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Shashi Tharoor
For Shashi Tharoor's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Given Pakistan's internal security challenges and changing geopolitical dynamics, India may opt for a policy of minimal engagement with its neighbor.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024
Does Pakistan still matter to India?
New Delhi's approach toward Islamabad is likely to remain unchanged in the foreseeable future.
Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of India's main opposition Indian National Congress Party, waves to supporters earlier this month as he takes part in 66-day long political tour across the country. Opposition parties have accused the Modi government of using federal law enforcement agencies to target them.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024
Indian democracy’s moment of truth
After a decade of Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding power, the country’s democratic culture and institutions have been substantially eroded.
Sikhs in Peshawar, Pakistan, hold a protest on Sept. 20 against the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader who was murdered months earlier in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2024
Does India have a secret hit list?
The pressure is on for India to salvage its global reputation and preserve its relationship with the United States amid assassination plots against Sikhs.
Indians celebrate the successful lunar landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the south pole of the moon at a rally in the city of Ahmedabad on Aug. 24.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2023
India has every right to be proud of its space program and lunar triumph
In 2014, after the Mars Orbiter Mission, known as Mangalyaan, made India the first Asian country to reach Mars' orbit and the first country ever to do so in its maiden attempt,
A demonstrator blocks a military vehicle in the city of Imphal on Aug. 3 during a protest against the killings of Kuki peoples amid ethnic violence in the Indian state of Manipur.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2023
India’s state of violence
The slow-burning horror in its northeastern state of Manipur has shaken the country and paralyzed its Parliament. And there is no resolution in sight.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2023
The ups and downs of the Modi decade
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nine years in office have included plenty of worthy achievements, but unfortunately, they have also featured flawed policies in a wide range of areas.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2023
India opens a new and sorry chapter in its political history
The implications of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's sentencing for the future of India's democracy should not be underestimated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2023
Where is the next American ambassador to India?
The strategic partnership between the U.S. and India has never been more essential, and yet Washington has not had an ambassador to the country for two years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2022
India’s looming demographic divide
As it prepares to overtake China as the world's most populous country, India is struggling to harness the economic benefits of its declining mortality and fertility rates.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2022
The Indian diaspora has arrived
The values and traits that have allowed U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and others like him to thrive in the West are the ones that the BJP government now seeks to suppress.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2022
India’s long infatuation with Russia must end
In the face of growing Chinese belligerence, closer Beijing-Moscow ties augur ill for India, which should reconsider its long-standing strategic dependence on a weakening Russia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2022
Is BRICS going to break up?
India has always been the indispensable swing member of BRICS. The bloc's current strategic direction in favor of China and possible enlargement could push the country toward an exit.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2022
The promise and pitfalls of Indian foreign policy
New Delhi won plaudits for its strategic autonomy on the Ukraine war, but then the ruling party unleashed more Hindu-chauvinist rhetoric.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2022
The Indian government and its COVID-19 con
As the recent spat with the WHO over COVID-19 mortality figures suggests, clumsy attempts to influence the global narrative will only undermine India's international reputation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2022
What’s up with India and its Ukraine policy?
The Ukraine war has exposed India's strategic vulnerabilities as arguably nothing else could. And paradoxically, the conflict has also increased the country's importance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2021
Global coal hypocrisy
India's supposed crime in Glasgow was to join China in insisting on a last-minute change to the final declaration in which countries pledged to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2021
India’s Taliban problem
With the Taliban government desperately in need of patronage, China seems ideally suited to fill the breach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2021
The Olympic-size difference between India and China
Whereas China has strived for Olympic success since it re-entered global athletic competition after years of isolation, India has remained complacent about its lack of sporting prowess.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2021
Religious tolerance among India’s believers
A multifaith survey reveals that Indians are committed to respecting religious diversity while practicing what some call a “segregationist form of toleration.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2021
India making the right moves as it reaches out to Pakistan and the Taliban
Faced with continued Chinese aggression on India's northern frontier and a likely Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, improving relations with Pakistan seems prudent.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on