Grand Tamasha

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order slapping India with a 25 percent special tariff due to its purchases of Russian oil. This surprise measure raised the total tariff on Indian exports to the United States to 50 percent—among the highest rates imposed by the United States on any country in the world.But India is not just “any country.” Over the last quarter-century, it has emerged as one of America’s most valuable strategic partners. Trump’s tariff move has plunged the bilateral relationship into crisis, raising difficult questions about the future of both U.S. and Indian foreign policy.Grand Tamasha emerged from its summer hiatus for an emergency episode to make sense of these developments and their global ramifications. For this special episode, Milan is joined by Grand Tamasha regulars, Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and the Wall Street Journal and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.The trio discuss the drivers behind Trump’s decision, India’s response to the crisis, and the future of India’s policy of “multi-alignment.” Plus, the two discuss the U.S. government’s 180-degree turn on Pakistan and the prospects for an amicable resolution of the U.S.-India trade spat by summer’s end. Episode notes: 1. Praveen Swami, “Asim Munir’s India nuke threat from US ballroom—‘will take half the world down,’” ThePrint, August 10, 2025. 2. Sadanand Dhume, “India Is Losing Its Best and Brightest,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2025. 3. “Tanvi Madan on the geopolitical shifts revealed by the India-Pakistan crisis,” The Economist, May 12, 2025. 4. Ashley J. Tellis, “India’s Great-Power Delusions,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2025). 5. Nirupama Rao, Dhruva Jaishankar, Lisa Curtis, and Ashley J. Tellis, “What Kind of Great Power Will India Be?” Foreign Affairs (September/October 2025). 6. Milan Vaishnav, “How India Can Placate America,” Foreign Affairs, July 16, 2025. 7. “What Kind of Great Power Will India Become? (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, July 2, 2025.

Two summers ago, Ashley J. Tellis published an essay in Foreign Affairs titled, “America’s Bad Bet on India,” which led to an extended, highly charged debate about the future of the U.S.-India relationship.Just a few weeks ago, Ashley published another big-picture piece in Foreign Affairs titled, “India’s Great-Power Delusions,” which has once again got people talking.In his new piece, Ashley argues that India is on its way to becoming a great power, but perhaps not the kind of power that many in the world are expecting.On this week’s season finale of Grand Tamasha, Ashley makes his return to the show. Ashley holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served in the U.S. government during the George W. Bush administration, where he was intimately in involved in negotiating the U.S.-Indian civil nuclear deal.Ashley and Milan discuss the U.S. policy of “strategic altruism” toward India, compare India and China’s growth record, and unpack the drivers of India’s quest for multipolarity. Plus, the two discuss India’s growing illiberalism and the complex ways domestic politics shapes foreign policy. Episode notes: 1. “Reexamining America’s Bet on India (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, June 21, 2023. 2. Ashley J. Tellis, “Great Expectations: India amid US-China Competition,” in Hal Brands, ed., Lessons from the New Cold War: America Confronts the China Challenge (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025). 3. Ashley J. Tellis, “India Sees Opportunity in Trump’s Global Turbulence. That Could Backfire,” Carnegie Endowment Emissary (blog), April 9, 2025. 4. “Trade, Tariffs, and India's Silver Lining (with Shoumitro Chatterjee),” Grand Tamasha, April 16, 2025. 5. “The Precarious State of U.S.-India Ties (with Rajesh Rajagopalan),” Grand Tamasha, February 26, 2025.

Edward Anderson, an Assistant Professor of History at Northumbria University, explores the rise of Hindu nationalism among the Indian diaspora since 1947. He dives into the historical context of Indian migration to Britain and discusses the founding of the first Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha abroad. Anderson also examines the impact of India’s Emergency on diaspora activism and how it fueled new political movements. The conversation reveals the complex relationship between diaspora communities and contemporary Hindu nationalism, including the rise of neo-Hindutva.

Indira Gandhi’s ascent as prime minister of India in 1966 seems obvious with the benefit of hindsight, but it was entirely unforeseen at the time.Within years—if not months—she emerged as one of the most powerful political leaders of her era—serving as prime minister for fifteen years, leaving behind a complex and deeply controversial legacy. A new book by the historian Srinath Raghavan, Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India, unpacks that legacy, uncovering fresh material that challenges much of the conventional wisdom we’ve accumulated over the years.Srinath is professor of international relations and history at Ashoka University and nonresident scholar at Carnegie India. He is the author of several celebrated books, including India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia and Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia.He joins Milan on the show this week to discuss Gandhi’s unforeseen right to power, the daunting conditions which greeted her premiership, and her improvisatory leadership during the 1971 war. Plus, the two discuss Gandhi’s mixed economic legacy, the onset of the Emergency, and how our understanding of the “long 1970s” must be updated. Episode notes: 1. Soutik Biswas, “The forgotten story of India's brush with presidential rule,” BBC News, June 9, 2025. 2. TCA Srinivasa Raghavan, “Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India,” Hindu Business Line, May 27, 2025.

In a captivating discussion, Meenakshi Ahamed, author and journalist, dives into her latest work on the remarkable ascent of Indian Americans across technology, medicine, and public policy. She highlights the pivotal role of mentorship and the unique challenges faced by Indian American women. The conversation also uncovers the influence of caste on success narratives, and examines the societal pressures that often dictate career paths. Ahamed’s insightful anecdotes reveal the secret ingredients behind this inspiring community's success in America.

