Grand Tamasha

First, Milan sits down with Irfan Nooruddin, the Hamad bin Khalifa Professor of Indian Politics in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Director of the Georgetown India Initiative. Milan and Irfan discuss the first week of official campaigning—including ticket selection by the major parties, the state of alliances, and the BJP’s claim that coalitions are “a potential recipe for causing irreparable damage to India & Indians.” Irfan, who is also the author of Coalition Politics and Economic Development, tells Milan why Indian voters should not fear coalitions, especially those that involve one of India’s two principal national parties.

Then, Milan chats with Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj, star of the hit Netflix show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj. In the season finale of Patriot Act, which aired on March 17, Minhaj turned his focus to the Indian general elections. In just half an hour, Minhaj covered topics ranging from Narendra Modi to the Congress Party’s corruption scams to the rising tide of nationalism—all with his trademark satirical humor. Milan speaks with Hasan about what it’s like commenting on Indian politics as a member of the Indian diaspora, why the 2019 election is a battle for the soul of India, and how forwards on a family WhatsApp group convinced him to do a show on Indian politics.

First, Milan sits down with Reuben Abraham, CEO and senior fellow at the IDFC Institute in Mumbai. A Kerala native who has lived and worked in Hyderabad and now calls Mumbai home, Reuben talks to Milan about the electoral salience of corruption, alliance politics, and recent political developments in southern India.

Then, Milan sits down with author, columnist, and investor Ruchir Sharma to discuss his new book, Democracy on the Road: A 25 Year Journey Through India. For the past 25 years, Ruchir has been spending at least one week every year on the campaign trail in India. In their conversation, Ruchir recounts his run-ins with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Gandhi family, and other prominent politicians. He also reflects on some of the deeper drivers of voter behavior, from economic growth to caste and constituency service.

First, Milan Vaishnav sits down with Roshan Kishore (Data and Political Economy Editor, Hindustan Times) to discuss the latest economic figures from India. The Government of India reported that GDP growth in the third quarter of 2019 clocked in at 6.6 percent—the slowest pace in five quarters. India’s GDP growth forecast for 2018-19 has also been revised downwards to 7 percent from 7.2 percent. Milan and Roshan discuss the political implications of India’s slowing economy, the nature of rural distress, and how to make sense of India’s contested employment data.

Then, Milan speaks with Neelanjan Sircar, one of India’s leading public opinion experts. Sircar, an assistant professor at Ashoka University and senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, explains why pollsters have such a hard time forecasting elections in India and how to make sense of the public opinion surveys that are rushing in ahead of the 2019 general elections. Sircar explains why it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for an Indian version of Nate Silver—the star number cruncher of American elections—to emerge. Milan also talks with Sircar about the status of the heated election race in West Bengal, a state Sircar has been researching for a decade.

Milan Vaishnav talks about the aftermath of the recent conflict between India and Pakistan and its ramifications for India's domestic politics and foreign policy with Alyssa Ayres (Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations) and Rezaul Hasan Laskar (Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times). Although major hostilities have paused, tensions between the two neighbors remain high. But as India's election approaches, the domestic spin game has begun. The three discuss the government’s approach, the opposition’s positioning, and how international diplomacy fared during the crisis.

Then, Milan speaks with Vipin Narang, associate professor of political science at MIT and a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Narang is one of the few scholars to have thought deeply about when foreign policy actually matters for domestic politics in India. While the conventional wisdom holds that foreign policy is an elite issue that does not capture the imagination of the masses, Narang (and co-author Paul Staniland) argue that foreign policy can penetrate mass politics when the issue is salient and the lines of accountability are clear. Narang also explains why Modi and the BJP are likely to benefit from the recent crisis.

This week on Grand Tamasha, Milan Vaishnav sits down with Sadanand Dhume (Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute and Wall Street Journal columnist) and Sukumar Ranganathan (Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times) to discuss the aftermath of India’s targeted military strikes against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camps in Pakistan. The strikes were a direct response to the tragic February 14 JeM attack on Indian paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir, in which at least forty Indian soldiers lost their lives. The three discuss the current mood in New Delhi and the implications for the coming general elections. They also debate the ramifications of the conflict for state politics in Jammu and Kashmir and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) standing in the troubled state.

Then, Milan speaks with Arvind Subramanian, the former chief economic adviser to the Government of India, about the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) for India. Subramanian was responsible for putting the idea of an Indian UBI on the policy agenda with his landmark proposal in the government’s 2017-2018 Economic Survey. Since then, several states have implemented modified versions of a UBI and both the Congress Party and the ruling BJP have announced their own income support schemes. Subramanian, who is currently a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, weighs in on the competing proposals and outlines his own proposal for a QUBRI (Quasi-Universal Rural Basic Income).

Grand Tamasha debuts February 27! Here's a taste of what's coming up. Every week Milan will break down the biggest news with fellow experts in Indian politics, and interview an important guest on topics that transcend the headlines.