
Most Indian states debate the merits of identity politics in theory. Bengal has already tested it in practice. The result was one of the greatest civilizational ruptures in modern Indian history. West Bengal is perhaps the only state in India whose modern history contains a complete political laboratory for examining both the promises and the …

On 1 March 2025, four large-scale public protests unfolded across Kolkata, Lalbagh and Basirhat, not over unemployment, local violence, or civic distress, but over the death of a foreign ruler thousands of kilometres away. A commemorative gathering was organised for the late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Sakchura Sarania of Basirhat. Hundreds of demonstrators …

The recent reconfiguration of Manipur’s political leadership has been presented by the Central Government as an exercise in inclusiveness as well as an attempt to restore balance, calm, and administrative credibility in a state devastated by nearly two years of ethnic violence and mass displacement. On the surface, the appointments appear carefully calibrated with a …