Gopalkrishna Gandhi read English Literature at St Stephen’s College, Delhi. A civil servant and diplomat, he was Governor of West Bengal, 2004-2009. He is currently Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Ashoka University
Articles by Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Watch your tongue
The great genre of political satire is dead in India because our public figures have become touchy and tense people.
Updated on Jan 22, 2012 09:29 AM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
At the rainbow's end
India's future does not depend on the Lokpal Bill. The fact that the enactment of the draft seems to have gone into a coma does not mean the country has slipped into unconsciousness. Yet, that Bill is an important and crucial framework for our moral self-confidence and for our self-pride as a people. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Dec 31, 2011 12:29 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
India's trial by ire
In 2011, Anna Hazare gave our thoughts a new direction. But now he must move from fierce campaigns to calm discussions to ensure his movement's success. GopalKrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Dec 03, 2011 12:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Partners in grime
Jairam Ramesh is right when he says India is 'dirty' and 'filthy'. These are not adjectives but expose our acceptance of status-quo and wrong-doings, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on Nov 18, 2011 10:45 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Merchants of avarice
In Othello, Shakespeare refers to a base Indian who threw away a pearl worth more than his tribe. Through rampant mining today, we are doing exactly that.
Updated on Nov 04, 2011 10:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Kya-b-baat hai!
Interjections are not merely one of the eight parts of speech in English. As some events show, they are the sound of emotions. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Oct 23, 2011 09:39 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Hard sell soft power
India's best minds must reach out more to the world to distinguish our civilisation from our nation and our nation from our State. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Oct 07, 2011 10:58 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Enter their minds
The State has many experts on major national projects. But there is no one to explain to those opposing these ventures why they may be useful. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Sep 23, 2011 11:18 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Still hanging fire
India’s policy on the death penalty is awaiting review. A hanging may appear to provide ready catharsis after a terror attack but it will not solve the real problems. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Sep 09, 2011 11:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
A fusion of emotions
We are a collectivity of nouns in ourselves. Here is a set of collective nouns generated by thoughts drawn from recent days. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Aug 26, 2011 09:19 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Tricolour of hope
In his Independence Day speech, the aam aadmi wants the PM to welcome back honesty and honour it in its democratic home, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on Aug 13, 2011 11:57 AM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Dangers of al-Faeda
Indians are always looking at ways to exploit others. Their acts are rooted in a temperament that uses cunning and sleights of hand, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on Jul 29, 2011 11:08 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Daughter India
American author Katherine Mayo was critical of the way India treated its daughters in the 1920s. Do we need another Mayo to tell us that not much has changed even today? Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Jul 01, 2011 11:29 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
A spectacular story
In 1948, political and civil society leaders came together to discuss the problems that India faced. Why can’t we have a similar meet today to discuss corruption? Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Nov 20, 2011 11:50 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Do not go gentle
Fifty-four years ago today, Martin Luther King underlined the importance of ‘maladjusting’. It’s time we make it a way of life. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Nov 20, 2011 11:40 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Once in Abbottabad...
'To me the place seemed like a dream/ And far ran a lonesome stream.' The lines are from a poem written by an English artilleryman as he beheld a beauteous scene in the western extremities of the British Raj. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on May 06, 2011 10:04 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Our pole stars
Seven Indian Army men completed a difficult expedition to the South Pole. Let's not forget their journey merely because it was a quiet victory. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Oct 22, 2011 02:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Getting God on our side
Prayer is neither a ritual nor magic. It’s a basic instinct for billions of Indians who never fall short of reasons to invoke the higher powers. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Oct 10, 2011 12:13 PM IST
Does Gandhi really need such protection?
Mahatma Gandhi's life invites scrutiny. His writing facilitates it. Innocent unconcern about likely distortions makes his letters and speeches peculiarly charming. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Sep 14, 2011 02:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
The eyes have it
Diplomatic negotiations don't deserve iron-clad secrecy. A process less opaque and wobbly will help keep unauthorised leaks at bay. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Sep 10, 2011 07:47 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
The national body
If one part of the country is described as the head, what do you call the other parts? And the metaphor may not go down well in certain parts, Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Sep 10, 2011 07:29 PM IST
Live on FM radio
If the finance minister’s budget speech next week reflects an intent to tackle the agrarian crisis in the country, it will be a speech worth remembering, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on Sep 01, 2011 10:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Words for all seasons
The verses of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, with their evocations of tyranny and exile, are more resonant than ever today. Tomorrow, he would have turned 100, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on Sep 01, 2011 10:27 AM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Such a long journey
The day before his assassination, death dominated the thoughts of the Mahatma. But he did not want to go, as his unfinished work lay here. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Jul 23, 2011 07:52 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
CAG got your tongue?
In the larger interests of the country, the autonomous stature of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s office must remain undiminished. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Jun 07, 2011 10:18 AM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Small, best wishes
Twenty wishes for the new year ahead that are so difficult to implement because they are not 'big', do not cost much, are so eminently do-able and, above all, are so easy, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on May 23, 2011 10:25 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Unbiased recitals
As a just-released anthology on the men who built modern India shows, our heroes often become means for our self-fulfilment. But history owns no favourites, only facts. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on May 21, 2011 07:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Goodbye headmaster
R Venkataraman would have been 100 today. For the former president, propriety mattered more than popularity. In today's world, it is tough to find a mentor like him. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on May 21, 2011 05:03 PM IST
None | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Still a scorcher
Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address is still relevant for the modern world. It can startle the deprived with hope and scour deprivers with guilt, writes Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Updated on May 21, 2011 04:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Save politics from the neta
The Hindi for 'leader' is neta. Except when recalling Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the word is used today as an abuse. It evokes pretension, swagger, hypocrisy. Gopalkrishna Gandhi writes.
Updated on Nov 12, 2010 09:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Gopalkrishna Gandhi, New Delhi