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Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Pratap Bhanu Mehta is Contributing Editor at the Indian Express. He has been vice-chancellor of Ashoka University and president, Centre Policy Research. Before he started engaging with contemporary affairs, he taught political theory at Harvard, and briefly at JNU. He has written on intellectual history, political theory, law, India's social transformation and world affairs. He is the recipient of the Infosys Prize, the Adisheshiah Prize and the Amartya Sen Prize. Follow @pbmehta
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More From Pratap Bhanu Mehta - Page 2
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Haryana shows BJP’s slide is overstated. In J-K, National Conference’s resilience winsSubscriber Only
October 08, 2024 18:16 IST
For BJP, winning a third term in Haryana where it does not have the kind of default cultural identification it has in Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh is no mean feat. J&K results testify National Conference's staying power
Wed, Oct 09, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Why the arguments for and against One Nation One Election are flawedSubscriber Only
October 04, 2024 00:52 IST
It is neither a panacea for all that ails Indian politics and governance, nor an apocalypse. Democracy requires a broader imagination.
Fri, Oct 04, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Democracy’s blind eyeSubscriber Only
September 26, 2024 00:37 IST
Suffering unleashed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon is made possible by complicity of Great Powers, including India. It has high costs
Sat, Sep 28, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes on Manipur: The darkness we unseeSubscriber Only
September 13, 2024 07:10 IST
The scale of our indifference bears calling out. BJP's behaviour over the crisis is shockingly bizarre
Fri, Sep 13, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: S Radhakrishnan still speaks to our timeSubscriber Only
September 05, 2024 07:00 IST
As we honour him on Teachers’ Day, we might as well read him, not in the spirit of a nationalistic paean to this or that tradition, but to an open world trying to discover its yet unborn soul.
Thu, Sep 05, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Uncharted territory for India’s governance matrixSubscriber Only
August 29, 2024 07:04 IST
The main driver of the new governance matrix is not the presence of coalition partners, but the BJP's own weaknesses
Fri, Aug 30, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: In Kolkata, after the crime, indignitySubscriber Only
August 20, 2024 07:59 IST
On top of the alleged cover-up or incompetence, politicisation is added to a political pantomime where the chief minister plays victim.
Tue, Aug 20, 2024
From Bangladesh’s students, a message: A fighting chanceSubscriber Only
August 06, 2024 18:26 IST
The country is unique in the degree to which students retain the aura of democratic legitimacy in challenging authoritarianism
Wed, Aug 07, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Caste questions for Rahul GandhiSubscriber Only
July 30, 2024 13:00 IST
A public culture where invocation of caste becomes a substitute for serious thinking will not serve the cause of social justice or healthy institutions
Wed, Jul 31, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Cries buried under rubble of Gaza will come back to haunt global systemSubscriber Only
July 22, 2024 16:20 IST
ICJ advisory on Israel’s actions in Gaza highlights how Netanyahu has converted a serious crisis into an existential one
Tue, Jul 23, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: The focus on Trump attack, Biden’s age hides a more fundamental problemSubscriber Only
July 17, 2024 19:41 IST
The problem for the Democratic Party is that the focus on the persona of Trump, and the preoccupation with Biden clinging onto power by all means, is obscuring the fact that Trump is acquiring more ideological coherence, governing plausibility and undercutting Democrats on their own terms
Sun, Jul 21, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Collapse of trust in examination system amounts to a collapse in trust in system as a wholeSubscriber Only
June 24, 2024 12:41 IST
Exams are a test of a certain kind of skill: If nothing else ambition, concentration, endurance, commitment and character. India’s coaching industry is much derided. But coaching is an inevitable consequence where competitive stakes are high
Tue, Jun 25, 2024
What went wrong with capitalism? Ruchir Sharma seeks to answer in his latestSubscriber Only
June 22, 2024 15:28 IST
The investment banker’s new book details how lowering interest rates and 'rescuing' failing banks and businesses made the economy work against the poor
Sat, Jun 22, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Why the rejection of BJP is not a rejection of HindutvaSubscriber Only
June 14, 2024 19:21 IST
The building of the temple was popular and communalism is growing. But the BJP made the mistake of thinking this could transform into political capital indefinitely
Sun, Jun 16, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta on 2024 Lok Sabha election results: Suffocating shadow has lifted, balance restoredSubscriber Only
June 04, 2024 16:05 IST
At the very least, the result pricks the bubble of Prime Minister Modi’s authority. He made this election about himself. But today, he is just another politician, cut to size by the people
Wed, Jun 05, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes on ICC seeking arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu: Why we need humanity’s lawSubscriber Only
May 21, 2024 19:19 IST
Reaction to International Court seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders shows international order is beyond even the redeeming comforts of organised hypocrisy
Wed, May 22, 2024
Knife: Salman Rushdie’s temptation of, and triumph over, fateSubscriber Only
April 28, 2024 07:00 IST
The book is an attempt to recover the strength of Rushdie, the person, occluded by Rushdie, the targeted writer
Sat, Apr 27, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Behind student anger in US, three crises — democracy, university, protestSubscriber Only
April 26, 2024 14:48 IST
Protests against the war in Gaza across US universities are a sign of a triple crisis: Of liberal democracy, of the university, and paradoxically, of anti-war protests as well
Sat, Apr 27, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Why voters’ silence is making the BJP nervousSubscriber Only
April 23, 2024 16:10 IST
The BJP’s biggest fear is that the palpable lack of national issues makes this a normal election: An amalgam of messy local equations, caste and subcaste politics, organisational rivalries, and opportunistic alliances
Fri, Apr 26, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest: The mask is off, what stares us in the faceSubscriber Only
March 22, 2024 16:31 IST
The government will probably claim that it was simply following the law; that Kejriwal was not responding to summons. But the law was already being applied in a way that was highly discretionary. If you have a government that does not allow the Opposition to mobilise, organise and govern, it is hard to pretend that we are a democracy. The election is already being vitiated
Sun, Mar 24, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: With CAA Rules, excluding minorities by stealthSubscriber Only
March 13, 2024 18:26 IST
At some point, the SC will awaken from its slumber and fully consider the complex issues involved in the CAA. But for now, the government gets to fulfill its promise, and use it as an election talking point, while throwing cold water over the apprehensions of an NRC being used to disenfranchise citizens
Thu, Mar 14, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes on Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant pre-wedding: Shaadi No 1Subscriber Only
March 04, 2024 19:28 IST
Publicness of Ambani festivities, move away from traditional reticence of Indian business, represent broader shift in culture
Tue, Mar 05, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: On recent Supreme Court verdicts, hold the celebrationsSubscriber Only
February 23, 2024 07:06 IST
While SC judgments on electoral bonds and Chandigarh mayoral election are welcome, they ought not to merely be an episodic legitimisation of the façade of constitutionalism. They need to be part of a pattern that challenges the consolidation of authoritarianism and communalism
Fri, Feb 23, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Donald Trump’s trial: When the court needs to do the saving, democracy is lostSubscriber Only
February 08, 2024 07:07 IST
It will take an incredible feat of legal finesse, persuasive eloquence and consensus in the Supreme Court to navigate this thicket. But there is no evidence that the Court is capable of rising to the occasion
Thu, Feb 08, 2024
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: What January 22 is, what it isn’tSubscriber Only
January 21, 2024 14:28 IST
Ram’s dhwaja has been planted. But the question of dharma is met with a silence
Tue, Jan 23, 2024Trending