talk

As the Roys have shown, dignity in the newsroom and respect for facts are the best equity in today's news bazaar. It's with this satisfaction that they must walk away, leaving NDTV in new hands

Territory China is after

The issue isn't land. But the pity is that the larger political, strategic and geopolitical debate India needs, its broken democracy isn't ready for

Three polls, three parties, three outcomes

In the shadow of their triumphs, the limitations of the Modi magic outside Gujarat, and of Kejriwal beyond Delhi, have been exposed

Victory in the mirror: Has India really found its sweet spot?

India has much to be proud of and celebrate. But there is also much that is wrong, much that looks dangerous, and much that reminds us of the perils of declaring victory too soon

SC verdict on hijab: A lose-lose battle

India's hijab supporters will lose even if they win the Supreme Court battle. Because the real war is fought in politics

From Rajpath to Kartavya Path: Modi's predictable path

His emphasis on kartavya or duties throws the ball in the citizen's court and is central to his political proposition. This is something he has been writing and saying since he took power

Tiranga vs Tiranga

India's most audacious new party has joined the battle with Modi, freebies and nationalism. The latter is more visible. So they will match it, Tiranga for Tiranga, slogan for slogan, tweet for tweet

Taking on Modi's BJP

The future challenger to Narendra Modi would be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups

Sack of the Hindu caravan

Not just Congress but all 'secular' parties like SP, RJD and BSP, which are frustrated with current arrangement under the Modi-Shah BJP, need to answer one question: How did you lose your Hindu vote?

Agnipath, fire and misfire

Modi govt's biggest flaw has been its disinclination to accept limitations of electoral majorities. This ruined land acquisition and farm reform, and stalled labour codes

The great damager

Dictator Musharraf badly damaged Pakistan: Assassination of Benazir, 26/11 attacks in India and the US Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama in Abbottabad. But he believed he was a democrat

Small state, big brother

Assam-Mizoram violence is an outcome of BJP trying too hard to 'integrate' distinct northeastern states. This has unleashed latent regionalism

Best of BS Opinion: Central Vista project, Covid-19 crisis, and more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Saturday

Shekhar Gupta: Indian judiciary and law of Habeas Porcus

It's the prime responsibility of judiciary to ensure our liberty and habeas corpus is the usual route. But 'bail, not jail' is being murdered and cremated routinely

Shekhar Gupta: Politics takes economic turn

New ideological battle lines have been drawn in Indian politics and they're on economic terrain. It is change for good

Best of BS Opinion: Banking's game of pretend, Japanese biz custom & more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day