Opinion: Arvind Kejriwal Made No Big Gains In Supreme Court Today - By Chandan Mitra
Chandan Mitra | Wednesday July 04, 2018In one sense though, the apex court has said nothing new. It has only reiterated the existing norm that an elected government is the principal authority in a state administration. The confusion arises because Delhi is a state and yet not a state.
Opinion: Stop Making Karnataka Out To Be Big Blow For BJP
Chandan Mitra | Monday May 21, 2018The BJP acted in accordance with constitutional propriety and quit office when it failed to gather the required numbers. Whether it attempted horse-trading is a matter of conjecture and, in any case, the Congress-JD(S) combine too pulled out all stops to hold its MLAs captive and even procure some more.
Opinion: Rape Cases Linked To BJP Are Treated As Bigger Than Others
Chandan Mitra | Monday April 16, 2018No rape can be condoned, regardless of the ideological colour of the perpetrators. However, if the BJP can be even tangentially dragged into the controversy, the outcry is louder than in other cases.
Opinion: When Statues Are Destroyed, Dangerous Fissures Erupt
Chandan Mitra | Thursday March 08, 2018An iconoclastic frenzy has gripped parts of India in the last one week in the aftermath of the BJP's stunning victory in Tripura.
Opinion: The Big Implications Of BJP Winning Tripura
Chandan Mitra | Saturday March 03, 2018understatement. Routing the CPM in Tripura after 25 years is an unprecedented achievement comparable only to Mamata Banerjee's feat in dislodging the Left Front from power in Bengal after 34 years in 2011.
Opinion: In Rahul's Temple Run, Big Opportunity For Congress And Him
Chandan Mitra | Wednesday December 20, 2017If Rahul Gandhi sticks to his newly-discovered identity he would, in a sense, be taking the Congress back to its pre-Nehru avatar.
Opinion: Modi Has Turned Mani Shankar's Insult Into Political Gold
Chandan Mitra | Friday December 08, 2017Mani Shankar Aiyar's ability to score goals against his own team is unparalleled in Indian politics. So, perhaps, is his level of frustration at being sidelined in his party despite his fawning allegiance to the Nehru-Gandhi family. He has a remarkable capacity to offend people, get personal and abusive without provocation.
Opinion: Bhansali Should Never Have Made "Padmavati"
Chandan Mitra | Thursday November 23, 2017Only a stable and mature society whose faultlines have been erased over time can deal with issues such as the communal divide. Till that time, narratives involving Hindu and Muslim protagonists are ideally kept inside the closets of history.
Opinion: Kerala Hindus No Longer Shy Of Their Identity, Will Turn To BJP
Chandan Mitra | Tuesday October 17, 2017Those who say that Kerala is too well-educated to harbour religiosity as a driver of politics need only to look at the political formations of non-Hindu groups to realise that education has little to do with political allegiances.
Opinion: Shame Peace Nobel Winner Aung San Suu Kyi To Treat Rohingyas Humanely
Chandan Mitra | Saturday September 09, 2017About five years ago, a protest meeting of Muslims in Mumbai turned ugly leading to considerable violence and clashes with the police. It transpired that the mob had been asked to assemble to protest against atrocities allegedly committed on Muslims in the North-East.
Opinion: BJP Is Right To Back Khattar Despite Haryana Riots
Chandan Mitra | Monday August 28, 2017When a semblance of sanity returns and recriminations from all sides die down, it may be possible to draft a code of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to deal with such events in future, for incidents of this nature are certain to recur.
Opinion: What Sharad Yadav Loses In Split From Nitish Kumar
Chandan Mitra | Saturday August 12, 2017Long-standing "frenemies" Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav have fallen out once again. Socialists by nature are congenital party-breakers or "splittists" as European Communists of the 1930s used to call them. The list of "socialist" parties that have been formed in India after Independence will surely run into several pages.
Opinion: Mamata Banerjee's Appeasement Policies Have Created Real Danger
Chandan Mitra | Wednesday July 05, 2017Bengal is sitting on a tinder box. According to those who follow the news emanating from the state, it appears on the brink of a major communal conflagration. Comments in the social media ominously recall horrific details of the Great Calcutta Killing of 1946 in which thousands were slaughtered during the carnage triggered by Muslim League leader MA Jinnah's call to o...
Opinion: What China Wants By Provoking India At Sikkim Border
Chandan Mitra | Thursday June 29, 2017Beijing is unnerved by New Delhi's close association with Washington and is sending a message to both capitals against bolstering equations between India and the US. If in the process, 49 hapless pilgrims are victimized by Chinese high-handedness, well, so be it!
Opinion: With Low-Profile Kovind, Modi And Amit Shah Hit Bull’s Eye
Chandan Mitra | Tuesday June 20, 2017Mild mannered and a thorough gentleman, Kovind's choice by the BJP's helmsmen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party president, Amit Shah, has once again been described as a masterstroke.