The article argues that India’s current quietism in the face of Venezuela’s acute sovereignty crisis is historically incoherent and strategically self-defeating. It reconstructs a longer arc of Indo-Venezuelan relations, from diplomatic recognition in 1959 and Third World economic diplomacy around OPEC and the New International Economic Order, to the post-1999 “Chavista” convergence and India’s state-backed oil investments, to show that the relationship has never been only transactional or petroleum-driven. On this basis, the article advances three imperatives for India to speak up: defending the norm of sovereignty that underwrites India’s own strategic autonomy; protecting substantial Indian stakes and leverage amid any post-crisis reconstruction; and honouring accumulated reciprocity in Global South politics. Silence, as the article argues, risks conceding a unipolar order in which the South remains a resource frontier rather than a co-author of multipolarity.

This article examines the trajectory of Hindutva politics in West Bengal through the national and state elections between 2014 and 2024, a state that has remained unusually resistant to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) wider national dominance. Drawing on election data, survey reports and secondary sources, the study analyses how regional identity, welfare politics and organisational structures intersect with the ideological spread of Hindu nationalism. It argues for an analytical distinction between political Hindutva - embodied in the BJP's electoral project - and cultural Hindutva - propagated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates. While the BJP's performance has faltered in successive electoral contests, the resilience of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), anchored in populist welfare transfers and the mobilisation of Bengali cultural identity, has curbed its expansion. Yet electoral setback does not equate to the erosion of Hindutva as a socio-cultural force. The paper shows how cultural Hindutva advances through grassroots mobilisation, educational networks, religious festivals and community-oriented initiatives that expand its social base across marginalised regions. By tracing these dynamics, the article highlights West Bengal as a critical site where competing logics of political patronage, regional subnationalism and Hindu nationalism intersect. The analysis underscores that Hindutva in Bengal cannot be reduced to electoral outcomes; rather, it is a layered and evolving project whose cultural dimensions continue to expand despite political reversals. In doing so, the paper contributes to broader debates on the relationship between populism, identity politics and the endurance of ideological movements in democratic contexts.

Rice, meat and potato is a cheaper, hardy combine suited for the delivery economy while subtly resisting the dietary puritanism that defines identity today.

In three poetic publications, Narendra Modi presents himself as a renouncer-king and lays out what we refer to in this article as a ‘Hindu leadership style’. The image that emerges from the poems is that of a leader who is both spiritual and worldly, a seeker of divine favour and insight who at the same time is seeking political power. In line with his spiritual quest, his poems repeatedly underline detachment as an ideal—including from popular adoration. Seemingly irreconcilable with his role as an elected leader, his aloofness and distance not only underline his spiritual nature but justify a heterogeneous political style and multiple political personae as mere expressions of a divinely inspired leadership. Drawing upon mythological as well as historical Indian styles of leadership for our analytical framework, we show how this reconciling contributes to the assumed authority of Modi’s political persona.

In contemporary politics, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an enigma. He distinguishes himself from his contemporaries through his nuanced allure, eliciting varying degrees of resonance among individuals. Contrary to the conventional perception of authoritarian populist leaders, depicting forceful language, profanity, self-made narratives, and anti-elite sentiments, Narendra Modi has skilfully cultivated a succession of unique political personas. Every one of these personae represents a distinct register, conveying specific values and ideas about his leadership.