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Aakar Patel

Aakar Patel

The Times of India

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A Hindu Rashtra in all but name

At a civil society meeting in Bangalore this week, the question was asked if a Hindu Rashtra was on the horizon in the event of a third term for the...

sunday 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The Prime Minister in the pandemic years

Three years ago, on 15 April 2021, the National Taskforce on Covid met for the first time in three months (its previous meeting had been on 11...

14.04.2024 4

National Herald

Aakar Patel

'Candles in an Unending Night': The Paths Visible for Liberty and Justice after 2024

Journalist, activist, and author Aakar Patel delivered the 44th JP Memorial Lecture for the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on March 23 at...

08.04.2024 20

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Should the sarkari economist go extinct?

In my 55 years of adult life, I have been trying to understand economists and have consistently failed. In my student days, I briefly considered...

07.04.2024 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Free and fair? Far from it!

Bangladesh is ‘partly free’ in the Freedom House report of 2024. India and Pakistan are classified in the same way. Bangladesh is today, according...

07.04.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Delhi CM Kejriwal’s Arrest Comes Amidst BJP’s Distrust of Federal Principle

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections will be seen as an attack on democracy, which it is without doubt....

02.04.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Modi's New India, where democracy is a joke

This is not a free and fair election. The repercussions and ramifications of this rigging and fixing will be felt throughout Narendra Modi’s third...

31.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

All for One: The BJP's contempt for federalism

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest before the elections will be seen as an attack on democracy, which it is without doubt. It is also of a piece with...

24.03.2024 20

National Herald

Aakar Patel

So What Happens to the NRC and NPR Now?

After implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, can we expect a National Population Register (NPR) and a National Register of Citizens (NRC)?...

19.03.2024 40

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Will NPR, NRC follow CAA? Answer clouded in doublespeak

After CAA (Citizenship [Amendment] Act), can we expect an NPR (National Population Register) and an NRC (National Register of Citizens)? That would...

17.03.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

New India: From flawed democracy to dictatorship?

There was a popular video recently by a young man named Dhruv Rathee, which irked the government’s supporters. Its broad argument may be understood...

10.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

The most 'Bharatiya' of them all: 100 years of RSS

Next year, the world’s largest NGO or non-governmental organisation marks its centenary. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was founded in 1925...

03.03.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Solidarity Matters: What Connects Two Struggles in Asia

I am writing this from the United States, where I attended an interesting solidarity meeting. It was interesting because it combined two struggles —...

27.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Modi Government's Tryst with Electoral Bonds Should Neither Be Forgotten Nor Forgiven

India’s electoral bonds scheme has been declared illegal, a rare win in court for those resisting authoritarianism. But many elections, including...

20.02.2024 50

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Electoral bonds scheme should alert us to the weakness of our institutions

India’s electoral bonds scheme has been declared illegal, a rare win in court for those resisting authoritarianism. But many elections, including...

18.02.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Demolitions as Extra-Judicial Punishment Have Left India in a Perpetual State of Violence

The demolitions in Uttarakhand last week, after which five people were killed in violence, follows a pattern that we see in Bharatiya Janata...

14.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Remembering the ‘Routes of Wrath: Weaponising Religious Processions’ 

Demolitions in Uttarakhand this month, after which five were killed in violence, follow a pattern we can see in the BJP states. The pattern is, of...

11.02.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

How the BJP Has Changed Basics of Where It Stands Over the Decades

On its website, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says: “The philosophy of Integral Humanism looks at the individual not merely as a material object...

06.02.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

What Does 'Integral Humanism' Really Mean to the BJP?

On the third page of its constitution, the BJP lays out its membership conditions: “Any Indian citizen of 18 years or above who accepts Articles II,...

30.01.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

The BJP's promise of ‘integral humanism’ & national dharma

On the third page of its constitution, the Bharatiya Janata Party lays out its conditions for membership: ‘Any Indian citizen of 18 years or above...

28.01.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Gujarat Lifts Its Alcohol Ban for Some: A Sign of What Lies Ahead

Sociologist M.N. Srinivas has written that the use of alcohol and intoxicants in Hindu religious rituals is part of the practices of popular and...

23.01.2024 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Prohibition's Hindu majoritarian roots lie deeper than dry state Gujarat

I am writing this from Gujarat, where the government has decided to lift prohibition in one part of the state. As a news report put it, this was done...

