Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

We sifted through the papers to find the best opinion reads, so you won't have to.

A curation of essential opinion pieces from across newspapers – made just for you.

(Photo: iStock)

Time for an Apology

Reflecting on the central government’s decision to rationalise and reduce GST rates, P Chidambaram, in his column for The Indian Express, hails it as a step in the right direction, whilst also claiming it was a correction long overdue. Notably, the opposition leaders had vehemently advocated for a standard ceiling of 18% in 2016.

Finally, wisdom has dawned on the central government. On September 3, 2025, the government rationalized and reduced the GST rates on a wide range of goods and services. The tax structure is now closer to a good and simple tax that several political parties, businesspersons, institutions and individuals (including me) had advocated in the last eight years.

P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express

Chidambaram contends the government owes the public an apology, considering how unnecessarily inflated rates had curbed consumption and increased household debt. He also encourages the government to prepare for a single GST rate.

Social Media Reduced Two Horrific Killings to Cheap Snuff Films

Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci reflects on how the three horrifying killings which have struck the United States of America recently — Iryna Zarutska, Charlie Kirk and Chandra Nagamallaiah — have been widely circulated as snuff videos on social media. Writing for The New York Times, Tufekci argues that consistent exposure to such gore fosters the normalisation of voyeuristic pleasure in violence.

The tragedies had something else in common, though: They both generated extremely graphic videos of the victims’ last moments, detailed enough to show the second that metal struck flesh and wrought it awful damage. Since then, shared by many and further amplified by digital algorithms that favor intense emotions, these videos have been endlessly replayed across social media.

Zeynep Tufekci, for The New York Times

With social media algorithms favouring emotionally intense content, videos of the three deaths have been endlessly circulated, eventually turning terrible personal tragedies into spectacles. The ease of accessibility to such videos poses a profound risk of desensiting audiences to human suffering.

The Many Revolutions That Have Shaped Nepal

Analysing Nepal’s latest upheaval in his piece for The Indian Express, Mahesh Kushwaha traces how an anti-corruption movement led by the Generation Z took a violent turn and resulted in multiple fatalities. While Nepal is not a stranger to revolutions, the ongoing episode has been unprecedentedly spontaneous and digitally driven.

The 2025 revolution, which began on social media platforms and, ironically enough, spilled over into the streets after then, must be seen as a continuation of Nepal’s digital agenda. Like many former movements, it appears to have sprung from the disillusionment that the country’s democratic transition has not delivered fundamental socio-economic changes.

Mahesh Kushwaha, for The Indian Express

Sushila Karki’s appointment as the interim Prime Minister marks a watershed moment, as the former Chief Justice will be the first woman to lead her nation. The author argues that Nepal now finds itself at a crossroads — the upheaval could evolve into a milestone in the country’s democratic journey, or it might transition into a haven of anarchy.

What India Should Learn From The Uprising Against #Nepokidz In Nepal

Writing on the Nepal protests for the same publication, columnist Tavleen Singh draws telling parallels between the country’s situation with its neighbour, India. Also plagued by rampant corruption and nepotism, she uses personal anecdotes from Lutyens’ Delhi to underscore how political families continue to accumulate wealth and power.

As someone who has spent most of the years of my life in Lutyens’ Delhi, I have had a ringside view of what goes on in the homes of our most powerful political leaders. This has enabled me to witness with my own eyes how political leaders become inexplicably rich as soon as they are ensconced in this most exclusive of India’s residential enclaves. When I was a child, almost the only people who lived here were families who technically inherited ‘old’ money but who in truth lived in genteel poverty. Today, almost the only people who can afford to live here are politicians, high officials and billionaires.

Tavleen Singh, for The Indian Express

Discontentment with dynastic entitlement has caused youth-driven revolts in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and Singh believes India will be flirting with the risk of a facsimile, should the leaders consistently fail to honour their pledges of eradicating corruption and nepotism.

Touchstones: Nepal and Kumaon Bond

“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” writes author Ira Pande, echoing the wisdom of Spanish philosopher George Santayana, as she contends Nepal is flirting with the danger of repeating the mistakes committed by its neighbours. In her The Tribune column, Pande highlights how violent revolutions have seldom led to stable governance, with upheavals in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar devolving into turmoil.

In terms of political unrest, this past week has been like none other. After the turmoil in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the new hotspot in our neighbourhood is Nepal. Whoever imagined that what was a students’ agitation would morph into a violent near-revolution? Several commentators have tried to see a pattern in these eruptions and pointed to the Deep State’s sinister ploy to keep this part of Asia boiling. Who can say? But the resignations of the Nepali and Japanese PMs, and the wave of public protest in Indonesia do lend it some credence.

