Mani Shankar Aiyar – Author, NDTV.com

Opinion: For Modi, A Tip On Aiming For The Nobel Prize

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday March 10, 2017

If Modi wants a Nobel, perhaps he had better put Colombia on his charged travel schedule!

Opinion: Jaitley's Plans For Oil And Gas Require Caution And Review

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday February 28, 2017

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revived through his budget speech a proposal first made in the mid-90s, and then in the early 2000s, that our public sector undertakings in the oil and gas sector be merged into one giant oil behemoth whose market value would top $100 billion, close to that of Exxon.

Opinion: Mehbooba Is Kashmir's Big Disappointment

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday February 21, 2017

The terrible summer months of last year seem to have taught no lessons to either Modi or Mehbooba. That they have taught no lessons to Modi is understandable: he has long been past any learning. But it is heart-breaking that Mehbooba, who was looked upon as a kind of mother-figure till she fell into the trap set by Modi, has lost much of her credibility while Modi, of...

Opinion: Jayalalithaa Verdict Shows A Criminal Ran A State

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Wednesday February 15, 2017

If the AIADMK legislature party survives its present crisis - a big If - the new leadership might stabilize. But the more probable scenario is that the split will persist.

Opinion: Sasikala's Gross Miscalculation And The Mess That Followed

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday February 13, 2017

Sasikala is no Goddess and OPS no God. Neither has any background in Dravidian film-making. The failure in politics of very popular Tamil film stars like Sivaji Ganesan and "Captain" Vijayakanth shows that it is not film fan clubs that translate into political machines. but political machines that used the cinema like the social media is used today who created the ver...

Opinion: Modi And Jaitley's Half-Baked Proposals On Political Funding

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday February 07, 2017

There will be an initial frisson of excitement when transparency measures are legislated, but the impact of such disclosures on the political outcome will be minimal. It would amount to no more than a grand but futile gesture.

Opinion: Trump, Modi And A Shaft Of Worrying Similarities

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday January 31, 2017

Something in their character drove them to seize the opportunity and because the forces of history were on their side, they coasted to their respective victories.

Opinion: Modi's Takeover Of The RBI And Where It Has Left Us

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday January 23, 2017

The renowned historian, Prof. Satish Chandra, in his magisterial work, Medieval India (1206-1526), quotes Ibn Battutah who visited the court of Muhammad bin Tuglaq as saying the ruler's gravest fault was that he "depended on his own judgement and rarely took advice from others."

Opinion: Modi's Vibrant Gujarat <i>Tamasha</i> Is A Giant Flopshow

Opinion: Modi's Vibrant Gujarat Tamasha Is A Giant Flopshow

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Saturday January 14, 2017

The Americans have the right word for it - razzmatazz, the most appropriate word to describe the Vibrant Gujarat summits, started by Chief Minister Modi in the year after the post-Godhra pogrom and now into its eighth edition - long enough to evaluate whether this is serious business or just razzmatazz.

Opinion: Modi's Flop Speech Rounded Off His Flop Year, More To Come

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday January 06, 2017

Did Modi's New Year's Eve speech - a flop speech to climax a flop year - mark the End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End? Mamata Banerjee had the answer. She tweeted: "End of Demonetization. Start of DeModitization"!

Opinion: Modi, The Sahara Diaries And Much Unexplained

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday December 30, 2016

Is there a nexus between the payments made to "Gujarat CM" and any action taken to favor Sahara? As of now, no one can say for certain, but any PM concerned with protecting his reputation would surely want his innocence revealed through a thorough and independent investigation? Not Modi. He ducks and weaves but does nothing to explicitly deny his involvement.

Opinion: Modi's 'Monumental Mismanagement' Now Backed By Numbers

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday December 16, 2016

Leaving aside apologists for the Modi regime, most independent economists are agreed that GDP for the next two and possibly three quarters has taken such a hit that GDP growth will decline by at least one percentage point or more, with Ambit Capital estimating that GDP growth will be more than halved to 3.5% for FY 2017.

Opinion: Rajiv Gandhi, Jayalalithaa and I

OPINION