Frontline Conversations

Published on April 17, 2025. In an exclusive interview for Frontline Conversations, the Tanzanian-British author Abdulrazak Gurnah talks to Aditya Mani Jha about his latest novel Theft, his first book since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021. He also discusses the themes such as class differences and migration throughout his body of work, why he spoke out against the practice of publis...

Published on April 22, 2025. In this powerful and wide-ranging conversation, acclaimed Kannada writer, activist, and advocate Banu Mushtaq speaks candidly about her International Booker Prize-shortlisted collection Heart Lamp, the struggles of Muslim women in Karnataka, and her lifelong fight against patriarchy. In an interview that is equal parts personal and political, Mushtaq reflects on decade...

Published on April 11, 2025. In the wake of the alleged recovery of bundles of currency notes in a fire at Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence, senior advocate and activist Prashant Bhushan speaks to Frontline on the growing crisis of judicial accountability in India. The incident has reignited debates on judicial appointments, corruption, and the limits of existing oversight mechanisms. Context: F...

Published on April 9, 2025. Ahead of the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, public intellectual and writer Anand Teltumbde speaks to Frontline’s Amey Tirodkar about how Ambedkar's ideas are being invoked and often misappropriated by political parties across the spectrum. He discusses whether Ambedkar is truly being honoured through action, or merely worshipped in symbolism. In this interview, Tel...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Lata Singh, rights activist and petitioner in the landmark 2006 Supreme Court judgment Lata Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh, reflects on her personal struggle, the continuing reality of honour killings, and the fragile state of the right to choice in India. Speaking in the aftermath of a recent honour killing in Maharashtra, Lata Singh recounts the viole...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Waheed Parra, MLA from Pulwama, speaks candidly about incarceration, surveillance, and the personal cost of stringent security laws in Jammu and Kashmir. Drawing from his own experience under the UAPA, Parra reflects on how the legal process itself becomes punishment, reshaping lives, families, and political faith. He discusses custodial humiliation, the...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Lt General D.S. Hooda, former Northern Army Commander, talks about how personal faith and professional duty should work inside the Indian Army. He explains why trust between officers and soldiers is the foundation of military life, and why the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on faith in uniform reinforces long-standing Army principles. Gen. Hooda discusses...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan speaks with economist and retired professor from JNU, Arun Kumar, who breaks down the turmoil inside India’s economic data ecosystem. He discusses the latest GDP numbers, the IMF’s “not fit for purpose” assessment, and India’s contradictory economic indicators all point to a deeper structural crisis. Kumar explains...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, former IPS officer and security expert Yashovardhan Jha Azad speaks about the recent bomb blast in Delhi and what it reveals about India’s internal security landscape. Drawing on his decades of experience in the Intelligence Bureau and the Government of India, Azad describes the attack as an inflection point—one that exposes gaps in policing, community v...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, author Sunil Tambe, discusses his Marathi book Monsoon Jan Gan Man, which argues that the monsoon—not religion, language, or ethnicity—is the true binding force of the Indian subcontinent. In a political moment dominated by hyper-majoritarian nationalism, Tambe suggests that understanding India requires understanding the monsoon: its ecology, its rhythms...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Sunil Kant Munjal—Chairman of Hero Enterprise and Founder-Patron of the Serendipity Arts Festival—speaks about the making of one of India’s most unique cultural platforms. Now in its 10th year, the festival in Panaji, Goa, brings together visual arts, theatre, music, dance, literature, culinary arts, craft, and new-media practices on a scale unmatched in...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, wildlife biologist K. Ullas Karanth, one of the world’s foremost tiger conservation experts, examines the recent spike in human–tiger conflict around Bandipur National Park. Drawing on decades of field research in Nagarhole, Bandipur, and other Western Ghats reserves, Karanth explains why rising tiger densities, habitat manipulation, and irrational human...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan speaks with Frontline about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the growing concerns over voter disenfranchisement, transparency, and political manipulation. Bhushan dissects the Election Commission of India's (ECI) opaque process, alleging that the SIR risks becoming a tool to exclude minoriti...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, academic and author, Anand Teltumbde speaks with Frontline’s Amey Tirodkar about his latest book, The Caste Con Census, and the turbulent debate over the caste census in India. Teltumbde questions whether enumeration can dismantle caste or whether it risks reinforcing the very hierarchies it claims to challenge. He traces how colonial censuses transforme...

