Ashok Malik

Sanjay Kothari Appointed Secretary To New President

India News | Press Trust of India | Saturday July 22, 2017

Sanjay Kothari, chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board, has been appointed secretary and senior journalist Ashok Malik press secretary to President-elect Ram Nath Kovind.

Arvind Kejriwal, Consider VP Singh A Warning

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday April 26, 2017

However one interprets them, the municipal elections in Delhi are a severe setback for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

What Amit Shah Has Set In Motion For The BJP In Bengal

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Thursday May 4, 2017

BJP president Amit Shah's recent visit to Bengal has energised politics in the state. It holds up the tantalising prospect of a BJP thrust in a polity currently dominated by Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress.

2 Big Headlines In By-Elections For AAP And BJP In Bengal

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Saturday April 15, 2017

Nevertheless, it is apparent the CPI(M)-led Left Front is dying a slow and painful death in Bengal. Those hostile to Trinamool are increasingly shifting their support to the BJP.

What Modi Has Mastered That Others Haven't - As Yet

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Saturday March 11, 2017

The BJP's success owes much to the rainbow coalition it built of the upper castes and urban middle classes, the non-Yadav OBCs and sections of Dalits. The BJP has done this before: in the early 1990s, under the leadership of Kalyan Singh;a broad coalition was stitched together then in the context of the emotive Ayodhya movement.

Budget Shows Modi's 'War On Cash' Is A Serious One

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Thursday February 2, 2017

The budget persists with a Modi-Jaitley resolve: the willingness to sacrifice short-term popularity, even among those who may be BJP voters, to effect a longer-term transformation.

Wrong To See Modi's Speech As Loaded With Handouts

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Tuesday January 3, 2017

What does one make of Narendra Modi's address on December 31, 2016, after the demonetisation exercise and at the cusp of the New Year? Many have commented that it was low-key and lacked his characteristic flamboyance. The fact is, however, that in his mind, Modi is careful to distinguish between, for example, sober speeches as Prime Minister and rh...

What Rahul Gandhi Has Won - And Risked - By Playing Hardball

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday December 16, 2016

While it hardly transacted business, the winter session of parliament marked a transition for the Congress and the opposition. As Sonia Gandhi took a backseat, due to health reasons or out of a desire to give her son more room, Rahul Gandhi became the Congress' prime mover and interface with other opposition parties. He attend parliament regularly,...

What Demonetisation Says About And Does For Modi

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Monday November 21, 2016

Close to two weeks into the demonetisation exercise, how does one assess it? Frankly, there are several aspects to the episode: the execution, the aspiration, and the medium to long term political impact.

Modi Has Just Bet He Can Change India's Social Behaviour

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Thursday December 1, 2016

For Modi, this is not just a political or economic imperative; it is a colossal task of social engineering.

In Handling Of Surgical Strikes, Modi Has Ticked All The Boxes

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday October 12, 2016

If tough, pre-emptive action against terrorism is now the new normal, then surely guarded statements and not speaking just because there's a mic and camera handy should also become a new norm. The Prime Minister has indicated that. Now he must ensure it happens.

Crossing The LoC To Prevent Terror Strikes Creates A New Normal

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday September 30, 2016

The political willingness to cross the LoC for short distances to pre-empt attacks has now been demonstrated. The genie is out of the bottle; it will not go back. In fact, sooner or later, that genie will seek to travel even further.

Sushma Swaraj's Speech Outwitted And Outshone Nawaz Sharif's

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Tuesday September 27, 2016

The meat of the External Affairs Minister's speech was, of course, on terrorism. She was careful to locate the threat to India - including most recently in Uri - within a worldwide battle against Islamist terrorism that has stretched from Bangkok to Mogadishu and New York to Kabul.

Balochistan Was Waiting To Be Used As Propaganda. Modi Seized It.

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday August 17, 2016

There were three proper nouns Modi used and it is important to understand the context of each.

Rajnath Singh's Visit Lays Ground For Modi Trip To Pak

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday August 5, 2016

Unless there is a major "incident" in the intervening period, Modi is likely to make that trip and his Home Minister has in a sense laid the ground for him.

