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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

BAPS is now presented abroad as the benign face of Hinduism but is a non-state actor. The Paris episode and its past record raises tough questions: caste exclusion, slave labour, misogyny—and a very close relationship with Modi. My essay in The Caravan caravanmagazine.in/religion/bap...

caravanmagazine.in

The spiritual cronyism of Narendra Modi and the BAPS

The Eiffel Tower incident has brought national attention to how the BAPS operates within India, particularly under the Modi government.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"Beijing now operates on the assessment that India lacks the economic and political weight to demand strategic parity. A new status quo is in place, one that reflects the power asymmetry between the two. Beijing wants the normalcy that Modi seeks, but that will strictly be on China’s terms."

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I spoke with Dr Radhika Desai on what was meant to be a conversation about the BRICS summit but we covered a vast amount of ground on geopolitics, India-China ties, India-US ties, Israel and the economy. As this video perhaps shows, I really enjoyed talking to her. youtu.be/37aHt69ViHE?...

youtu.be

Sushant Singh: Is India The Roadblock Stopping BRICS? | GEH W/ Radhika Desai

YouTube video by Radhika Desai - Geopolitical Economist

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

"The lesson is straightforward: influence cannot be manufactured through diaspora networks, carefully branded events or political donations. It requires honesty and credibility—and neither Bhagwat nor the RSS has it." I write @themorningcontext.bsky.social themorningcontext.com/chaos/rss-ch...

themorningcontext.com

RSS chief's North America visit did not go well. Its problems run deep

Influence cannot be manufactured through diaspora networks, carefully branded events or political donations. It requires honesty and credibility.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Where Hartosh and I discuss the compulsory singing of all the stanzas of Vande Matram - we conclude that it needs to be opposed tooth and nail, because there is nothing national about this song. youtu.be/L7uJZOYm3ew

youtu.be

Vande Matram: Nothing national about this song | The Caravan Long View Episode 10

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Far from proving India’s ability to conduct conventional warfare under the nuclear shadow, Gen Chauhan ended up highlighting the dangers of inadvertent nuclear escalation when operational missteps are masked as controlled successes. I write in The Caravan.

caravanmagazine.in

A former chief of defence staff’s porous account of Operation Sindoor exposes the risks of nuclear escalation

Anil Chauhan, the chief of defence staff during the military clash with Pakistan in May last year, stated the official version of the operation, which the Narendra Modi government has tried to feed th...

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Modi regime's posture in BRICS may be presented by some "as evidence of a doctrine of multi-alignment, but the record shows a narrow transactionalism that rarely converts into substantive outcomes beyond symbolic participation." I write in The Telegraph (Kolkata)

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Cautionary Tale: Pakistan’s current global prestige can’t mask its reality of domestic decay. Therein also lies a lesson for contemporary India, even though any comparison should be made carefully. I write @thecaravanmagazine.bsky.app caravanmagazine.in/politics/pak...

caravanmagazine.in

Pakistan’s current global prestige cannot mask its domestic decay

Each external diplomatic win, such as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, works as a temporary life-support system for the military establishment in Pakistan.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

"India is no longer seen as a peer or a fellow developing country by most Chinese scholars and commentators. Top Chinese academics are upfront about stating that PM Modi has wasted a golden opportunity for India in his stint of more than a dozen years." I write in @themorningcontext.bsky.social

themorningcontext.com

China’s view of India has changed. It’s time New Delhi recognized that shift

Chinese diplomats to India are saying all the right things for Indian ears, but Beijing’s policy actions are moving in the opposite direction.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I was on the China Global South Project podcast, discussing with Eric Olander the state of India-China relations and comparing our notes. youtu.be/Mc484hL5tfs?...

youtu.be

China's View of India Has Changed. Is New Delhi Ready?

