Two words that did not exist together 15 years ago, now cannot be separated. Modi – proper name become common noun. Godi- godi – lap. Media that sits in the lap. Semantic definition is easy: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India since 2014, leader of BJP, product of RSS, face of Hindutva plus development. Godi Media, term coined by...
The Politics of Herititva: Turning Stones into Swords in Post-Colonial Landscapes
In the charged arenas of post-colonial identity, heritage rarely remains a neutral archive of the past. It becomes a battleground where memory is curated, contested, and conscripted into the service of the present. Hindutva has long been understood as the ideological project that seeks to define the Indian nation through a singular Hindu civilizational essence. Its quieter sibling, which...
When Laughter Became a Weapon
In the quiet corners of everyday life James Scott once watched Malaysian peasants fight back without ever raising a banner. They slowed their work, pretended not to understand orders, spread quiet jokes about the powerful, and nicked small amounts of grain when no one was looking. These were the weapons of the weak. They required no grand speeches and...
When The Voter Becomes Disposable: Democracy, Necropolitics and The ECI
Democracy in India stands as one of the most remarkable experiments in human history. A vast nation of immense diversity chose the path of popular rule after centuries of colonial domination. Millions exercise their franchise with regularity and passion. Yet today that system faces a profound crisis of confidence. Institutions that once commanded broad respect now struggle under the...
Shadows Over the Ballot Box: A Goan View of Troubles Inside the Election Commission
Goa has long prided itself on peaceful elections and a relatively clean electoral process. Our small state values each vote, for every name on the list carries weight in a place where margins can be tight and communities know one another well. Yet the recent revelations about deep internal discord within the Election Commission of India leave many of...
How We Begin Again Counting As One
There are things in Goa that are too large to be seen in one place and too sticky to be left in one place. Timothy Morton calls such things hyperobjects. A hyperobject is an object that is massively distributed in time and space, that sticks to you wherever you go, that you cannot put at a distance remember coronavirus....
When Soft Power Turns Hard: Non-State Actors and the Shadow Over BJP
Non-state actors aligned with certain Hindu organisations appear increasingly eager to operate in close proximity to the ruling BJP. Recent episodes involving Swatantra Bhardwaj in Delhi and Malcolm Pereira in Goa illustrate this pattern with unsettling clarity. What unfolded at the Eiffel Tower in Paris has only intensified the sense of unease. These persons and some organisations function as...
The Golden Mirage and the Wound of Waiting
India stands caught between two powerful illusions. One is the sense that history itself is a vast waiting room, a place where the present exists only as preparation for some promised golden age. The other is the quiet invitation to return to days that, viewed from a comfortable distance, appear pure and complete. Both illusions form a double edged...
Face Recognition Errors and the Youth Protest
The recent revelations surrounding the use of face recognition technology during the student led protests at Jantar Mantar in July 2026 have cast a long shadow over the reliability of such systems in public spaces. Investigations by media outlets including the Indian Express examined records linked to the Delhi Police claim that nearly three thousand individuals with prior criminal...
Mandate as Sacred Property: How Goa’s Democracy Was Looted Through Transferable Loyalties
In any healthy democracy the vote of the people is not a temporary loan that politicians may later reassign like surplus furniture. It is a nontransferable asset. Once the ballot is cast, the resulting mandate belongs to the electorate and cannot be traded, gifted, or quietly walked across the aisle without their consent. In Goa this basic principle has...
