Opinion: Modi Government Under Pressure To Prove It Can Handle Pak
Jyoti Malhotra | Wednesday May 03, 2017The BJP has been vocal in recent years in charging the Congress and the UPA with being "easygoing" on Pakistan. The time has now come for the ruling BJP to pull a real solution out of the bag.
Opinion: As PM Modi Skips China Summit, Beijing Stakes Are High
Jyoti Malhotra | Tuesday April 25, 2017Beijing seems unconcerned about whether the diplomatic quarrel with Delhi will blow over or not.
Opinion: Chinese Media Is Right, Modi's Stand On Dalai Lama Is Big Change
Jyoti Malhotra | Wednesday April 05, 2017The Chinese have fallen right into Modi's trap. They got increasingly hot and bothered each time the Dalai Lama came into the public eye. As he prepares to travel to Tawang from Bomdila, Beijing has even threatened a downgrading of the bilateral India-China relationship.
Opinion: Adityanath Selection Exposes Limits Of Modi's Power
Jyoti Malhotra | Sunday March 19, 2017Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made his first mistake by helping appoint Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. By installing a man as polarizing and malignant as the five-time MP and head of the Gorakhnath Peeth, Modi has told us that the gloves are off. That, just like Adityanath himself promised, the installation of a Hindu Rashtra has begun.
Opinion: The Growing Role Of Government-Approved Think Tanks
Jyoti Malhotra | Wednesday March 01, 2017When the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pulled its Rs 1 crore annual grant to the Institute of Chinese Studies at the end of January, the rest of the think-tank community sat up and took notice.
Opinion: India-China Talks Next Week Will Be Influenced By Trump
Jyoti Malhotra | Saturday February 18, 2017If India has the benefit of Trump's support vis-a-vis China, there is no question that it will be able to gain much greater leverage, even though it is a much smaller economy than China's, and much less able to project power.
Opinion: Pak's Action Against Hafiz Saeed To Placate Trump - And China
Jyoti Malhotra | Tuesday January 31, 2017On Monday night in Lahore, soon after Hafiz Saeed was placed under "preventive detention" at his Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity office, he called a press conference and accused Narendra Modi and Donald Trump of putting pressure on the Pakistan government to take action against him, then drove off home in his own car. That was when his house was declared a "sub-jail."
Opinion: In Modi Embracing UAE Crown Prince At Plane, Crucial Signals
Jyoti Malhotra | Friday January 27, 2017The sight of Arab troops marching down Rajpath for the first time ever is an intensely transforming moment, not only for India's relationship with the United Arab Emirates - from where the contingent came - or the rest of the Arab world, but also an incredibly ambitious attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to once again pitch himself as a reliable partner with Indi...
Opinion: Nitish Kumar's Game In Mingling With The BJP And Modi
Jyoti Malhotra | Tuesday January 17, 2017Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar is turning out to be a cannier politician than previously imagined, reaffirming the anti-BJP coalition with RJD's Lalu Yadav and the Congress on the one hand, and making overtures to his former political enemy, the BJP, on the other, thereby signalling to his coalition partners not to take him for granted...
Opinion: Rahul Gandhi's Holiday Cheer Has Opposite Effect On Congress
Jyoti Malhotra | Tuesday January 10, 2017The results of the state elections will undoubtedly be a vote on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reign; they will also be a wake-up call for Rahul Gandhi's leadership of the party. It is unlikely, though, that the Congress looks at it this way. For better or worse, the dynasty is here to stay.
Opinion: China Offers New Proof That It Is A Major Challenge For Modi
Jyoti Malhotra | Saturday December 31, 2016India and China will begin the new year on a sour note, as Beijing confirmed Delhi's worst fears by blocking a UN Security Council-mandated committee from blacklisting Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, thereby throwing a lifeline of support to its client state, Pakistan.
Opinion: Pak-Russia-China Get Closer. What That Means For India
Jyoti Malhotra | Saturday December 24, 2016Just when it seemed new, possible alignments were emerging on the international stage towards the end of 2016, possibly to distract from India's renewed obsession with domestic matters such as demonetisation, US president-elect Donald Trump has spun the wheel in a different direction, calling up old enemies to possibly assist with challenging new ones.
Opinion: Awe Of Surgical Strikes Apart, Modi Needs New Pak Policy
Jyoti Malhotra | Thursday December 01, 2016With Nagrota comes the realization that the collusion of terror between the Pakistani "deep state" (the army and the ISI) and anti-India jihadist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed operating inside Pakistan is too deep for it to be dismantled by an occasional terror strike under the cover of night and for the purpose of soothing your domestic aud...
Opinion: Notes Ban Is A Solid Move. But Team Modi's Messaging Is Not.
Jyoti Malhotra | Monday November 14, 2016Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tearful defence yesterday of his war against the parallel black money economy is both an admission that the war is tougher and will last much longer than he expected, as well as the unstated frustration that his initiatives outside the country are received with greater appreciation than at home.
Opinion: China Objection To US Ambassador's Arunachal Trip Is Good News For India
Jyoti Malhotra | Tuesday October 25, 2016Delhi believes the US ambassador's visit to Tawang reinforces its claim to that piece of real estate. The Indian side is somewhat unhappy that the talks on the border dispute between the two Special Representatives, Ajit Doval and Yang Jiechi, are going nowhere, although 19 rounds have concluded since 2003 when the mechanism was set up.
