Grand Tamasha

Congress Drama, Indian Diplomacy, and the Diaspora

Episode Summary

These days, the world of Indian politics and policy appears to be moving at warp speed—even by Indian standards. To make sense of all the latest developments out of India, this week Milan is joined by Grand Tamasha regulars—Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and the Wall Street Journal, and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution. The trio discusses three topics. First, they examine the latest drama coming out of the Indian National Congress and discuss the race to take over India’s Grand Old Party. Second, Milan, Sadanand, and Tanvi discuss the key takeaways and controversies from External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s lengthy visit to the United States. And finally, the group unpacks the creeping signs of religious polarization in the Indian diaspora, stretching from Canada to the United Kingdom and to the United States. Plus, the three share the best thing on India they’ve read in the past six months.

Episode Notes

1. Tanvi Madan, “China Has Lost India: How Beijing’s Aggression Pushed New Delhi to the West,” Foreign Affairs, October 4, 2022.
2. Sadanand Dhume, “Hindu Nationalism Threatens India’s Rise as a Nation,” Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2022.
3. Prashant Jha, “A story of friendship: The underlying theme of Jaishankar’s Washington DC visit,” Hindustan Times, September 30, 2022.
4. “Rearranging Marriage in Modern India (with Mansi Choksi),” Grand Tamasha, September 28, 2022.
5. Jayita Sarkar, Ploughshares and Swords: India's Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War (Cornell University Press, 2022).