YouTube video by The China-Global South Project (CGSP)

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

"These protests mattered because they revealed both the fragility of Modi’s political aura and the continued possibility of democratic pressure in India.The state can absorb the message and adjust—or it can harden, punish and deepen the distrust that the protests exposed." I write in Foreign Policy

foreignpolicy.com

India’s Political Atmosphere Has Changed

If Modi responds to the Cockroach protesters with further repression, it could backfire.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I write in @thewalrus.ca about the contradictions in Canadian PM Mark Carney's policy towards China, and why it is not sustainable. Also has parallels with his India policy. 👇🏾

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

"If the Indian democratic experiment survives this dark era of majoritarian overreach, it will not be because its compromised institutions suddenly rediscovered their spine. It will be because the hopeful, optimistic youth of India decided to stand up and fight back." I write in The Telegraph

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

India’s inability to build or source a jet engine has turned into a strategic liability for India. It is the bill for 30 years of deferred decisions on engine technology, and India will pay it either in money, in capability or in strategic autonomy. themorningcontext.com/chaos/indias...

themorningcontext.com

India’s jet engine gap turns into a strategic fault line

The country's fighter jet roadmap rests on imported propulsion, leaving its military plans hostage to cost shocks, delays and geopolitics.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The Implosion of Modi’s West Asia Policy: How New Delhi made itself irrelevant in the region’s most consequential crisis. ..easy to dismiss the current Indian quandary as a collection of isolated diplomatic missteps, when it is a systemic failure of Modi’s over-centralised foreign policy apparatus.

caravanmagazine.in

How New Delhi made itself irrelevant in the region’s most consequential crisis

By embedding India’s geopolitical interests so deeply within the Israeli security paradigm and offering tacit diplomatic cover to its destructive war effort, Modi compromised India’s historical standi...

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Reposted by Sushant Singh

Nomi Claire Lazar @nomiclairelazar.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Any democracy worth having is always under construction.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Taken together, the Global South and the Indo-Pacific — geopolitical terms that once possessed substantive strategic utility — now expose the same problem in India’s foreign policy. By substituting spectacle for substance, Modi has stripped them of real meaning and reduced them... In The Telegraph

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

For The Caravan #Baatcheet, a no-holds barred conversation with Vishnu Sharma on the events of West Asia - Iran, Israel, the US and the rest - and what it reveals about the disaster that has been Modi's foreign policy (in Hindi, video) youtu.be/IkyTlkyN5BY?...

youtu.be

America-Iran Deal: इज़राइल के लिए झटका, irrelevant हुआ भारत | The Caravan Baatcheet | Ep 47

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

"The US was once India’s most trusted strategic partner, but that trust has eroded.... What if the current disruption is not an aberration linked to a single presidency, but rather a permanent structural shift in US behavior?" I write in Foreign Policy foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/18/i...

foreignpolicy.com

The Iran War Damaged U.S.-India Ties

Diplomatic fractures between the two strategic partners are likely to outlast the conflict.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

"MAGA immigration politics have eaten away at the foundations of the India-US relationship, and Rubio’s visit revealed that the two nations can’t even agree that a problem exists ― a problem which could change the strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific and leave India adrift in a volatile world."

indiahousefoundation.org

Empty Diplomatic Optics Define Modi’s Damaged Partnership With Trump 2.0

Marco Rubio’s India visit exposed growing strains in India-US ties under Trump 2.0, from immigration and trade disputes to shifting Indo-Pacific priorities.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

"The decision is an emergency response to administrative failure, but emergencies create precedents. A democracy that requires its armed forces to secure test booklets because it cannot trust its civil administration has traded long-term constitutional health for short-term political firefighting."

themorningcontext.com

NEET and the military shortcut risks long-term damage

The government’s reliance on the armed forces may help it address a credibility crisis, but risks weakening civilian institutions.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Today’s unfortunate reality is that India is not merely absent from the high table making major international decisions, its absence is not being noted - it means India has become irrelevant to them. And if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. My column in The Telegraph

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Where Hartosh and I discuss the Bengal elections and take offence with those trying to justify the results by slicing and dicing half-baked data, instead of examining the democratic consequences of holding an election like this. Its consequences are far reaching and highly damaging.

youtu.be

Choking Democracy: Results Don’t Count When The Poll Process Has Been Debased | Long View Ep 8

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

"A strategic location is not the same thing as a project of any size or form, and certainly not when that is mostly a large commercial project. The two are being confused on purpose to invoke national security and shout down any valid objections." I write in The Morning Context on Great Nicobar

themorningcontext.com

The security fiction behind the Great Nicobar Project

The project leans on national security to justify ecological damage and commercial expansion that far exceed military needs.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

