From Nehru to Modi: Old Crises, New Risks

Sanjaya Baru edited leading Indian dailies The Financial Express and Business Standard before serving as Media Advisor, spokesperson and speechwriter to former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2009. A prolific author, his books include The Accidental Prime Minister (2014) and 1991: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Made History (2016).

Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta is Managing Editor at NWS. He has spent nearly two decades chronicling the fault lines of Indian democracy — federal politics, the communal cauldron, and the shifting tides of caste and community in India's electoral landscape. Rising from reporter to editor, he led politics coverage as Political Editor at The Wire until recently, steering teams and shaping story packages. A 2024 Asia Journalism Fellow in Singapore, he continues to write with the rigour of an archivist and the instincts of a reporter who has seen the country up close.

John Cherian was formerly bureau chief at Frontline and has spent decades covering international affairs. With a PhD from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has been a leading journalistic voice from the global South.