"These protests mattered because they revealed both the fragility of Modi’s political aura and the continued possibility of democratic pressure in India.The state can absorb the message and adjust—or it can harden, punish and deepen the distrust that the protests exposed." I write in Foreign Policy

India’s Political Atmosphere Has Changed

If Modi responds to the Cockroach protesters with further repression, it could backfire.

foreignpolicy.com

I write in @thewalrus.ca about the contradictions in Canadian PM Mark Carney's policy towards China, and why it is not sustainable. Also has parallels with his India policy. 👇🏾

The Walrus@thewalrus.ca · yesterday

Canada’s spy agency has a warning: Chinese military intelligence is recruiting Canadians through fake job postings on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork. Writer Sushant Singh on what this reveals about the growing intersection of trade, politics, and espionage: https://ow.ly/M3WT50Zw18J

"If the Indian democratic experiment survives this dark era of majoritarian overreach, it will not be because its compromised institutions suddenly rediscovered their spine. It will be because the hopeful, optimistic youth of India decided to stand up and fight back." I write in The Telegraph

India’s inability to build or source a jet engine has turned into a strategic liability for India. It is the bill for 30 years of deferred decisions on engine technology, and India will pay it either in money, in capability or in strategic autonomy. themorningcontext.com/chaos/indias...

India’s jet engine gap turns into a strategic fault line

The country's fighter jet roadmap rests on imported propulsion, leaving its military plans hostage to cost shocks, delays and geopolitics.

themorningcontext.com

The Implosion of Modi’s West Asia Policy: How New Delhi made itself irrelevant in the region’s most consequential crisis. ..easy to dismiss the current Indian quandary as a collection of isolated diplomatic missteps, when it is a systemic failure of Modi’s over-centralised foreign policy apparatus.

How New Delhi made itself irrelevant in the region’s most consequential crisis

By embedding India’s geopolitical interests so deeply within the Israeli security paradigm and offering tacit diplomatic cover to its destructive war effort, Modi compromised India’s historical standi...

caravanmagazine.in

Any democracy worth having is always under construction.

Taken together, the Global South and the Indo-Pacific — geopolitical terms that once possessed substantive strategic utility — now expose the same problem in India’s foreign policy. By substituting spectacle for substance, Modi has stripped them of real meaning and reduced them... In The Telegraph

For The Caravan #Baatcheet, a no-holds barred conversation with Vishnu Sharma on the events of West Asia - Iran, Israel, the US and the rest - and what it reveals about the disaster that has been Modi's foreign policy (in Hindi, video) youtu.be/IkyTlkyN5BY?...

America-Iran Deal: इज़राइल के लिए झटका, irrelevant हुआ भारत | The Caravan Baatcheet | Ep 47

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

youtu.be

"The US was once India’s most trusted strategic partner, but that trust has eroded.... What if the current disruption is not an aberration linked to a single presidency, but rather a permanent structural shift in US behavior?" I write in Foreign Policy foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/18/i...

The Iran War Damaged U.S.-India Ties

Diplomatic fractures between the two strategic partners are likely to outlast the conflict.

foreignpolicy.com

"MAGA immigration politics have eaten away at the foundations of the India-US relationship, and Rubio’s visit revealed that the two nations can’t even agree that a problem exists ― a problem which could change the strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific and leave India adrift in a volatile world."

Empty Diplomatic Optics Define Modi’s Damaged Partnership With Trump 2.0

Marco Rubio’s India visit exposed growing strains in India-US ties under Trump 2.0, from immigration and trade disputes to shifting Indo-Pacific priorities.

indiahousefoundation.org

"The decision is an emergency response to administrative failure, but emergencies create precedents. A democracy that requires its armed forces to secure test booklets because it cannot trust its civil administration has traded long-term constitutional health for short-term political firefighting."

NEET and the military shortcut risks long-term damage

The government’s reliance on the armed forces may help it address a credibility crisis, but risks weakening civilian institutions.

themorningcontext.com

Today’s unfortunate reality is that India is not merely absent from the high table making major international decisions, its absence is not being noted - it means India has become irrelevant to them. And if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. My column in The Telegraph

Where Hartosh and I discuss the Bengal elections and take offence with those trying to justify the results by slicing and dicing half-baked data, instead of examining the democratic consequences of holding an election like this. Its consequences are far reaching and highly damaging.

Choking Democracy: Results Don’t Count When The Poll Process Has Been Debased | Long View Ep 8

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

youtu.be

"A strategic location is not the same thing as a project of any size or form, and certainly not when that is mostly a large commercial project. The two are being confused on purpose to invoke national security and shout down any valid objections." I write in The Morning Context on Great Nicobar

The security fiction behind the Great Nicobar Project

The project leans on national security to justify ecological damage and commercial expansion that far exceed military needs.

themorningcontext.com

"That is why Modi’s triumphalist rhetoric against Pakistan is strategically unhelpful. The conflict last May showed that India can impose some costs, but it also revealed that Pakistan will be reinforced quickly by China in technological, operational and political ways." In @thecaravan.bsky.social

The Dragon in the Room: Why Pakistan is no longer a standalone threat

Beijing’s real-time military support to Pakistan—like in Operation Sindoor—pose a bigger challenge to India’s security than is being currently acknowledged in New Delhi.

caravanmagazine.in

India must decide if it is truly prepared to undertake the immense and painstaking effort required to be a great power, or if it has tacitly accepted the future of a secondary player in an order managed by others. The evidence suggests that, for now, the choice has already been made. My piece

I was on the One Decision podcast, hosted by Former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove and international journalist Rosanna Lockwood. It was recorded on Monday, and uploaded today. youtu.be/ZNFAAj26k0E?...

