Politics

Himal Interviews: Rahul Bhatia on Aadhaar, the RSS and India’s democratic unravelling
A conversation with the award-winning writer and journalist on the surprising origins of Aadhaar, the afterlives of the 2020 Delhi violence, and the people still resisting India’s majoritarian turn
Himal Interviews: India’s politics of fear and division
By
The Editors
The politician Manoj Jha talks to Harsh Mander about how the moral compass of India’s political class has been destroyed
A regular among India’s literati, the novelist and commentator Manu Joseph thrives on elite access, simultaneously courting and critiquing the liberal circles whose attention he commands.
By
Diya Isha
How Manu Joseph’s ‘Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us’ falls short in diagnosing the ills of liberal India, and how the novelist turned provocateur has lost his way
A collage centred on an illustrated Vijay in a red shirt, smiling and raising his hand in greeting, framed by a circular halo of his party logo. Around him are yellow-tinted portraits of prominent Tamil Nadu political figures. In the background, there's a large seated crowd and a faint cinema hall. The title “Jana Nayagan” appears near the top. In the foreground, there's a silhouetted scaffolding.
The superstar is aiming for a grand entrance into politics in Tamil Nadu’s 2026 assembly election, but history tells us stardom alone will not be enough to challenge the state’s duopoly of Dravidian p ...
Himal Interviews: The pluralism and poetry of India’s past
By
The Editors
The educationist, writer and activist Syeda Hameed remembers the first decade of free India as one of immense hope in this conversation with Harsh Mander
Himal Interviews: Anand Teltumbde on B R Ambedkar and the limits of iconisation
In a conversation on his new book 'Iconoclast', Anand Teltumbde challenges the hagiography surrounding B R Ambedkar, calling for a more nuanced reassessment in view of the ongoing oppression of Dalits ...
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