The most recent survey supervised by this author for Tractus predicted a surge in the prospective vote-share of the Congress-NCP alliance but a comfortable victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state. The political status quo during the assembly election in Maharashtra is going almost unchallenged because no one is expecting much and no …
The Shiv Sena needs legislative leaders but can’t trust anyone anymore. Hence, Aditya Thackeray is contesting from the Worli constituency in Mumbai. Aditya Thackeray’s decision to contest an assembly election is a significant departure from Shiv Sena’s rogue politics. Aditya’s grandfather and founder of Shiv Sena, Balasaheb Thackeray, always considered himself above the system. Balasaheb …
Whether you accept it or not, Pakistan’s further involvement in Kashmir would turn this land into as bloody a battlefield as Afghanistan. Your covert call to Kashmiri youth to pick up guns against oppression is neither Gandhian nor in the interest of Kashmir. This is so fraudulent, Mr Prime Minister of Pakistan! In your UN …
After facing multiple defections from the rank and file of his party in the last two months, Sharad Pawar hit the ground running with his 6-day whirlwind tour of Marathawada and Western Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar’s name was synonymous with power in Maharashtra for more than 3 decades. Today Pawar is fighting for survival against the …
The recently conducted state-wide opinion poll by MIT School of Government (MITSOG), Pune has predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state. When the writing on the wall is clear, the opinion polls during the election season hardly matter. They could make the prospective winners complacent and further demoralise the …
Donald Trump’s no-deal with the Taliban has come as a surprise. Donald Trump’s u-turn against the imminent Taliban-US peace deal was unexpected, but perhaps should have been anticipated considering Trump’s apparent uncertainty in matters of foreign policy. However, the no-deal has come as a surprise. The Trump administration has audaciously pursued negotiations with the Taliban …
Trump’s Afghan Moment: To Deal or Not to Deal with Taliban? Read More »
Mandal and his colleagues produced one of the most groundbreaking reports with tremendous hard work, comprehensive methodology, and incisive social insights. It has been 40 years since the announcement of the formation of the 2nd Backward Class Commission by the then Prime Minister Moraraji Desai. When the 2nd Backward Class Commission (which is popularly known …
Has the Mandal Commission outlasted its (political) utility? Read More »
The biggest political story in Maharashtra, after the Lok Sabha election, is that there is no big story unless the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena decide to contest the elections separately. Initial ground reports from poll-bound Maharashtra run along the expected lines. There is no emerging political plot in the state but mere …
PM Modi’s foreign policy agenda in his second term contrasts starkly with his first. The Modi government’s foreign policy agenda is emerging clearer in the third month of the second term. The offensive against Pakistan, soft posturing in the neighborhood, a nuanced position concerning China, and a recalibration of relations with the United States seem …
The question is what should the opposition, particularly PM Modi’s opponents in social media, do, and what should they not do? Photos and videos of Naga youth celebrating Nagaland’s self-declared independence day went viral on social media on the eve of India’s independence day. Most of the opponents of the BJP enthusiastically questioned the Modi …
