Tavleen Singh

Tavleen Singh, a leading Columnist associated with The Indian Express. Find all Columns from Tavleen Singh here.

Articles By Tavleen Singh

Fifth Column: Remember 9/11 and why it happened

Kashmir may once have been a problem between Hindus and Muslims, but for many years now the real problem has been the spread in the Valley of jihadist Islam.

Surprised to find how important Hindutva could be in modern India

Having grown up believing that Hindutva was a dangerous, divisive ideology, I find myself surprised at how important an idea it could be for our times.

Kashmir problem is likely to become a bigger headache for Delhi than it was before

Pakistan has been morbidly fixated on Kashmir since 1947. Children are taught in schools that Kashmir is the ‘unfinished business’ of Partition and that Pakistan will not be whole till it is taken away from India. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to do this.

It is hard to feel sympathy for Chidambaram because as Home Minister he never tried curbing powers of agencies

It is hard to feel sympathy for political leaders when they become victims of the system they have created.

Nothing scares Pakistanis more than the possibility that India could succeed and Pakistan fail

The core problem is that if India becomes a mighty economic superpower and Pakistan remains a bankrupt nuclear power, then the whole exercise of breaking India to make a nation for the ‘pure’ could become meaningless.

Manner of 370 abrogation was wrong, but if it brings back Kashmir’s magic, it will be worthwhile

To use a sledgehammer to abrogate Article 370 was unwise and risky. But, if it can bring back the magic that Kashmir once had long, long ago, then the risk will be worthwhile.

Now, win the peace

In Kashmir, there is a weariness with the old. If the new is rung in, Article 370 could become a fading memory

Fifth column: Modi’s aura shrinks and nothing is working well for the PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will find it hard to continue lecturing India about values and morality in his Mann ki Baat if he is seen to be sheltering rapists and other criminals in his fold.

With Budget 2019, the signal that FM Sitharaman sends is that rich Indians deserve to be penalised

When the Finance Minister says proudly that high taxes will affect less than 5,000 rich Indians, the signal she sends is that rich Indians deserve to be penalised.

RSS cannot be described as India’s deep state

Since the election results, the new ‘secular’ myth that is carefully and deliberately being created is that Narendra Modi is a pawn of the RSS. And, that it is the RSS that is the real ‘deep state’. It is unfortunate that even Rahul Gandhi seems to believe this.

Political instability in Karnataka and Goa is more dangerous for BJP than Congress

If the Prime Minister is sincere about creating a new India, then he will have to create a new political culture. It should be one in which defectors are not welcomed into the BJP as if they were heroes.

Rahul Gandhi ran a lousy election campaign behaving like an entitled prince trying to oust a usurper

The truth is that the Congress party did not offer Indian voters anything other than an entitled prince and princess who hoped to win only by exalting the ‘charisma’ of a Dynasty that has ruled too long.

Fifth column: I wish PM Modi had pointed out that without rule of law there can be no democracy

The vigilantes have mostly got away with what they did. Inevitably, now that Narendra Modi’s mandate is bigger than the one that he got last time, many of his supporters see it is as sanction for them to carry on with their violent activities.

If bad old habits continue in ‘new India’, there will be no new India

What is no longer acceptable is that our politicians and high officials should be permitted criminal neglect of government health services, simply because they never have to use them.

It’s time opposition tried to address what actually happened this general election

If they want to survive to fight another day it is time our opposition leaders tried to address what actually happened. The Prime Minister described it in one of his speeches as the triumph of chemistry over arithmetic and there was a bit of that.

Fifth column: Signs of hope in Kashmir?

This is as good a time as any for the Prime Minister to make a serious effort at bringing peace to the Valley. Not only because there is fatigue evident in the militancy but because Pakistan is broke.

Advice for the Congress

I offer it only because I believe that democracy without a strong opposition party causes more harm than good. Narendra Modi may truly have a spiritual strength that will prevent absolute power from going to his head, but it is too risky to bet on this.

No revival of that old order: The idea of India in which there are privileges and not rights is dead

The past five years have been difficult for India’s ruling elite. High officials, famous writers, editors of English newspapers, celebrated TV anchors, heirs of political dynasties, leftists and liberals have found their importance diminish by the day.

If Modi returns to power, he might have to drop the Hindutva project

Ordinary Indian voters do not see Narendra Modi as wicked. They believe it is because of him that such things as toilets, gas connections and loans to build homes have become available to them.

If Modi becomes PM again, it will have a lot to do with Congress misjudging the national mood

There was a time when the Gandhis could win elections on their vaunted charisma. That time has gone.