Tavleen Singh is a prominent columnist and writer. She writes a weekly column for the Indian Express and has authored several books, including India’s Broken Tryst, Durbar and, most recently, Messiah Modi.

Singh sits down with Namita Bhandare, journalist and writer, to talk about her latest book, her disillusionment with Narendra Modi and how it mirrors her disappointment with the Congress, and the revocation of her writer son Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizenship of India Card. She also discusses the current state of the Indian media.

Singh says she’s relieved by the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in the recent Delhi election. “I am no fan of Kejriwal,” she explains, referring to the party’s leader, Arvind Kejriwal. “But this time I was very pleased that he won. Because I have never seen a campaign so filled with hate and viciousness as this one.”

On why she grew disillusioned with Modi, Singh says it started when he failed to deliver on his campaign promise of economic reform. His inaction on mob lynchings was the final blow. “The home minister virtually defended the killers of Pehlu Khan saying there are two sides to the story,” she adds. “That’s when I began to get seriously worried whether I had not fully understood what the agenda was.”

On the revocation of Taseer’s OCI card, she says, “I reacted as a mother first. Because what they did was completely wrong. It was vindictive, vicious, and utterly without precedent in India.” She also touches upon where she thinks the order came from.

She also talks about the Shaheen Bagh protest against the citizenship law and what 2024 might bring.

Tune in!

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