Swapan Dasgupta

Swapan Dasgupta Until relatively recently, there were two prevailing stereotypes of India in the wider world but particularly in the West. The first, and by far the most unflattering image was that of a country where suffering, starvation,…
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Swapan Dasgupta  A curious but nonetheless interesting feature of the discourses on the first year of Narendra Modi's Government was the absence of foreign policy from the list of achievements or disappointments. True, there were the…
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Swapan Dasgupta  There is a rarefied view, quite prevalent among both the non-voting classes and the tribe of over-zealous activists associated with what has come to be called 'civil society', that holds Indian democracy in very low…
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Swapan Dasgupta  British Prime Minister David Cameron defied the opinion polls and overcame widespread concerns over five years of political uncertainty to secure a conclusive re-election. The sigh of relief wasn't merely confined to the…
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Swapan Dasgupta In an age where it is fashionable to be cynical or, to use its media euphemism, 'critical', good news is rarely headline new - unless it is a sporting triumph. In the hierarchy of values, national pride ranks pretty low…
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Swapan Dasgupta    There used to be a time when the proceedings of a Communist Party Congress used to be dissected for hidden meanings, nuances and possible shifts in approach. The exercise, popular among intellectuals in India's…
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Swapan Dasgupta It did not take the defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa even the results of the Presidential election to be formally notified before moving out of Temple Trees, his official residence. And, by the evening of 9th January, barely 24…
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Swapan Dasgupta The past fortnight has witnessed a spirited and even unruly debate over religious rights in India. Before probing this lofty question, it is instructive to recognise a banality that underpins all concerns over religion: the…
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Swapan Dasgupta There's a curious rule that operates in Indian politics: the popularity of a regional leader in the Delhi media is inversely related to their standing in their State. So it was in the late-1980s with Ramakrishna Hegde, then…
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Swapan Dasgupta Most newspapers on carried a photograph of Messrs Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and HD Deve Gowda sitting next to each other and smiling purposefully at the cameras. Looking at the images,…
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