Author: Garima Sarkar

By Garima Sarkar & Malaiyandi Sundaram Tamil Nadu’s 2026 Assembly election might ultimately be remembered as a turning point not only for the state’s internal politics but also for the future of democratic campaigning in India. For more than five decades, the state’s political environment was largely defined by the dominance of the DMK and AIADMK, two parties deeply embedded within Tamil Nadu’s distinctive Dravidian political culture. The emergence of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as a major electoral force, therefore, represents far more than a routine change in government. It signals the arrival of a new political era in which…

Garima Sarkar & Farzana Nisha Khan Donald Trump’s second presidency has redefined immigration as both a domestic political priority and a tool of executive state power. In doing so, it is reshaping not only US immigration governance but also wider global debates around borders, sovereignty and migration policy. When Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he did not simply resume the immigration politics of his first administration; he returned with a far more disciplined strategy for implementing it. Immigration has long been pivotal to Trump’s political identity, and from the promise of a border wall in 2016…

Garima Sarkar & Aakriti Mittal In the closing weeks of West Bengal’s 2026 Assembly election campaign, a politically charged video spread rapidly across social media platforms. It appeared to show former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Humayun Kabir, then aligned with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), discussing a purported ₹1,000 crore arrangement with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to split the Muslim vote. The clip spread rapidly through WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages, and X timelines, fuelling political speculation across the state. Subsequent scrutiny suggested that portions of the video had been digitally altered using AI-based editing techniques, even though parts…