In the latest episode of Frontline Conversations, senior journalist Nirupama Subramanian speaks with Vignesh Rajahmani, author of "The Dravidian Pathway: How the DMK Redefined Power and Identity in South India". The discussion explores how a century-old social reform movement evolved into a durable political force that reshaped Tamil Nadu’s social and political landscape. Rajahmani traces the move...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Dipankar, General Secretary of the CPI(M-L) Liberation, speaks with Vaishna Roy, Frontline’s editor and Anand Mishra, Frontline’s Political Editor, about the shifting political landscape in Bihar ahead of the 2025 elections. Dipankar analyses why the Left’s grassroots presence in Bihar has grown, how feudalism and fascism intersect, and what the INDIA bl...

In this exclusive interview with Frontline, Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Information Technology, and Biotechnology, discusses his call to regulate RSS and other organisations’ activities in government schools, colleges, and public spaces. On October 4, Kharge wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging restrictions on RSS activities in government i...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, ghatam player Sumana Chandrashekar shares her journey as one of the few women percussionists in Carnatic music. In her new memoir, “Song of the Clay Pot – My Journey With the Ghatam”, she traces her path from a mystical calling to mastering an instrument long at the margins of tradition. Guided by her guru Sukanya Ramgopal—the first woman ghatam artist—S...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, ecological economist Nilanjan Ghosh, Head of the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), examines the recent floods in north Bengal and questions whether they were a natural calamity or the outcome of flawed water governance. Drawing from years of research in ecological economics and river basin systems, Ghosh argues...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Political Editor Anand Mishra visits Kalyan Bigha, the ancestral village of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to explore the making of a leader who has dominated the State’s politics for two decades. Speaking with Sitaramji, Nitish Kumar’s childhood companion and long-time associate, the conversation traces his journey from a thoughtful boy who mediated...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, music director Sushin Shyam talks about what led to his return to independent music with "Ray" after years of composing for Malayalam films. From his first experiment with “Under the Apple Tree” in 2013 to blockbuster scores for “Kismath”, “Ezra”, “Kumbalangi Nights”, “Aavesham”, and “Manjummel Boys”, Shyam reflects on how his sound has evolved and why R...

In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Professor Abdul Qadir decodes the mood in Bihar ahead of the 2025 Assembly election. Speaking from Gaya, Qadir traces how caste, class, and community alliances are shifting—from the historical legacy of "backward-caste solidarity" to new anxieties among Muslim voters and the rise (and decline) of parties like All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. He di...

Since August 2024, India-Bangladesh relations have undergone a seismic shift. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was seen as a reliable and trusted friend of India, but strong opposition to her within Bangladesh, along with her close ties to New Delhi, appear to have worked against both her and India. Now believed to be living in exile in Delhi, Sheikh Hasina has left behind strained India-Bangla...

Nepal is witnessing a surge in pro-monarchy protests, driven by widespread discontent over corruption, misgovernance, and political instability. While these demonstrations reflect frustration with the current system, they also underscore the country’s delicate position between two regional giants—India and China. Both nations have a vested interest in Nepal’s political trajectory, raising question...

The topic of delimitation has turned into a South vs North debate, with most of the States in south India expected to lose seats in a demography-based delimitation exercise. The southern States strongly oppose any redrawing of Lok Sabha constituency boundaries solely on the basis of current population figures as it would not only reduce their political representation at the national level but also...