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Aakar Patel

Aakar Patel

The Times of India

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What global indices say about the state of the nation

15.12.2024 50

National Herald

Aakar Patel

A sense of where India stands

The stunning victory of Donald Trump has sharpened focus on America’s relationship with its only peer competitor, China. Eight years ago, Trump had...

01.12.2024 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

What moral right does India have to lecture Bangladesh?

"What are your thoughts about atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh?” Before I could react, Uncleji took a swipe at me: “Secular Indians like...

15.09.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Inaction hurts people: Jawhar Sircar

The month-long movement for justice in West Bengal, led by students, women and civil society, has been a battle cry for change. The protestors have...

15.09.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Ideology out, convenience in

What is today India’s dominant political force, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has had a history of putting a pause on its ideology for political...

15.09.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Bad news for India’s Muslims

Notwithstanding the rose-tinted optics of his visit to Brunei, Narendra Modi’s third term as prime minister is more ‘through a lens darkly’ for...

14.09.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

From non-alignment to 'none'-alignment?

India is going through another great Renaissance, as ordained by a gentleman whose own educational qualifications are shrouded in doubt and about...

14.09.2024 5

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Transparency on trial: The case against Madhabi Puri Buch

A series of allegations by the Congress party against Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), sent shock...

14.09.2024 5

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The (BJP) king may still reign, but can he rule?

Minority governments have two major concerns: Clearing votes of no-confidence and passing legislation. The first, remaining in office for five years,...

08.09.2024 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The UCC: What the Prime Minister said — and could only say

In his 15 August address, the prime minister said his government would work towards changing India’s personal laws. He said, “After 75 years of a...

18.08.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

'Newest media' outmatches journalism's biggest names, so a Broadcasting Bill

The NATO definition of the word ‘propaganda’ is: ‘information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or...

04.08.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

US presidential election: Prosecutor vs felon

Reportedly mentored in her formative years by her maternal grandfather P.V. Gopalan, a progressive Indian civil servant in the Nehruvian era, the...

28.07.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Budget 2024: Why the Modinomics don't add up

Supporters of the prime minister have been vocal about their disappointment with the budget — especially aspects which relate to the middle class,...

28.07.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Why shopkeepers must display their names in Uttar Pradesh

Weakened leaders of ideological parties are always vulnerable to those willing to be more extreme than them. It’s worth considering this idea to...

21.07.2024 50

National Herald

Aakar Patel

India and its freedom to propagate religious restrictions

Do Indians have freedom of religion? Meaning, do they have the right to invite others into their faith and the right to easily leave their faith? The...

14.07.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Joe Biden: When age is not just a number

American president Joe Biden, who is 81, says he will not drop out of the election in November and intends to be president again. The problem is that...

07.07.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Is knee-jerk the best we can do?

On 28 June, India’s foreign ministry put out a strong statement against a report from the United States State Department on religious freedom in...

30.06.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Is the 'Godi Media' Acting Against its Own Interests by Supporting the Govt?

After 2014, India became familiar with the phenomenon of the “Godi Media”, a phrase coined by the Magsaysay Award-winning journalist Ravish Kumar....

25.06.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

The Mystery of the Godi Media

In 2014, India became familiar with the phenomenon of ‘godi media’, a phrase coined later by the Magsaysay Award-winning journalist Ravish Kumar....

23.06.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Why does 3.0 look like 2.0?

India’s new government has a new cabinet that is the old cabinet. The ministers for home, defence, foreign affairs and finance will be the same. ...

16.06.2024 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Let the interesting times begin

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the NDA allies in the Central Hall of Parliament just before his swearing-in on Saturday. His message was that...

10.06.2024 6

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The return of hope

Let's focus on the positives of 4 June. To the Opposition, congratulations and best wishes. You fought an election against heavy odds. You weren’t...

08.06.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Return of the king? Or will empire strike back?

A painfully long election in our hottest summer has ended. The tea leaves will be read in the exit polls, but one must keep in mind their imperfect...

02.06.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

True Hindutva, or, the whole point of the BJP's policies

The Bharatiya Janata Party is India’s largest political force, but its ideology is not properly understood. Some aspects of it — the opposition to...

26.05.2024 40

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Why the NHRC is failing in the mother of democracy

On 13 May this year, a headline was published that read: 'UN-linked body defers NHRC India accreditation for second year in a row'. Beneath this was...

19.05.2024 40

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The Arvind Kejriwal case: Democracy in the dock

12.05.2024 50

National Herald

Aakar Patel

What Kind of Laws Will Our New MPs Enact? Take a Look Over Last 10 Years

The primary function of Parliament is to legislate. When we elect people to the Lok Sabha, we are choosing who will write and pass our laws. In India,...

