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Nov 16, 2024 | 
theweek.in | Anando Bhakto
Donald Trump’s resounding success in the US elections has reinforced the political and journalistic elites’ deficient understanding of public attitudes in the post-pandemic world order. On top was the end of the fixation to involve America in global disputes to preserve and perpetuate its hegemony. For the less well-heeled Americans, this was unnecessary spending, compounding their immediate economic challenges.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
flipboard.com | Anando Bhakto
Kamala Harris vs Trump: With just a few days to election day, US presidential race is a dead heatWashington, DC, Iowa and Minneapolis As one drives along the 169-mile-long St Croix river, a tributary of the Mississippi that connects Democratic …
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
theweek.in | Anando Bhakto
As one drives along the 169-mile-long St Croix river, a tributary of the Mississippi that connects Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s home city Minneapolis to the politically fractious swing state of Wisconsin, the motifs announcing support for Kamala Harris are gradually outnumbered by billboards of Donald Trump, illustrating the hard combat the Democrats face in the November 5 election, despite their slender, yet persistent lead in opinion polls.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
deccanherald.com | Anando Bhakto
Kashmir has handed Omar Abdullah an enviable pitch. But will he aggressively bat? The verdict reflects the voters’ realisation that a well-planned and calibrated navigating is needed to surmount the Narendra Modi regime, and that the Abdullah family is best suited for it.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
deccanherald.com | Anando Bhakto
While one cannot imagine an election in Jammu & Kashmir without intensifying political bickering, enigma, and intrigues, this time the stakes are manifold higher, and that means manifold more political drama. The element of enigma is provided by the personality cult surrounding Abdul Rashid Sheikh, a political rebel operating within the system, but different from his ‘mainstream’ colleagues because of his exhibition of hostility towards the system.
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Sep 2, 2024 | 
thediplomat.com | Anando Bhakto
As Kashmir gears up for its first local assembly election in a decade, there is a battle underway. It’s not just a contest for the hot-seat of power but a duel of competing narratives, each underlying how a Muslim-majority region should adapt to the ignition of Hindu nationalist rage seen in the Narendra Modi years.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
thediplomat.com | Anando Bhakto
It has been over five years since Jammu and Kashmir saw its special status abrogated, subjecting the former state to direct rule from New Delhi. Now, as Jammu and Kashmir prepares to elect a government for the first time since the change, mainstream political parties are facing unprecedented challenges as they seek to rebuild their space. Omar Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference, is one of the top contenders for chief minister in the upcoming assembly election.
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Jun 11, 2024 | 
deccanherald.com | Anando Bhakto
The Opposition’s impressive tally of 234 seats in India’s 18th Lok Sabha, clinched against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s stranglehold on key institutions and the media, its disproportionate capital, and a sorry conduct of the Election Commission of India (ECI), is undoubtedly a moral defeat of the mighty Narendra Modi regime.
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May 29, 2024 | 
deccanherald.com | Anando Bhakto
As the seven-phase general elections draw to a close, many political pundits are betting that Bihar will play a crucial role in shrinking the brutal majority of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Their unflagging optimism stems from three readings of the state’s fractious electoral landscape: One, persisting unemployment has generated widespread contempt for the Modi regime.
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May 23, 2024 | 
tribunecontentagency.com | Anando Bhakto
There weren’t many elements of a pulsating election rally when National Conference leaders took the podium at Wopzan, roughly 50 km south of Srinagar, the capital of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). In this quiet, picturesque village tucked under the formidable mountain ranges of Bijbehara, there was no throwing of rose blossoms by ebullient party workers. No blaring of slogans on loudspeakers. No blinding emission of light from the equipment of camerapersons hoping to record.