The Iran War Has Unraveled a Decade of Indian Foreign Policy

YouTube video by One Decision

youtu.be

In the Morning Context, I write on the 10 lessons which must be quickly learnt if the Indian military has to fulfil the political goals in the next conflict with Pakistan—or God forbid, China. themorningcontext.com/chaos/ten-mi...

🚨🎧NEW episode of @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social on the surprising global ramifications of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, incl. Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran talks. A rich conversation w/ @niloufersiddiqui.bsky.social @sushantsingh.bsky.social & student team. goodauthority.org/news/how-did...

How did the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict change global politics? 🎧

Explore the unexpected fallout – and Pakistan’s role in the Iran war ceasefire – in this episode of Chalkboard Politics.

goodauthority.org

I was on BJPod a couple of days back for a freewheeling conversation with Richa and Aditya.

BJPod Talkein and Batein- Indian foreign policy feat. Sushant Singh

open.spotify.com

As Modi remains tethered to the domestic political narrative of aspiring to global leadership, he is being bypassed in the real corridors of power. Pakistan has outperformed India by manufacturing diplomatic relevance despite its internal problems and risks of failure. I write in Foreign Policy

Pakistan’s Peacemaking Is a Setback for India

As Islamabad positions itself as a mediator in the Iran war, New Delhi is sidelined.

foreignpolicy.com

The mis-sold foreign-policy narrative, the structural rot of an economy, and the corrosion of internal security and institutions. Together, they explain why, when the tide of favourable global conditions and domestic propaganda finally receded, India discovered that the emperor was naked.

The US-Israel war on Iran marks the decline of the Modi era

The current moment, exposed by the crisis in West Asia, marks the end of the long summer of the Modi era.

caravanmagazine.in

The complexity of being Sunil Gavaskar and why his political arguments shrink his legacy as a bonafide cricketing great. In light of his recent diatribe against Indian corporates having Pakistani cricketers in their teams in foreign leagues, I look at the man and his politics in Cricket et al.

Sunny Side Down

SS on Sunil Gavaskar's shrinking legacy

cricketetal.com

I write in The Telegraph on the West Asia crisis has only made it clearer what is wrong with Modi's foreign policy, and this tells us why India now needs a change.

Where Hartosh and I discuss the Indian military

A politicised military wins votes but threatens democracy | The Caravan Long View Ep 7

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

youtu.be

The Indian side deservedly won the T20 World Cup and the players were magnificent. What happened next with ICC chair Jay Shah around should concern us more, because it has exposed something brittle beneath the triumphalism. I write in Cricket et al www.cricketetal.com/p/the-indian...

The Indian side won the T20 World Cup. What happened next should concern us more.

Sushant Singh on how Jay Shah's and the team's decision to take the trophy to a Hindu temple tarnishes the sport and the team's victory

cricketetal.com

In The Caravan magazine, I examine the claim that the Modi govt can't condemn Khamenei's killing or speak on the torpedoing of an Iranian boat close to our shores because it needs to protect Indian interests, mostly in the Gulf - and find it flawed and specious.

The Modi government’s silence on Khamenei’s killing does not shield Indian interests

The Modi government is treating silence on Iran as a costless option when, in reality, it is a choice with compounding long-term costs for the country.

caravanmagazine.in

"It is time for the Modi government to stop being a prop in someone else’s Wag the Dog sequel. Instead, India should resume behaving like the steward of a vulnerable, globally exposed economy that understands the price of war in its own extended neighbourhood." My quick take on the attack on Iran

Netanyahu and Trump’s war on Iran leaves India counting the costs

India has much at stake in West Asia. It must step up and act like the leader of the Global South that it aspires to be.

themorningcontext.com

Modi's Russia approach should worry Carney, because it suggests that Modi will not stand up to Trump if forced to choose between Washington and Ottawa. If Trump signals displeasure with Canada in the future, Modi is likely to drop Carney’s agenda. Me in Toronto Star www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

The hidden meaning of Mark Carney’s India travel itinerary

The PM's trip is firmly focused on the economy over domestic diaspora politics.

thestar.com

My piece on Carney's India trip: "...the real constraint on Canada–India co-operation is not a lack of areas where interests align. It is a lack of insulation from domestic agendas. Almost every positive initiative can be derailed by a political shock that pulls old grievances back to the surface."

The Walrus@thewalrus.ca · 5mo ago

There’s a lot riding on Mark Carney’s trip to India. India needs energy, capital, and technology. Canada is resource rich and wants to diversify. Can the two nations find common ground despite years of mistrust? Writer Sushant Singh explores: https://ow.ly/stGg50YmJ21