Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Opinion | The curious case of Indian anxiety, despite optimism

Three ‘D’s — decline, decay and destruction— are prefixed to ‘institutions’ when discerning citizens speak about the three pillars or ‘estates’ of the Republic of India, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. “Our institutions are in decline,” they say.

India is a secular nation but a deeply religious society

Asian Games medallist Jinson Johnson and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister’s recent public invocation of God made me feel very grateful for two reflections of this ‘faith’ that were utterly non-sectarian, non-bigoted and sublime.

New J&K governor must observe Vajpayee’s doctrine of Kashmiriyat

We must wish Rajyapal Satyapal Malik a fulfilling innings as governor of the state

Nominated MPs such as Sonal Mansingh can contribute to the preservation of our plurality

There are among the people of India persons skilled in the arts and culture of the land, men and women of science and those devoted to one or other form of social service whose experience would enrich the collective wisdom of Parliament.

After Jayalalithaa’s death, there has been little governance in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu waits for an honest and people-oriented government with a clear majority, elected on the basis of programmes and policies explained in a manifesto, and a responsible opposition

The elimination of ego helped the Opposition in Karnataka

A BJP defeat in 2019 requires electoral coordination by non-BJP parties

Death penalty cannot be the shortcut that reflects our callousness so sharply

The move for death to the rapists of victims below 12 is not going to prevent the macabre diabolism of the kind Kathua personifies. What vulnerable targets of perverts need is not the corpse of the villain but ceaseless vigilance and more than that, a thoroughgoing system of criminal investigation, accurate booking, quick — not hasty — prosecution and proportionate sentencing so that crime does not escape

Gopalaswami Parthasarathi: Sportsman, diplomat and troubleshooter, a man of many parts

As chairman of Indira Gandhi’s policy planning committee, GP was a counsellor extraordinary. He advised frankly, fearlessly. But it is also true that when over-ruled, often unwisely, he let his prime minister have her way.

Has Indian politics lost the art of harmless laughter?

Politics in India laughs with a humour that hurts, scars, excoriates. Our politics today uses laughter as a weapon, not a faculty of conversation

How the cricket team reacted to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi | By Gopalkrishna Gandhi

The 70th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination is far more significant for us, civilisationally, than the 150th anniversary of his birth, next year. This is because births emerge from parents’ timelines but deaths from one’s own

Gujarat election result: The BJP has won but the Congress hasn’t lost

The Gujarat election result is an inspiration to Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh in the months ahead, and India in 2019.

Is there a new ‘2017 feeling’ in Gujarat? Has the tide really turned? | Opinion

‘Fifty-fifty’ said a wise observer, sharing an assessment. ‘Things could change but as of now, it is, fifty-fifty’. Two years ago, it looked like Gujarat was never, ever, going to change its ruling party. Why, even as of one year ago, no one could have even imagined, let alone visualised a change

Being a woman diplomat means having confidence and the ability to laugh at this world of men

Three formidable diplomats from the UK. All women.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi remembers the enigmatic TS Eliot on his birthday

Eliot’s poetry, un-deciphered, will last forever in the chambers of our sensibility, for the sound of his secret words, not their meaning. The sound of Eliot’s words in ‘The Waste Land’ is its message, just as the enigma of Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’ is its statement.

India at 70: Thanks to Rightwing politics, we’re witnessing a second partition

The Hindu ‘Two Nationists’, helped along with Islamic fundamentalists, will have nothing to do with secularism now. They want in India a partition of the mind within the partitioned nation. Dogged in their aim, they seek to leverage an India traumatised by terrorism, into what it wants, a Hindu Rashtra

We need a president who speaks bitter truths about India, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi

The next Rashtrapati, irrespective of his or her religion, caste or political leaning, must speak with frank fearlessness to the State and society alike. (The author is the Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate)

Emergency @42: That bizarre experience made us realise the courage of Indians

The Emergency is the poison that tells us that its antidote exists, right in our grasp – courage. And that knowledge is a gift that it has given us. Thus it is just as well that we had that bizarre experience 42 years ago

How inspiration technology makes our icons and gurus cool, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Behind many inspiration stories is the tool-kit of the inspiration-fixer, the image mixer. A makeover is afoot that goes beyond simple air-brushing. What is attempted, with great success, is a Botox of the subject’s personality.

Drought is a reality in Tamil Nadu. But no one seems to be taking it seriously

No one seems to be telling Chennai or Bengaluru, for instance, what they should do over the immediate or short term future. Should they go in for water rationing , water cuts ?

Women in India are voting today, thanks to a Jewish MP’s initiative 100 years ago

Today, women voting and contesting elections in India are taken for granted. One must not forget the contribution made by a very young, radical and little-remembered Edwin Samuel Montagu

India has become good at faulting Gandhi, and adept at not consulting him

Seventy years on, we have become good at faulting that old, tried servant of the nation, and adept at not consulting him.

India’s national anthem is not a tax that requires compliance

Our national anthem and our flag have a relationship with us, and we with them, which is not is a matter of the regulated mind but the kindled soul

BJP attempt to obscure Nehru’s contribution to nation-building won’t work

Those who neglected Sardar Patel then and those who want to neglect Nehru now should realise that those two statesmen with all their strong differences, worked together.

Now is the time for a transformational move

Kashmir needs leaders who challenge India to rise above its zamindari mind-set

I believe a group of concerned Indians should visit Kashmir with no mandate other than listening to people there. My ‘dream team’ would comprise Wajahat Habibullah, Yashwant Sinha, Kavita Krishnan, Bader Sayeed and Jairam Ramesh

Custodial torture degrades and diminishes us

Custodial torture: It’s a shame that so much that is shameful thrives

It is a matter of pride that our courts can call the shameful to account. It is a shame that so much that is shameful thrives in India.

The time has come for a programme to reduce the risks of a fifth Indo-Pak war

The time has also come for a serious look at the prospect of a single currency on the Indian subcontinent, which will have to follow a measure of harmonisation of macro-economic parameters such as pricing, if Pakistan and Bangladesh are not to be adversely hit by the fluctuating fortunes in Indian inflation

Two years on, we are still far from the goal

The many miles that lay ahead