"That is why Modi’s triumphalist rhetoric against Pakistan is strategically unhelpful. The conflict last May showed that India can impose some costs, but it also revealed that Pakistan will be reinforced quickly by China in technological, operational and political ways." In @thecaravan.bsky.social

caravanmagazine.in

The Dragon in the Room: Why Pakistan is no longer a standalone threat

Beijing’s real-time military support to Pakistan—like in Operation Sindoor—pose a bigger challenge to India’s security than is being currently acknowledged in New Delhi.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

India must decide if it is truly prepared to undertake the immense and painstaking effort required to be a great power, or if it has tacitly accepted the future of a secondary player in an order managed by others. The evidence suggests that, for now, the choice has already been made. My piece

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

I was on the One Decision podcast, hosted by Former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove and international journalist Rosanna Lockwood. It was recorded on Monday, and uploaded today. youtu.be/ZNFAAj26k0E?...

youtu.be

The Iran War Has Unraveled a Decade of Indian Foreign Policy

YouTube video by One Decision

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

In the Morning Context, I write on the 10 lessons which must be quickly learnt if the Indian military has to fulfil the political goals in the next conflict with Pakistan—or God forbid, China. themorningcontext.com/chaos/ten-mi...

themorningcontext.com

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Reposted by Sushant Singh

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

🚨🎧NEW episode of @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social on the surprising global ramifications of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, incl. Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran talks. A rich conversation w/ @niloufersiddiqui.bsky.social @sushantsingh.bsky.social & student team. goodauthority.org/news/how-did...

goodauthority.org

How did the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict change global politics? 🎧

Explore the unexpected fallout – and Pakistan’s role in the Iran war ceasefire – in this episode of Chalkboard Politics.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

I was on BJPod a couple of days back for a freewheeling conversation with Richa and Aditya.

open.spotify.com

BJPod Talkein and Batein- Indian foreign policy feat. Sushant Singh

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

As Modi remains tethered to the domestic political narrative of aspiring to global leadership, he is being bypassed in the real corridors of power. Pakistan has outperformed India by manufacturing diplomatic relevance despite its internal problems and risks of failure. I write in Foreign Policy

foreignpolicy.com

Pakistan’s Peacemaking Is a Setback for India

As Islamabad positions itself as a mediator in the Iran war, New Delhi is sidelined.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The mis-sold foreign-policy narrative, the structural rot of an economy, and the corrosion of internal security and institutions. Together, they explain why, when the tide of favourable global conditions and domestic propaganda finally receded, India discovered that the emperor was naked.

caravanmagazine.in

The US-Israel war on Iran marks the decline of the Modi era

The current moment, exposed by the crisis in West Asia, marks the end of the long summer of the Modi era.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

The complexity of being Sunil Gavaskar and why his political arguments shrink his legacy as a bonafide cricketing great. In light of his recent diatribe against Indian corporates having Pakistani cricketers in their teams in foreign leagues, I look at the man and his politics in Cricket et al.

cricketetal.com

Sunny Side Down

SS on Sunil Gavaskar's shrinking legacy

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I write in The Telegraph on the West Asia crisis has only made it clearer what is wrong with Modi's foreign policy, and this tells us why India now needs a change.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

The Indian side deservedly won the T20 World Cup and the players were magnificent. What happened next with ICC chair Jay Shah around should concern us more, because it has exposed something brittle beneath the triumphalism. I write in Cricket et al www.cricketetal.com/p/the-indian...

cricketetal.com

The Indian side won the T20 World Cup. What happened next should concern us more.

