Rahul Gokhale

Humayun Kabir India’s political landscape is once again getting crowded with new party banners, ambitious launches, and familiar claims of “alternatives.” In just the last fortnight, three new political outfits have emerged across three states. In West Bengal, Humayun Kabir has floated the Janata Unnayan Party; in Odisha, former Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim has unveiled a party to be formally launched on January 12, National Youth Day; and in Telangana, K. Kavitha, recently expelled from the...

The battle for Maharashtra’s civic polls has reduced a test of urban service delivery to a tawdry spectacle of defections, deal-making and power without purpose. As 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra head to the polls, the political discourse should ideally be anchored in the gritty realities of everyday life like water woes, sanitation, crumbling infrastructure and traffic congestion. Yet, the run-up to these elections has traded civic accountability for a vulgar scramble for power....

As the grand old party falters, the Congress’ most assured parliamentary voice is forcing a long-deferred reckoning on leadership. With electoral reverses in Bihar, chronic infighting in Karnataka, and organisational drift elsewhere, Congress can no longer evade the question of leadership. It is in this context that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s measured but firm address in Parliament assumed significance. Delivered during the Winter Session debate commemorating 150 years of  Vande Mataram , her...