Saba Naqvi

Delhi

Books, In Good Faith (2012) Capital Conquest (2015). Shades of Saffron: From Vajpayee to Modi ( 2018) Politics of Jugaad (2019). Saffron Storm (2024)

Articles

‘Iran sees itself in a moral fight, not a military fight’: Syed Akif Zaidi

5 days ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |C.S. Venkiteswaran |Vaishna Roy

The United States’ bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22 represents an unprecedented escalation that has forced America to abandon diplomatic pretence and enter direct military confrontation with a non-nuclear state for the first time in history, according to Syed Akif Zaidi, an Indian scholar who has lived in Iran for over 15 years and witnessed the attacks first hand.
India’s Gaza Vote Undermines its Myth around Vishwaguru

1 week ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |C.S. Venkiteswaran |Vaishna Roy

The term Vishwaguru, which the Modi regime has used to describe itself, translates to global or world teacher or a nation that guides the world through its moral clarity. In India’s case, the moral positioning was entirely missing on June 12, the day before Israel started attacking Iran. On that day, the UN General Assembly put to vote a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and resumption of all humanitarian aid to stave off famine.
The Optics of War: Operation Sindoor and the BJP’s Tactical Messaging

3 weeks ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared in posters the past week wearing military fatigues, invoking Operation Sindoor, it may have been a dramatic image, but it was also a deeply problematic one. In most democracies, the visual of a civilian elected leader in combat should trigger unease, not applause. Across the border in Pakistan, we have seen what happens when military generals depose civilian rulers and then their strategies become central to statecraft.
India-Pakistan Conflict: Fake News, Nuclear Fear, and Media Hysteria

1 month ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy

The problem with an India-Pakistan conflict is that it is both very predictable and highly risky. This time around we went into a short duration military conflict after a horrific terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Kashmir. The hostilities ended after US President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had brokered a ceasefire. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, said that Pakistan approached India for a ceasefire; he also stated that India would not succumb to nuclear blackmail.
Trolling Vikram Misri is anti-national

1 month ago | deccanherald.com | Saba Naqvi

The government should put investigative agencies on the job of locating the trolls and book them under various sections of the law to send a message.
Caste Census is Key to a Balanced Society: Sumeet Mhaskar on Caste Census in India

1 month ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy

As the government announces plans to include caste in the next census—the first comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931—the nation grapples with fundamental questions about its social fabric. To understand the implications of this, senior journalist Saba Naqvi interviewed Sumeet Mhaskar, labour sociologist and thinker, as part of Frontline Conversations.
War, Power, and the Price of Nationalism: India’s Cycle of Conflict

1 month ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy

The past can hold clues to an uncertain future. Indira Gandhi was hailed for India’s decisive victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan, leading to the birth of Bangladesh. She had seemed invincible then, but in that victory also lay the seeds of her destruction. The Congress became a party built around a “Supreme Leader”, which eventually turned out to be bad for its health, and the cost of war jolted the economy as inflation went through the roof.
Waqf Law, Polarisation, and the BJP’s Strategy Ahead of 2025 Election

2 months ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Meena Kandasamy |Vaishna Roy

The violence in West Bengal after the passage of the waqf law and potential disputes in Tamil Nadu over claims by the State Waqf Board are both flashpoints in the two States where Assembly elections are due next year and the BJP is not in power. Anything that dispossesses and disempowers India’s Muslim minority is believed to satisfy the primal urges of the ruling BJP-RSS cadre.
Digital Banking Exclusion: How India’s Poor and Marginalised Struggle to Access Their Own Money

2 months ago | frontline.thehindu.com | Saba Naqvi |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy

At a time when we are fighting for the right to free speech, it may be worth our time to look at the economic rights of the unlettered in a digitised world. Bundi Munda, a tribal lady from Jharkhand, has been a part of my home for 26 years. She has raised my daughter, cooks like a master chef occasionally, and plans frequently to retire to her village in Jharkhand, where her bank account should have her life savings that currently add up to quite a tidy sum.
Indian Grey Wolf: Endangered Predator Struggling in India’s Disappearing Grasslands

Mar 25, 2025 | frontline.thehindu.com | Mihir Godbole |Saba Naqvi |Mridula Chari |Vaishna Roy

The grey wolf is many things to many people in India. For ecologists and conservationists, it is an endangered apex predator that needs to be protected. For historians and anthropologists, iconography associated with wolves usually represents the untameable forces of nature. For pastoralists and livestock keepers, the wolf is a sworn enemy. For the rest of us, the lore of the big bad wolf is etched into our imagination by tales we read as children.