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Ashutosh Varshney

Ashutosh Varshney

Indian Express

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BJP’s West Bengal win doesn’t mean 2029 Lok Sabha election is in the bag

If elections change so many state governments – West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – it means that India’s electoral democracy remains quite...

05.05.2026 10

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Modi govt lost in Parliament, but India won

India’s parliamentary power was never entirely numerical. By giving voice to regions, federalism turned India into a nation. Now that national...

21.04.2026 10

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Why Bengal’s political outcome will affect democracy globally

For Hindu nationalists, the size of the Muslim electorate lends extraordinary significance to Bengal. It's one of the biggest prizes for the BJP’s...

07.04.2026 10

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Why hasn’t Iran lost the war yet? The reasons aren’t just oil and drones

The decapitation of leaders and heavy bombing, however widespread, may not be able to generate defeat and surrender. A long, crushing war may have to...

24.03.2026 40

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

A quick end to Iran war is in India’s interest. But Modi has no influence over US or Israel

The US-Israel war in Iran has shown India’s real place in global politics — a middle power, not a Vishwaguru.

10.03.2026 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Indians expecting equal benefits from India-US trade deal are ignorant of power realities

Even though a trade deal is supposed to be about economic benefits, it is not strictly an economic matter, especially in light of the emerging world...

10.02.2026 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Atmanirbharta won’t save India in a tariff-driven world—hedging and reform will

India has to find a way to do business with US. It’s in New Delhi’s self-interest.

27.01.2026 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

US intervention in Venezuela is about MAGA anxiety, not just drugs or oil

MAGA’s opposition to H1-B visas for Indians has become rather well known, but compared to Hispanic immigration, the India question pales into...

13.01.2026 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Epstein files and what it means for the American anger against elites

All academic institutions, it is at Harvard, the richest and perhaps the most powerful academic institution in the world, that Epstein’s ties appear...

23.12.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

For Trump, India matters only for Indo-Pacific security

Donald Trump’s security doctrine speaks of something that scholars used to discuss, but defence policy documents rarely did.

09.12.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Did English language create captive minds? PM’s Macaulay reference is only half-truth

Macaulay’s intervention led to a colonial mentality in several sections of India. But because of English language, it also led to a lot of...

25.11.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Moderate Democrat victories signal a bigger shift than Mamdani. The party is bouncing back

New York is America’s most cosmopolitan outpost, not its heartland. One must look at what happened elsewhere in the US on 4 November.

07.11.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Bihar beyond Buddha and Mandal—why the 2025 polls are critical for Indian democracy

It is not often noted, but in the North, Bihar is the only state where the BJP has not come to power on its own. The party's desire to turn Bihar into...

28.10.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

America under Trump — more than democratic backsliding, less than a right-wing revolution

The attempted revolution faces three structural limits, and is likely to falter.

14.10.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Pakistan is getting new friends. Conflicts with India will only grow

Pakistan is likely to enjoy closeness with the US, China and Saudi Arabia. This is different from its relative isolation of recent years.

30.09.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Charlie Kirk assassination is telling us something about American democracy

Most observers say that the degree of polarisation in the US today is much greater than in the '60s, with the political elite so deeply divided that...

16.09.2025 10

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

China will be more central to India now. Though an anti-US unity is premature

Even with the option of EU markets, China will have to be a significant part of India’s economic policy. But the difficult security relationship is...

02.09.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Indian foreign policy is in free fall. Can we balance national pride with new power reality?

Unless dramatic reversals take place, the core of India’s foreign policy, which, at least since 2000, has focused on the US, Pakistan, China, and...

19.08.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

India’s export basket has no irreplaceables. It’s a vulnerability in Trump’s power politics

Tariffs have been used in the past by countries like Japan and South, to promote or hinder industrialisation. The surprise in Trump’s tariff...

05.08.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Bihar mimics 19th-century American South. Citizenship is now weaponised to exclude voters

Disenfranchisement by institutional fiat is profoundly undemocratic. The effect of the ECI's new documentary process in Bihar will tilt the scales in...

22.07.2025 20

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

Meaning of Zohran Mamdani lies in an admission that globalisation failed to lift all boats

At a deeper level, both Left and Right populism are linked to globalisation, the world’s greatest economic force between 1980-2010.

01.07.2025 30

ThePrint

Ashutosh Varshney

The new and the old in the most recent India-Pakistan hostilities

14.05.2025 20

Indian Express

Ashutosh Varshney

The new and the old in the most recent India-Pakistan hostilities

14.05.2025 10

Indian Express

Ashutosh Varshney

Democracy has provided the rationale for tariffs. It will produce a reaction against it

09.04.2025 10

Indian Express

Ashutosh Varshney

Democracy has provided the rationale for tariffs. It will produce a reaction against it

09.04.2025 10

Indian Express

Ashutosh Varshney

In Trump-Modi Summit, benefits for the US are greater

Trump’s desire to demand subservience to power was expected. That Modi would succumb so easily came as a surprise

17.02.2025 20

Indian Express

Ashutosh Varshney