Sushant Singh on how Jay Shah's and the team's decision to take the trophy to a Hindu temple tarnishes the sport and the team's victory

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

In The Caravan magazine, I examine the claim that the Modi govt can't condemn Khamenei's killing or speak on the torpedoing of an Iranian boat close to our shores because it needs to protect Indian interests, mostly in the Gulf - and find it flawed and specious.

caravanmagazine.in

The Modi government’s silence on Khamenei’s killing does not shield Indian interests

The Modi government is treating silence on Iran as a costless option when, in reality, it is a choice with compounding long-term costs for the country.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

"It is time for the Modi government to stop being a prop in someone else’s Wag the Dog sequel. Instead, India should resume behaving like the steward of a vulnerable, globally exposed economy that understands the price of war in its own extended neighbourhood." My quick take on the attack on Iran

themorningcontext.com

Netanyahu and Trump’s war on Iran leaves India counting the costs

India has much at stake in West Asia. It must step up and act like the leader of the Global South that it aspires to be.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Modi's Russia approach should worry Carney, because it suggests that Modi will not stand up to Trump if forced to choose between Washington and Ottawa. If Trump signals displeasure with Canada in the future, Modi is likely to drop Carney’s agenda. Me in Toronto Star www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

thestar.com

The hidden meaning of Mark Carney’s India travel itinerary

The PM's trip is firmly focused on the economy over domestic diaspora politics.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

My piece on Carney's India trip: "...the real constraint on Canada–India co-operation is not a lack of areas where interests align. It is a lack of insulation from domestic agendas. Almost every positive initiative can be derailed by a political shock that pulls old grievances back to the surface."

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

"India needs Pakistan to exist as a mirror against which its progress can appear heroic. The very claim that “there is no rivalry” is itself a political act, meant to assert that India has moved so far ahead that competition is meaningless. It is a claim of superiority masquerading as detachment."

cricketetal.com

The India-Pakistan Rivalry is Dead?

SS says: long live the rivalry

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

On the much hyped 114 Rafale deal and what it tells us about the crisis in the Indian Air Force, and how institutional memory has been sacrificed at the altar of Modi’s political grandstanding. I write in The Telegraph

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

This is how sovereignty is eroded in practice. Not through spectacular treaty signatures but through a sequence of executive actions & side letters that align a country’s long-term choices with another power’s national security and economic interests without any real domestic debate about the costs.

themorningcontext.com

India-US trade pact demonstrates how sovereignty is eroded in practice

The framework reads less like an agreement between partners and more like a probation order written by the stronger side.

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Was a commentator on this Carnegie discussion on two papers on nuclear escalation yesterday. It was a learning experience. www.youtube.com/live/nsnLPPc...

youtube.com

Nuclear Flashpoint? How Pakistan and India Manage Escalation

YouTube video by Carnegie Endowment

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Had a superb conversation on @thenewsminute.com's South Central podcast this week with hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna, and fellow guest MK Venu - on my essay in The Caravan on Gen Naravane's memoirs, the banned animated toon of The Wire, criminal defamation of journalists and much more

youtu.be

Naravane Memoir, LAC China Claims & Questions for the Govt | South Central Podcast

YouTube video by The News Minute

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

"Cricket has survived this storm, but does not emerge stronger from it. The incentives now reward brinkmanship, not stability, and the precedent of political concessions assures that this crisis will not be the last." I write on the T20 world cup Pak-India denouement

cricketetal.com

Life on the Brink

SS on cricket's latest brush with realpolitik

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Where I speak to Vishanu Sharma about The Caravan cover story on Galwan clash, buffer zones, political restrictions on opening fire on PLA and why August 2020 operations were not quid pro quo operations. Beyond the 'Jo uchit samjho' political directive to the army chief. (In Hindi)

youtu.be

Gen Naravane's Book: संसद में चर्चित रिपोर्ट के लेखक Sushant Singh का इंटरव्यू | Baatcheet Ep 43

YouTube video by The Caravan Magazine

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

I spoke to Karan Thapar about the The Caravan magazine's February cover story about the stunning revelations on China border crisis, beyond "jo uchit samjho", in Gen Naravane's unreleased memoir. We discussed the Galwan clash, firing restrictions, buffer zones and so much more.

youtube.com

Sushant Singh, author of essay on Gen. Naravane's book that's stalled Parliament; what does it say?

YouTube video by The Wire

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Sushant Singh @sushantsingh.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

"Pakistan’s chaos is a tragedy for its own fans; the BCCI’s calculated weaponisation of the sport is a global threat. ... Pakistan is indeed a mess, but the BCCI’s power may turn out to be a more dangerous illusion." I write at Cricket et al on Pakistan decision: www.cricketetal.com/p/armageddon...

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