Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion: My Rapport With And Respect For Atal-ji - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Thursday August 16, 2018

He was, above all, a truly outstanding parliamentarian, so outstanding that soon after he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957, Pandit-ji was telling his confidantes within months that young Atal Bihari seemed to have in him the makings of a future Prime Minister. Two incidents when Atal-ji was still in his 30s illustrate this assessment.

Opinion: Karunanidhi Remembered By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday August 7, 2018

A great voice has been stilled. For over 50 years, Kalaignar Karunanidhi carried the Dravidian Movement on his strong shoulders.

Opinion: It Was Not Nehru Who Cut Jinnah's Chances Of Being PM

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Wednesday August 15, 2018

It was not Nehru's aching desire to be PM but principally Jinnah himself, Mountbatten and his staff, the Congress Working Committee and eventually a despairing Gandhi-ji who gave up on this will o' the wisp of keeping India united by making Jinnah PM.

Opinion: Amit Shah's "Mistake" About Rajiv Gandhi - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Thursday August 9, 2018

While Amit Shah alluded in his intervention in parliament to Rajiv Gandhi having announced the accord during his Independence Day address to the nation next day from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he does not seem to have read the speech because Rajiv Gandhi says the accord was signed "yesterday" (14 August), then quickly corrects himself to say it ...

Opinion: Mani Shankar Aiyar On Imran Khan's Victory

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Thursday July 26, 2018

For us in India, the near-universal rejection of Pakistan's religion-based parties is perhaps the most significant outcome of this election - for it demonstrates (once again) that far from being partisans of fanatical Islamic terrorists, Pakistanis, by and large, reject religious extremism and terror politics.

Opinion: Mani Shankar Aiyar On PM's Reaction To Rahul Gandhi's Hug

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday July 23, 2018

Hence his denigration of a gesture aimed at indicating that in a democracy we have opponents not enemies, that we do not have to harbour hatred in our hearts against those with whom we do not agree. Modi-Shah do not understand that.

Opinion: Yes, Tharoor Is Right About "Hindu Pak" - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday July 16, 2018

As a self-confessed "secular fundamentalist", I believe this is the time and juncture for me to stand up and say that Shashi Tharoor is spot on: the Bharat which the Hindutva forces are pledged to realize would be a mirror image of Muslim Pakistan, thus making of secular India a 'Hindu Pakistan'.

Opinion: Importance Of "Jeep" Symbol In Pak Election - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday July 10, 2018

For the third time in succession, Pakistan goes to the polls on July 25 to elect both the new parliament (called in Pakistan the National Assembly) and the four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sind, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP, known to Indian readers more by its previous name, North-West Frontier Province - NWFP).

Opinion: Mani Shankar Aiyar On Trump Putting India In Its Place

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday June 29, 2018

We will not get an alternative date until we show that we have something to give the US in return for the favour of their sustaining the illusion that we really do matter to them.

Opinion: Mehbooba Was Burdened By Her Father With An Impossible Legacy

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday June 22, 2018

Mesmerized by Modi's strong man image, Mehbooba allowed herself to be diddled by his false promises and her vain hopes. Now, she has been cast aside by the same Modi on whom she pinned her excessive expectations.

Opinion: At 34, Kim Jong Un Defeats Trump, Twice His Age

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Wednesday June 13, 2018

When on the lawns of the White House, Narendra Modi suddenly moved to gather to his 56-inch chest a startled and somewhat embarrassed Donald Trump, Modi seems by some process of osmosis to have passed on his DNA to Trump as what we have witnessed in Singapore is the ultimate Event Management test - the focus being entirely on the optics, to the neg...

Opinion: Mani Shankar Aiyar On Pranab Mukherjee's Speech To RSS

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday June 8, 2018

I must confess to having felt queasy when I heard that our former Rashtrapati, Pranab Mukherjee, a man I much admire, was likely to accept an invitation from the RSS Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, to attend the convocation of Sangh Parivaar volunteers trained for three years in becoming pracharaks.

Opinion: Dulat And Durrani Don't Break Their Omerta

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday June 4, 2018

Does intelligence gathering lead to intelligent decision-making?

Opinion: Modi's Blatant Attempt To Communalize A State - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday May 28, 2018

While the nation's attention has been riveted on the Modi-Shah shenanigans in Karnataka, inadequate attention has been paid to the excesses they are committing at the other end of the country in the North-East where a massive public agitation has been spurred by the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955 aimed, in effect, at providing no...

Opinion: Karnataka Today, Kairana Next Week - By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Opinion | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Wednesday May 23, 2018

A humble (but not humbled) Congress, in the congenial company of a broad alliance holding aloft the Idea of India, will, a year from now, stop the perverse rise of an alternative Idea of India that we have witnessed since 2014, notwithstanding the obvious truth that well over two-thirds of all Indians have never wished to have anything to do with t...