Ira Pande, for The Tribune

Drawing on her childhood memories in Kumaon, the author reflects on the stark contrast in wealth and entitlement between Nepal’s ruling families and its ordinary citizens. Yet, without addressing systemic inequality, Nepal might be propelled into political instability.

Cross-Voters in Our Midst Exposed? Anger Grows in Aap’s Punjab Unit

Writing for Deccan Chronicle, journalist Anita Katyal examines the fragility of India’s opposition bloc, following a comfortable victory for the NDA-backed CP Radhakrishnan in the vice-presidential election. Cross-voting has been widely speculated, with the author naming UBT Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and some Aam Aadmi Party’s MPs as members of the INDIA bloc who may have felt marginalised by their parties.

Speculation is rife over the identity of the INDIA bloc members who could have betrayed the side. Given the fluid political situation in Maharashtra, members of UBT Shiv Sena found themselves high on the list of suspects. The party’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi was being mentioned as a near certainty though it is difficult to prove so as voting for the vice-president’s election is by a secret ballot. It has been noticed that Ms Chaturvedi has lately been cosying up to the ruling dispensation which, it is believed, could be linked to the fact that her Rajya Sabha term ends next year.

Anita Katyal, for Deccan Chronicle

The piece also touches on the growing discontentment among AAP members in Punjab, with Arvind Kejriwal centrilising power in Mohali following the Delhi election defeat, and chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann reduced to a ceremonial role.

Bridge of Reflection

Writing on India’s newly-elected vice-president CP Radhakrishnan for The Telegraph, Gopalkrishna Gandhi notes that the former governor of Maharashtra and Jharkhand is known more for his humility than lobbying for elevation, which is a rare but essential virtue for anyone holding high office.

The office of the president or the Rashtra­pati is a lofty pinnacle. The vice-president’s height is not pinnacle as much as vestibule that can effortlessly connect the north and the south, the east and the west, metaphorically and otherwise. In his office, the height of the Constitution’s vision flows into the plains of its spread, in a level sameness, erasing the barriers of longitude and latitude. The Rashtrapati heads the nation’s integrated will, the Upa-Rashtrapati heralds it.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, for The Telegraph

Of Radhakrishnan’s fourteen predecessors, six have become presidents while a couple more have acted as presidents, which underscores the Indian vice-president’s proximity to the highest office. Gandhi urges Radhakrishnan to honour the position’s legacy by embodying humility and leadership.

For BJP & Opp, Abuse Is Ruse To Avoid Issue-based Politics

Critiquing the abusive language directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Bihar, former diplomat Pavan K Varma reflects on the rapidly eroding framework of India’s political discourse in his column for Deccan Chronicle. What once used to be a forum of dignified and ideological debate has now been reduced to a theatre of vitriol.

The truth is that leaders of all political parties, as and when it has suited them, have condoned, overlooked or even tacitly encouraged this kind of politics. In 2014, soon after Mr Modi had just become PM, a minister in his Cabinet — no less — had in a public speech used the unpardonable juxtaposition: Ramzade and haramzade. It created widespread revulsion and it was expected that the PM and the BJP would take stern action against the uncouth minister, including expulsion from the Cabinet. But this was not done, and the concerned minister only expressed regret at her utterance.

Pavan K Varma, for Deccan Chronicle

With social media platforms and news organisations amplifying hate speech, party leaders have repeatedly chosen to tacitly endorse abuse and hatred by not disciplining offenders. Varma warns that if the weaponisation of language is normalised, the future generation will be subjected to a toxic model of politics.

Is the Smartphone, as We Know It, Set To Disappear?

Despite unveiling a plethora of new features during its iPhone 17 launch, Apple has witnessed a steady decline in the stock market. Technology entrepreneur Abhishek Asthana, in his piece for Hindustan Times, contends that consumers are no longer captivated by minuscule cosmetic tweaks, highlighting the pressing need for a revolution in the smartphone industry.

Apple just launched their latest iteration, iPhone 17, touted as some sort of innovation leap. But the moment it was announced, Apple stock tumbled 3.2%, which is like losing $10 billion. Markets were clearly unimpressed with incremental upgrades. Historically, Apple events, which launch the iPhone n-th phone, are a great time to buy the iPhone n-1. But most newer phones just seem to rearrange camera lens placement on the back panel of the previous phone. And that’s why I think smartphones have peaked. 

Abhishek Asthana, for Hindustan Times

Smartphones need a transformative breakthrough, with the author suggesting a few avenues — wearable phones, displays projected before the eyes, commands transmitted via thought. Despite prevalent technological scepticism, the author is hopeful of smartphones having their own ‘Henry Ford moment’ of radical change.

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