Worldview with Suhasini Haidar

This week, we are speaking about Jammu Kashmir, where voters have now participated in 3 phases of polling for the first state elections in a decade and the message New Delhi is sending out over it. Read more here.

Israel broadens the war in Gaza with an air attack on Lebanon, is the crisis in West Asia about to escalate? And as the one-year mark since the October 7 terror attacks approaches, PM Modi meets the Palestinian President. Has India’s position shifted at all? Read more here.

The timing of PM Modi’s visit to the UN makes it even more interesting—this is the 4th time Mr. Modi has travelled to the UN during what’s called High-Level Week—after 2014, 2019 and 2021., although he will not address the UN General Assembly this year. Read more here.

Two weeks after we reported on PM Modi’s mission to Kyiv, the NSA and EAM were travelling – and the flurry of activity has sparked speculation about an Indian role in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict- is it likely? Possibly effective or even feasible given the latest escalation in the war.  Read more here.

This week we are going to look at India’s ties with its near neighbours to the East- ASEAN countries, and particularly his visits this week. Read more here.

Six weeks after his Moscow move, PM Narendra Modi arrived in Kyiv. Was the Prime Minister’s mission in Ukraine just about geopolitical balancing, or does New Delhi now essay a more ambitious role in mediating in the Russia-Ukraine war? Read more here.

Where does the Indian diaspora stand on Kamala v Usha, and is Desi heritage now a fixture in U.S. politics? Feisty messages coming in from the Harris and Trump campaigns in the U.S. in those latest ads. Less than a month since U.S. President Joseph Biden bowed out of the Presidential race- and we had spoken about the possibilities in WorldView on June 19, just 2 days before he withdrew his nomination- the U.S. elections race has dramatically changed. Read more here.

As Bangladesh boiled over- -Its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka after being in power for 15 years- she is now at an undisclosed location in India after landing at the Hindon airbase on Delhi’s outskirts, -  Days of protests and violence, then saw mobs ransacking Hasina’s homes and Mujib’s memorial. Attacks on Hasina’s Awami League supporters and their properties have seen minorities, particularly Hindus being targeted. - The military moved in to stabilize the situation and a new interim government headed by Professor Muhammad Yunus has now taken charge. His priority, he said, was “save the country from anarchy”, and warned protestors against attacking any minorities. Read more here.

The news could not have been more dramatic- just hours after Palestinian leader and Hamas Political chief Ismail Haniyeh had met with the new Iranian President, and attended President Pezeshkian’s inauguration, the Iranian guard IRGC announced he had been killed- while there is still some confusion over how he died- with Iran blaming Israel for a missile strike, while US and Israeli news reports pointed to a delayed bomb smuggled in months ago- the impact of his assassination will be felt deeply across the region. Read more here.

Nearly 200 are dead from violent student protests and firing by forces in Bangladesh – is PM Sheikh Hasina, who won elections just a few months ago, losing her grip on gen-next, and will the unrest India’s closest neighbour is grappling with, spill over? Read more here. Listen to the Hindu's In Focus podcast episode on Bangladesh protests here.

The US election campaign takes a deadly turn- with Trump and his new Vice President choice surging in the polls after the assassination attempt, and pressure building on President Biden to step aside for another candidate- what are the major issues for voters, and what will decision 2024 in the US mean for India? Read more here.

There were many firsts to PM Modi’s two day visit to Russia, his first since the invasion of Ukraine, and his first destination for a bilateral summit in his 3rd tenure in office, the first time they held the Annual Summit since 2021, and the first time an Indian leader was awarded Russia’s . While officials billed it as a purely bilateral visit, it won attention internationally, and censure from western capitals. Read more here.

Elections herald change in UK with a Labour landslide, but also France and Iran, while the campaign trail hits a shocking turn in the US- Should New Delhi worry about losing friends in high places and how will results change the geopolitical landscape for India? Read more here.

You could call it the Tale of two trials: With the extradition of an Indian Nikhil Gupta to the US, and the arrest of 4 Indians in Canada, India is expected to face a number of questions over its operations on targeting Khalistani separatists in the west. This week marked many anniversaries - A year since Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani separatist wanted on terror charges in India, was gunned down outside a gurudwara in Canada’s Surrey - A year since the US FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency stopped what it calls an assassination plot under way against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York - And a year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US This week also saw a flurry of activity linked to those 3 events. Read more here.

As PM Modi picks the same team for diplomacy and national security- will there be any changes in Indian Foreign Policy in his third term with a coalition in charge ? What’s on his agenda for travel, and what are the foreign policy priorities for the new NDA government? Read more here.