Uttar Pradesh Could Well Turn Into Mayawati vs Amit Shah

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday July 29, 2016

What is the big picture? In 2007 (or even in 2014), it was a case of either the BSP or the BJP taking on the SP, as the party of the lotus and the party of the elephant both targeted key voter groups. In 2017, social alliances are changing. It may well be a BSP versus BJP battle, with the SP pushed down the ladder.

No Demolition Of Adarsh Society Building In Mumbai For Now, Rules Supreme Court

India News | Edited by Surabhi Malik | Friday July 22, 2016

The Adarsh Housing Society, an illegal apartment building in Mumbai that became a symbol of political corruption, will not be demolished for now, the Supreme Court ruled today putting on hold the Bombay High Court's April order.

Smriti Irani Didn't Help Her Cause. Textiles Could Be Better Fit

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday July 6, 2016

While we can speculate - and perhaps correctly guess - the reasons for some ministers losing certain portfolios, the full story will never be known.

How Indians Voted On Brexit - And How 'Leave' Will Impact Them

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday June 24, 2016

In this interconnected world, where a potential break-up of the European Union has been enough to have stock market indices tumble in Mumbai, the experience of India and Indians and Britons of Indian origin is indicative of the multitude of thoughts and urges and impulses that went into the Brexit drama.

'Why Zip It', Asks Smriti Irani In Facebook Post After 'Dear' Row

India News | Edited by Surabhi Malik | Thursday June 16, 2016

The trigger for union minister Smriti Irani's post on Facebook is her spat on Twitter two days ago with Bihar education minister Ashok Choudhary of the Congress, when she took umbrage at his addressing her as "Dear Smritiji." Mr Choudhary had later "mumbled apologies," the minister notes, calling it her "near Jerry Maguire like moment."

Modi's US Speech Was Letter Perfect, Ticked Off Every Box

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday June 10, 2016

Without taking recourse to the old wailing sheet and cribbing to everyone about Islamabad, Modi has devised a mechanism to shape the debate to India's advantage.

What BJP Got Right In Assam - Including Under-Playing Modi

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Thursday May 19, 2016

As Assam has established, it is now the BJPs intellectual property.

Bring Back The Kohinoor? You Can't Be Serious.

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday April 20, 2016

How strong is an Indian case for getting back the Kohinoor diamond from Britain? It depends on whether one considers this in terms of law, politics, history or morality.

Modi's Gamble By Allowing Pak Team Into Pathankot

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday March 30, 2016

What is the Modi government attempting? Is this latest manoeuvre part of an up-and-down Pakistan policy going back to its earliest days, in the summer of 2014? Is it consistent with a more recent approach, visible at least since the first week of December 2015? In either case, is it managing to communicate its thinking to a domestic constituency? A...

Government Failed Totally In Defusing JNU Crisis

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday February 17, 2016

Let us consider the episode, then, not in terms of a chronological narrative but as a function of the role of and impact on the five principal sets of stakeholders.

Ram Madhav and The Akhand Bharat Controversy

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Thursday December 31, 2015

What is this all about and, frankly, despite Madhav's personal beliefs, how is it politically relevant at all in these times?

Modi Places Big Bets for India in Silicon Valley

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Tuesday September 29, 2015

It is more important to ask why Modi travelled to California and what he hopes to gain from there. This was not just another trip to the far coast of America, or another meeting with another community of NRIs-PIOs. There was thought and substance that went into the planning of the visit, and both Modi and his hosts were taking some bets.

What Mohan Bhagwat Really Said on Reservation

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Wednesday September 23, 2015

Having read the Organiser interview with Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the RSS, I am left scratching my head. Going by media reports, one expected an interview devoted to the issue of reservations and making strong recommendations. What one found instead was a long conversation on the relevance of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and his philosophy of "Integral Huma...

Why Pakistani Army is Needling Modi

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Friday August 21, 2015

Essentially, the bet is the Indian side does not have the space to repeat what it did when it cancelled the Foreign Secretaries' talks in 2014, on a similar issue of Pakistani officials meeting the Hurriyat.

How to Read Modi's Independence Day Speech

Opinion | Ashok Malik | Saturday August 15, 2015

A year down the line, the sky is not as clear. It cannot be; inevitably, the clouds will appear. In that sense, this was a more "normal" Prime Ministerial speech. One hesitates to use the word "normal" because frankly one is judging Modi by his own oratorical standards. Both his speeches remain superior to those of not just his immediate predecesso...