Sandipto Dasgupta, Assistant Professor of Politics at the New School for Social Research and author of "Legalizing the Revolution," dives into India's unique constitutional journey post-decolonization. He discusses how anticolonial movements shaped radical ideas of freedom and how those translated into institutional frameworks. The conversation tackles the disconnect between the Congress Party and the masses, the belief in a planned economy to avert social upheaval, and the troubling rise of majoritarianism amid diminishing parliamentary power.

At this point, you’ve probably read 1,001 post-mortem analyses of the India-Pakistan conflict, desperately searching for some new nugget or data point that helps you understand this brief, but intense clash between these two South Asian rivals.In this sea of hot takes, one essay stands out both for its analytical clarity and its wisdom. That piece was written by the scholar Joshua T. White and it’s simply titled, “Lessons for the next India-Pakistan war.”It was published by the Brookings Institution, where Josh is a non-resident fellow with the Foreign Policy program. Josh is also professor of the practice of international affairs at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.Josh has served at the White House as senior advisor and director for South Asian affairs at the National Security Council. And he’s also worked at the Pentagon, where he helped get the U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative off the ground.To talk more about his piece and the recent conflict, Josh rejoins Milan on the podcast this week. He and Milan discuss how the global debate on “attribution” has tilted decisively in India’s favor, troubling new precedents about military target selection, the depth of Pakistani information operations, and the widespread use of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles in the recent conflict. Plus, the two preview Josh’s forthcoming book, Vigilante Islamists: Religious Parties and Anti-State Violence in Pakistan. Episode notes: 1. Joshua T. White, “Lessons for the next India-Pakistan war,” Brookings Institution, May 14, 2025. 2. “Operation Sindoor and South Asia’s Uncertain Future (with Christopher Clary),” Grand Tamasha, May 14, 2025. 3. “US views of India-China ties and their impact on the US-India partnership (with Lisa Curtis, Joshua T. White, and Tanvi Madan),” Brookings “Global India” podcast, February 7, 2024. 4. “U.S.-India Ties After the ‘2+2’ Summit (with Joshua White),” Grand Tamasha, April 27, 2022.

On Saturday, India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire, ending—at least for now—the latest bout of armed conflict between the two South Asian rivals. The announcement followed the launch of “Operation Sindoor”—India’s response to the April 22nd terrorist attack in Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians. India’s strike prompted a worrying tit-for-tat standoff which quickly escalated into the worst conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations in a quarter-century. The fighting has stopped for now, leaving policymakers, scholars, and analysts the task of deciphering the longer-term consequences of the recent crisis. To break things down, Milan is joined on the show this week by Christopher Clary. Chris is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Albany. He’s also a non-resident fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. Listeners may remember Chris from his 2022 appearance on Grand Tamasha, when he discussed his book, The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia. Milan and Chris discuss why the Pahalgam episode marked a new chapter in India-Pakistan relations, how the recent conflict will serve as a template for the next crisis, and the possible motivations for U.S. intervention. Plus, the two discuss what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East can teach us about India and Pakistan’s likely future. Episode notes: Christopher Clary, “India-Pakistan rivalry is old, but Pahalgam marked a new chapter,” Times of India, May 11, 2025. Sudhi Ranjan Sen et al., “Trump Truce Leaves India Furious, Pakistan Elated as Risks Loom,” Bloomberg, May 11, 2025. Karishma Mehrotra et al., “The U.S. helped deliver an India-Pakistan ceasefire. But can it hold?” Washington Post, May 10, 2025. “When and Why Do India and Pakistan Fight (with Christopher Clary),” Grand Tamasha, September 14, 2022.

In India today, so many political debates are focused on welfare and welfarism. It seems that state after state is competing to offer the most electorally attractive benefits to its voters. The central government, for its part, has pioneered a new model of social welfare built around digital ID and direct cash transfers to needy households.Making India Work: The Development of Welfare in a Multi-Level Democracy is a new book by the scholar Louise Tillin. It examines the development of India’s welfare state over the last century from the early decades of the twentieth century to the present. In so doing, it recovers a history previously relegated to the margins of scholarship on the political economy of development.Louise is a Professor of Politics in the King’s India Institute at King’s College London. She is one of the world’s leading experts on Indian federalism, subnational comparative politics, and social policy. She is the author or editor of several previous books, including Remapping India: New States and their Political Origins.Louise joins Milan on the show this week to discuss India’s “precocious” welfare regime, the pre-colonial debates over social insurance in India, and the pros and cons of the Nehruvian development model. Plus, the two discuss inter-state variation in modes of social protection and the current debate over welfare in India circa 2025.Episode notes: “Understanding the Delhi Education Experiment (with Yamini Aiyar),” Grand Tamasha, January 22, 2025. Louise Tillin, “This is the moment for a new federal compact,” Indian Express, June 16, 2024. Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, “Interview: How has Indian federalism evolved under the BJP?” Scroll.in, April 13, 2024. Louise Tillin and Sandhya Venkateswaran, “Democracy and Health in India| Is Health an Electoral Priority?” (New Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2023)

Shoumitro Chatterjee, an Assistant Professor of International Economics at Johns Hopkins-SAIS, shares insights on India's trade landscape amidst U.S. tariff changes. He explores India's unexpected successes in exports and the persistent issues in low-skilled manufacturing. The discussion delves into the implications of rising tariffs post-2017 and how India can strategically navigate global uncertainties. Shoumitro also highlights the importance of open markets for agriculture in bolstering India's trade potential.