21.01.2024 7

National Herald

Aakar Patel

How Advani made the Ram Mandir possible… taking the BJP to the top

14.01.2024 10

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

Ayodhya, chronology of an 'accident'

The temple inauguration in Ayodhya closes a chapter in our history that many youngsters will not know about, but the rest of us have lived through. It...

14.01.2024 8

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Why We Can't Forget What the Modi Government Did to the Tablighi Jamaat

It’s sometimes necessary to remind ourselves of the past in order to understand the present. Four years ago, in 2020, evangelical Muslim...

09.01.2024 50

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Scapegoating of Tablighi Jamaat in 2020: Lessons for today’s India

08.01.2024 7

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

The curious case of the 'corona jihad'

Sometimes, it is necessary to remind ourselves of the past to understand the present. Four years ago, in March 2020, the evangelical Muslim...

07.01.2024 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

After Rajnath’s vow, will Army give ‘justice’ to all it wronged?

01.01.2024 9

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

Ideas for India: Effort is the critical investment

In times such as these, we must remember we are citizens, not subjects. The difference boils down to one fact: we are not being ruled, merely...

31.12.2023 3

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Justice under AFSPA: Easier promised than delivered?

Defence minister Rajnath Singh has visited the families of those Kashmiris recently killed in army custody and assured them justice. He told them, it...

31.12.2023 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

If the Indian Penal Code Ain't Broke, Break it

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The dictionary says this is a proverbial saying whose popularity is attributed to an official in former US...

26.12.2023 20

The Wire

Aakar Patel

IPC gets junked: Why do we try to ‘fix’ problems that don’t exist?

25.12.2023 8

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

The real reason our penal code had to change (hint: not decolonisation)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The dictionary says this is a proverbial saying whose popularity is attributed to an official in former US ...

24.12.2023 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

Who’s a ‘Terrorist’: Youngsters Who Sprayed Smoke in Parliament Just Like Bhagat Singh?

A rational nation, a reasonable State, should be able to distinguish between a peaceful protest, however spirited, and an act of terrorism. That we no...

19.12.2023 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Who’s a ‘terrorist’: Spraying smoke in Parliament just like Bhagat Singh?

19.12.2023 10

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

When does 'peaceful protest' become 'act of terrorism'?

A rational nation, a reasonable state, should be able to distinguish between a peaceful protest, however spirited, and an act of terrorism. That we no...

17.12.2023 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

What Is Holding South Asia Back While Other Asian Economies Flourish?

Last week, I wrote about South Asia remaining poor compared to many nations in Asia, which have done something different from us. The task is to...

13.12.2023 10

The Wire

Aakar Patel

Has South Asia hobbled itself? Can we turn into Korea, Taiwan?

11.12.2023 7

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

Why are we still so poor? What's wrong with the South Asian economic model(s)?

Last week, I wrote about South Asia remaining poor compared to nations in Asia, which have done something different from us. The task now is to...

10.12.2023 30

National Herald

Aakar Patel

1960 to 1990, India & China were at par. How did it then overtake us?

04.12.2023 8

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

When will India conduct its next census? And then the delimitation?

27.11.2023 3

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

No census, ergo no delimitation: how long can India wait?

For 50 years, India has not changed the composition of the Lok Sabha (through what is called delimitation). Enormous power is in the hand of the...

26.11.2023 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

A rebranded govt: BJP adopted Congress schemes, and gave them new names

20.11.2023 6

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

The ‘new’ Modi operandi—or, whose Aadhaar is it anyway?

The Emperor’s new clothes—and monikers—are starting to smell stale. Quite foul, in fact. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor once scoffed in a tweet...

19.11.2023 10

National Herald

Aakar Patel

RBI, Narendra Modi and the Subtle Art of Ignoring Concerns

Demonetisation’s anniversary came and went, without any defence of the masterstroke from the government. ‘Notebandi’ was the idea of a man with...

15.11.2023 50

The Wire

Aakar Patel

In 2016, RBI had warned Demo will not work, but govt ignored it

13.11.2023 9

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

But don’t forget demonetisation

Demonetisation’s anniversary came and went, without any defence of the masterstroke from the Indian government. Notebandi was the idea of a man...

12.11.2023 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

It’s time to end the anonymous funding of all Indian elections

06.11.2023 8

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

Why did we need electoral bonds? An attempt at an explainer

The Supreme Court has finished hearing arguments on electoral bonds and will hopefully tender a judgement soon. I say “hopefully” because it has...

05.11.2023 9

National Herald

Aakar Patel

It’s time rethink India’s role in the world; if it’s helping us

30.10.2023 8

Deccan Chronicle

Aakar Patel

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