Assembly elections

Pinarayi Vijayan: The McMarxist From Malabar

Ullekh NP

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, a communist feared as well as admired, is a market-friendly pragmatist in power

West Bengal: Marx Is Dead, Long Live Mamata

Sunanda K Datta-Ray

Revolution is relentless in West Bengal—but at what cost?

Reading the Future in the Ashes of Thursday

S Prasannarajan

A comrade who defies both biology and ideology in Kerala. The triumph of Kancheepuram kitsch in Tamil Nadu. The compelling subaltern-sandesh socialist in Bengal. A Modi wave on the Brahmaputra. And a Family that couldn't provide the sheltering shadow for a withered party...The summer thriller of 2016

Congress: The Dead Old Party of India

PR Ramesh

A verdict that magnifies the irrelevance of the Congress and strengthens the modernisation agenda of the Prime Minister

Kerala: Red With a Dash of Saffron

Shahina KK

The UDF has suffered a humiliating setback after a no-holds-barred campaign in which it was seen as aligning with communalists of all hues

West Bengal: Soaring Sister and Falling Fossils

Ullekh NP

Mamata Banerjee’s victory is a major embarrassment for Yechury who jostled for CPM’s poll pact with the Congress

Pinarayi Vijayan: The Politician Who Does Not Smile

Shahina KK

In the run-up to the Assembly elections, will Pinarayi Vijayan’s ‘tough guy’ image be tough enough to outshine VS Achuthanandan’s charm

Jayalalithaa: The Mother of All Battles

V Shoba

A smug Jayalalithaa parachuting into constituencies, Stalin in damage control mode, smaller parties turning up the heat. V Shoba watches the great election circus in Tamil Nadu