The Interview With Karan Thapar

In 1947 India came far closer to balkanization than we realize: Josy Joseph, Author, Birth of a Nation: The Twenty-One Days That Made India, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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How close did India come to balkanization in 1947? A recent book, based on previously unseen documents from the archives of India, suggests that the last 21 days before independence were critical. During that period several st...

I stand with the protesting students; this is not the India I love; I don't take Modi seriously: Naseeruddin Shah to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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My guest today is probably one of the greatest actors on the Indian screen. Many rightly consider him an actor’s actor. Earlier today he posted a video expressing his anguish and deep concern about the way protesting students have been treated in ...

Sonam Wangchuk symbolizes the best of India; the Modi government badly mishandled his fast: Ramachandra Guha to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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For 21 days Sonam Wangchuk has fasted to try and force Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over the NEET issue. This morning the government forcibly took him to Safdarjung Hospital to end his fast. However, his wife, Gitanjali Angmo, has tweeted ...

The cow belt has hijacked the future of India and is the curse of our politics: Author and Lawyer, Javed Gaya, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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Has the cow belt hijacked the future of India? Is its influence the curse of Indian politics? Is India in danger of being consumed by its past? And does the baleful influence of Uttar Pradesh dominate Indian politics? In his recent book ‘Heartland Ri...

President Trump has tweeted that the ceasefire is over but talks with Iran will continue. Can such talks be credible? Does Trump face a dilemma? If he opts to renew the war, his hopes of resolving the Iran nuclear issue could be dashed. If he restrains himself to secure a peace deal, he will have to accept Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. On the other hand, has Iran overplayed its hand? Under the Memorandum of Understa...

Claim passport only travel document serious mistake and government should apologize: Justice Madan Lokur, former Supreme Court Judge, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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One of India’s most highly regarded former Judges of the Supreme Court, who is presently Chairperson of the United Nations Internal Justice Council, says that the statement made by the government that an Indian passport is &l...

Andy Burnham’s emphatic victory in a bye-election in Makerfield has probably sealed Keir Starmer’s fate as prime minister of Great Britain. Initially Starmer refused to go. In fact he repeatedly said he would fight to keep the job. But now there’s speculation he could resign as early as later today. So this morning we ask what do the next few weeks hold for him? What sort of prime minister has he been? And what ca...

In a strong and passionate defence of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, the well-known and highly regarded Trinamool Lok Sabha MP, Mahua Moitra, has forcefully said: “The real Trinamool is Mamata Banerjee and she will return to power.” Mahua Moitra said: “The Trinamool Congress is a Party that was started by Mamata Banerjee and gets its legitimacy, gets its vote, gets its mandate from Mamata Banerjee. So any ...

On the day the Trinamool Congress Party split at the Lok Sabha level in Delhi, following its earlier split at the legislature level in Bengal, one of its most highly regarded Lok Sabha MPs, Saugata Roy, has said that the Party is in serious crisis adding that he is no defender of Abhishek Banerjee and accepting that in the ultimate analysis Mamata Banerjee is responsible for what’s happened. However, Dr. Roy said that he woul...

In a hard-hitting and unremitting interview, the former Law Minister and former Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, who is also one of the leading lawyers presenting the Gymkhana Club’s case in Court, has said that the government is seeking to acquire the Gymkhana Club not on the grounds it has argued in its letter of May 22, 2026 but for three other reasons i.e. “Bureaucratic greed, lack of democratic ins...

Is the state of the Indian economy “near-crisis”? Is weak private investment the key problem? Despite the government’s well-intentioned reforms are its deeper instincts and habits putting off investors? And is the solution changing personnel at ministerial, technocratic and bureaucratic levels? And does that in fact mean it’s time to replace Nirmala Sitharaman as Finance Minister? Those are the views of my g...

In an interview to discuss how he views Rahul Gandhi as a leader of Congress and Leader of the Opposition, the well-known and highly regarded historian, author and political commentator, Ramachandra Guha, says Rahul Gandhi is a dilettante, who lacks commitment and certainly lacks charisma and is unlikely to ever make it to Prime Minister of India. Ramachandra Guha says: : “Rahul Gandhi may be a good fellow; nonetheless, those...

In an interview to discuss the cumulative impact of the Gulf War on Indian agriculture, Ashok Gulati, Professor of Agriculture at ICRIER and arguably India's foremost authority on the subject, says: “The economy seems to be on the brink of a major crisis". Professor Gulati is particularly concerned about how the fertiliser subsidy is likely to surge this year. He believes that it could balloon from 1.71 lakh crore to 3.0 lakh...

In a recent op-ed in the Financial Times, headlined ‘The Gulf crisis may just be starting’, the paper’s well-known and highly regarded Chief Economics Commentator, Martin Wolf, analyses the impact of an aspect of the Gulf crisis that so far hasn’t got the attention it deserves i.e. the shortages and how their impact could get worse the longer they remain and the greater the physical damage done in the Gulf. ...

The Chief Economist of Axis Bank and a Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council says in his opinion the current account deficit and the falling rupee are the “most binding constraints” emerging out of the current Gulf crisis. Neelkanth Mishra also believes that the impact of the Gulf war and the oil crisis could be around 0.7%-08% of GDP growth. He says: “The sensitivity is that about $15 per...

In an interview to discuss the election results that were announced yesterday (the 4th of May) as well as what they mean for India as a whole and what they suggest about the BJP’s hold over the country, Yogendra Yadav, the National Convenor of the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, has said he is deeply concerned, adding he doesn’t believe the Indian Republic has reasons to celebrate the outcome. “As a democrat, as someone who ...

In an interview to discuss the impact of rising oil prices – which yesterday touched $126 per barrel – on both the world economy and India’s economy, economist and former Chief Statistician of India Pronab Sen said that rising oil prices could reduce India’s expected GDP growth by up to 2.5%. He agreed that this was a fairly substantial fall.

Sen said he was particularly worried about India’s exports ...