07.05.2024 20

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Laws that leave scars

The primary function of Parliament is to legislate. When we elect members to the Lok Sabha, we are choosing who will write and pass our laws. In...

05.05.2024 40

National Herald

Aakar Patel

A Hindu Rashtra in all but name

At a civil society meeting in Bangalore this week, the question was asked if a Hindu Rashtra was on the horizon in the event of a third term for the...

21.04.2024 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The Prime Minister in the pandemic years

Three years ago, on 15 April 2021, the National Taskforce on Covid met for the first time in three months (its previous meeting had been on 11...

14.04.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

'Candles in an Unending Night': The Paths Visible for Liberty and Justice after 2024

Journalist, activist, and author Aakar Patel delivered the 44th JP Memorial Lecture for the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on March 23 at...

08.04.2024 30

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Should the sarkari economist go extinct?

In my 55 years of adult life, I have been trying to understand economists and have consistently failed. In my student days, I briefly considered...

07.04.2024 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Free and fair? Far from it!

Bangladesh is ‘partly free’ in the Freedom House report of 2024. India and Pakistan are classified in the same way. Bangladesh is today, according...

07.04.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Delhi CM Kejriwal’s Arrest Comes Amidst BJP’s Distrust of Federal Principle

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections will be seen as an attack on democracy, which it is without doubt....

02.04.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Modi's New India, where democracy is a joke

This is not a free and fair election. The repercussions and ramifications of this rigging and fixing will be felt throughout Narendra Modi’s third...

31.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

All for One: The BJP's contempt for federalism

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest before the elections will be seen as an attack on democracy, which it is without doubt. It is also of a piece with...

24.03.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

So What Happens to the NRC and NPR Now?

After implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, can we expect a National Population Register (NPR) and a National Register of Citizens (NRC)?...

19.03.2024 40

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Will NPR, NRC follow CAA? Answer clouded in doublespeak

After CAA (Citizenship [Amendment] Act), can we expect an NPR (National Population Register) and an NRC (National Register of Citizens)? That would...

17.03.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

New India: From flawed democracy to dictatorship?

There was a popular video recently by a young man named Dhruv Rathee, which irked the government’s supporters. Its broad argument may be understood...

10.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The most 'Bharatiya' of them all: 100 years of RSS

Next year, the world’s largest NGO or non-governmental organisation marks its centenary. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was founded in 1925...

03.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Solidarity Matters: What Connects Two Struggles in Asia

I am writing this from the United States, where I attended an interesting solidarity meeting. It was interesting because it combined two struggles —...

27.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Modi Government's Tryst with Electoral Bonds Should Neither Be Forgotten Nor Forgiven

India’s electoral bonds scheme has been declared illegal, a rare win in court for those resisting authoritarianism. But many elections, including...

20.02.2024 60

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Electoral bonds scheme should alert us to the weakness of our institutions

India’s electoral bonds scheme has been declared illegal, a rare win in court for those resisting authoritarianism. But many elections, including...

18.02.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Demolitions as Extra-Judicial Punishment Have Left India in a Perpetual State of Violence

The demolitions in Uttarakhand last week, after which five people were killed in violence, follows a pattern that we see in Bharatiya Janata...

14.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Remembering the ‘Routes of Wrath: Weaponising Religious Processions’ 

Demolitions in Uttarakhand this month, after which five were killed in violence, follow a pattern we can see in the BJP states. The pattern is, of...

11.02.2024 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

How the BJP Has Changed Basics of Where It Stands Over the Decades

On its website, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says: “The philosophy of Integral Humanism looks at the individual not merely as a material object...

06.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

What Does 'Integral Humanism' Really Mean to the BJP?

On the third page of its constitution, the BJP lays out its membership conditions: “Any Indian citizen of 18 years or above who accepts Articles II,...

30.01.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

The BJP's promise of ‘integral humanism’ & national dharma

On the third page of its constitution, the Bharatiya Janata Party lays out its conditions for membership: ‘Any Indian citizen of 18 years or above...

28.01.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Gujarat Lifts Its Alcohol Ban for Some: A Sign of What Lies Ahead

Sociologist M.N. Srinivas has written that the use of alcohol and intoxicants in Hindu religious rituals is part of the practices of popular and...

23.01.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Prohibition's Hindu majoritarian roots lie deeper than dry state Gujarat

I am writing this from Gujarat, where the government has decided to lift prohibition in one part of the state. As a news report put it, this was done...

21.01.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

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