Nous Explains

Invisible Erasure: Inside West Bengal’s Massive Voter Deletion Crisis

Based on an explainer by senior journalist Bushra Khanum, this article examines West Bengal’s massive voter deletion crisis and the growing fears around disenfranchisement, citizenship, and democratic erosion in contemporary India.

Nous Podcast

The Bengal Resistance: SIR, Targeted Voter Deletions, and the Battle for Citizenship

As millions faced scrutiny, deletions, and bureaucratic uncertainty under the SIR process, Bengal’s record voter turnout became more than an election statistic—it became a referendum on citizenship, dignity, and democratic belonging.

Explainer

How Delimitation Shapes Muslim Representation in India’s Democracy

In the world’s largest democracy, representation should reflect reality. Yet a persistent gap raises deeper concerns. This article examines how delimitation and electoral design quietly reshape political power—and what it means for minority voice in India.

Nous Podcast

Reconstructing Faith in the Age of Modernity: The Evolution of Ilm al-Kalam in the Indian Subcontinent

Drawing on a conversation with Dr. Waris Mazahri, this article traces the evolution of Modern Ilm al-Kalam in South Asia, examining how thinkers from Shah Waliullah to Muhammad Iqbal engaged the challenges of modernity, science, and secular thought.

Long form by nous

The Decolonial Inversion: Anatomy of the Neo-Hindutva Civilisational State

The alignment with Israel is not merely an ideological affinity. It is the logical expression of a domestic political architecture in which Islam must remain, permanently and visibly, the civilisational threat. The fortress needs a siege to justify its walls.

Electoral Power, Developmental Marginality: Muslims in West Bengal

Muslims in West Bengal are electorally decisive yet structurally marginalized. Despite shaping political outcomes, their access to education, jobs, healthcare, and political representation remains limited, alongside rising concerns over voting rights through SIR.

Nous Podcast

The Invisible Purge: How Targeted Voter Deletions Threaten the Foundations of Indian Democracy

As millions face deletion from electoral rolls, questions around citizenship, constitutional rights, and democratic integrity are becoming impossible to ignore. This article examines the politics, implications, and institutional crisis surrounding India’s voter revision process.

Nous Podcast

The Islamabad Accord: Can Diplomacy Prevent a Wider Collapse in West Asia?

Based on a detailed podcast discussion hosted by senior journalist Bushra Khanum featuring geopolitical commentator Bobby Naqvi, this article examines the emerging US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad, the shifting balance of power in West Asia, and the fragile architecture of a changing global order.

Rethinking the Partition of Bengal, 1905

The 1905 Partition of Bengal was not simply an administrative act or a communal divide. It's making and responses reveal how regional inequalities and competing political visions rather than religion defined one of the most consequential moments in India’s history.

Nous Explains

The Blueprint for Marginalization: Decoding the Assam Model | Assam Elections 2026

Behind Assam’s citizenship debates lies a deeper story of identity, exclusion, and institutional power. From the NRC to eviction drives and political rhetoric, this article examines how legality, belonging, and democracy are being contested in contemporary India.

The Kerala Muslim Question

Kerala is held up as a state where Muslims fare better. This piece tests that claim - with data on representation, employment, and education. The gains are real. So are the gaps. Kerala is different. The question is: different enough, and for whom?

Law as a Weapon: How Assam's State Is Systematically Dismantling Muslim Life

From bulldozers and mass evictions to polygamy bans and "jihad" rhetoric, a documented account of how ostensibly neutral laws are being weaponised against Assam's Muslim communities.

Nous Podcast

Did Iran Outplay the US? 40 Days War Explained | Ceasefire, Oil & Power Shift

As the Iran–US–Israel conflict reshapes global politics, new questions are emerging about power, resistance, and the decline of American unipolarity. This conversation explores how war, diplomacy, and economic realignments may be accelerating the birth of a multipolar world order.

Who Are Assam's Muslims? What the data says before polling day

On 9 April, over a crore Muslim voters will cast their ballots in Assam. For decades, narratives around their numbers have shaped how they are seen, policed, and governed. This article examines the data behind these claims and explains what it actually tells us about Assam’s Muslims.

Nous Podcast

Is Himanta Biswa Sarma Losing? What’s Really Happening in Assam Elections

As Assam heads into a decisive election, the battle extends beyond party politics. This article examines anti-incumbency, polarization, institutional trust, citizenship debates, and the deeper struggle over democracy, governance, and political representation in the state.

History of Muslims in Assam and the Politics of Erasing It

The targeting of Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam is rooted not just in present politics, but in a distorted reading of history. Complex processes of migration and integration are reduced to a single “outsider” narrative - used to justify exclusion, dispossession, and dehumanisation.

Nous Podcast

Defending the Margins: Conservation, Land Rights, and the Democratic Question in Assam

As Assam heads toward a crucial political moment, debates around conservation, land rights, evictions, and democracy are intensifying. This discussion examines how grassroots resistance in Bokakhat reflects wider struggles over ecology, identity, corporate power, and constitutional justice.

Nous Explains

What Israel's “Death Penalty Law” means for Palestinians I Explained I Bushra Khanum

As conflict deepens in Israel and Palestine, a new law on terrorism penalties has triggered global debate over security, human rights, and state power. This article examines the legal, political, and humanitarian questions shaping the controversy.

Explainer

Odia Pride to Mob Violence: What is BJP's Odisha Story | Explained

Odisha, long seen as a syncretic “land of Jagannath,” is witnessing a profound shift. This piece traces decades of ideological groundwork, the BJP’s 2024 rise to power, and the surge in social unrest—examining how identity, politics, and history converge to reshape the state’s plural ethos.

Nous Podcast

How the US–Israel War on Iran Could Disrupt the Global Economy | Atul Aneja

As Israel–Iran tensions escalate, the crisis is no longer regional but systemic. This article examines how conflict in West Asia is disrupting energy flows, supply chains, and global markets—revealing the fragile links between geopolitics and the world economy.

Nous Podcast

The shared intellectual history of Shia and Sunni movements: The case of Iran | Syed Akif Zaidi

As global order grows volatile, deeper ideological fault lines surface. This article traces the intellectual lineage—from Syed Jamaluddin Afghani to Allama Iqbal—that frames resistance beyond geopolitics, as a contest over power, morality, and modernity.

Nous Podcast

Empire, War & Resistance | Vijay Prashad Explains Iran-US-Israel Crisis

Historian Vijay Prashad unpacks the Iran–Israel–US conflict beyond headlines, tracing its roots in imperial power, shifting geopolitics, and narrative warfare. The discussion explores global order, sovereignty, and asks whether such crises are exceptions—or intrinsic to modern power.

Nous Podcast

Iran is Reshaping the New World Order I Amaresh Misra

The 2026 Israel–US war on Iran marks a turning point in global geopolitics, as conflict extends beyond battlefields into energy, technology, and economic systems. This analysis examines how it is reshaping power, alliances, and a rapidly evolving world order.

Nous Podcast

Iran, Energy, and Escalation: A War Without Limits I Zaki Zaidi

This conversation examines how the Iran conflict is shifting beyond conventional war into a broader contest over energy and infrastructure. As strategic targets expand, it explores the implications for regional stability, global markets, and the evolving nature of modern warfare.

Nous Podcast

This Is Not Strategic Silence, This Is Surrender’ — Yashwant Sinha on India’s Foreign Policy

In this conversation, Yashwant Sinha joins Bushra Khanum to assess India’s foreign policy amid West Asia tensions—examining strategic silence, energy risks around the Strait of Hormuz, and whether India can act as a stabilising force in an increasingly volatile global order.