Mani Shankar Aiyar – Author, NDTV.com

Opinion: It Would Be Cruel To Wish Modi 'Happy New Year'

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Friday January 01, 2016

Modi has not seen acche din in 2015. First, he lost the assembly elections in Delhi at the start of the year and then the Bihar elections at the end of the year. Clearly, his much-vaunted charisma has taken a deadly blow, for these two major election losses took place notwithstanding his personal involvement in both of them.

Opinion: Modi Goes From Lion To Lamb On Pak

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Sunday December 27, 2015

The Great Showman has taken yet another turn upon the stage. By fetching up from Kabul in Lahore on his way back to India on the day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif - not to mention Good Governance Day! - Modi has certainly ensured that the spotlight remains on his highly personalized style of diplo...

Opinion: What Modi Got Grossly Wrong in Paris

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday December 21, 2015

The real problem for us lies not in the international arena of verbose and obscure diplomatic jargon but in the very real steps that will have to be taken on the ground in India to give credence to Modi's INDCs as we convert them into pledged NDCs requiring Plans of Action.

Opinion: What You Should Know About National Herald Case

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday December 15, 2015

This is not an attempt to pre-empt judicial proceedings in the matter but with a view to educating a confused public, an attempt to place before readers the outlines of the defense so that readers might be better able to follow matters in the courts with informed understanding.

Opinion: A Modi-Made Disaster Hits Nepal Hard

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday December 07, 2015

What Bush did to Iraq pales in comparison to what India is doing to Nepal.

Opinion: Modi, Will You Ignore Aamir Khan Too?

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday December 01, 2015

Bollywood has always preserved us from the poison of Hindutva. No wonder the Hindutva trolls take to 140 characters of character assassination, particularly of any Bollywood star, and above all, Muslim screen heroes, who speak their mind about public affairs.

Opinion: What India Should Learn From Paris Attacks

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday November 24, 2015

If terrorism is to be conquered, it has to be understood. Merely condemning terrorism is not in itself an answer.

Opinion: None Less Than Modi Owes SRK an Apology

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Saturday November 14, 2015

The Bihar election results overshadowed the Shah Rukh Khan episode, but the issues raised are of such far-reaching significance that I return to it with deep concern.

Opinion: Thank You, Nitish

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday November 10, 2015

Bihar saw that Modi knows nothing about development and everything about dividing people and society.

Opinion: What Bihar Result Will Mean For Modi

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday November 02, 2015

What is it that takes the BJP's language of politics to that level and pushes Nitish into responding that he, for his part, "can't stoop to that level?" Is it merely that Modi's sense of humour has failed him? Or is Modi turning hysterical as he foresees that defeat in Bihar will call into question his entire strategy of taking and keeping power?

Opinion: The Importance of Nitish Kumar

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday October 26, 2015

He is proving himself a leader of not just state relevance but of national importance.

Opinion: Dear Minister Jaitley: Open Letter from Mani Shankar Aiyar

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Tuesday October 20, 2015

When silence was not an option, you chose to remain silent and have kept silent for over a decade. The passage of years does not take away from the pogrom you have never found fit to deplore and make amends for.

Opinion: Real Agenda of RSS Pracharak-Turned-PM

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Monday October 12, 2015

What a contrast to Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru before and after Independence and Partition. One seems to hear today what Gandhiji cited at his prayer meeting in Birla House on 22 December 1947: "I always like to be with a minority, for a minority as a rule does not commit mistakes, and even if it does, it can be rectified. But a majority is drunk with power and it is dif...

Opinion: A Giant Flop Scheme Courtesy Modi

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Sunday October 04, 2015

In the words of an expert, Prof. Dean Spears, "Modi's Swachch Bharat Abhiyan is essentially the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan of the previous government and the Total Sanitation Programme with a new name".

Opinion: After Pakistan, Modi Isolates Another Neighbour

Mani Shankar Aiyar | Saturday September 26, 2015

Modi's propaganda machine, never far behind Goebbels', swung into action when Modi visited Nepal in August 2014, proclaiming that Modi had visited neighbouring Nepal within weeks of becoming PM whereas Dr. Manmohan Singh had failed in ten years to go to Nepal even once.

OPINION