Best wishes @pravchak! Yours is a well deserved position! 👏

It’s noteworthy that the new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister @TVKVijayHQ is signalling firmly that he means business and is focussing solely on getting the State on track towards his envisioned goals. His second meeting with PM @narendramodi in a fortnight shows his seriousness of purpose. It’s to be appreciated that he’s avoiding political grandstanding & the combative political rhetoric so typical of his predecessor @mkstalin that widened the gap between the State and the Centre.

Congratulations dear friends @Swamy39 & Roxna! The truth is that underneath Dr Swamy’s ostensibly combative exterior, he’s one of the finest people I know and so is Roxna! 😊 Wishing you both many happy & fulfilling years ahead!

Warm felicitations to Prime Minister @narendramodi for being India’s longest serving elected leader. His tenure as Prime Minister since 2014 has seen an exponential growth of our economy and a rapid digital transformation that has made India the world’s fourth largest economy. His charisma remains unbeatable and the trust factor amongst the Indian public remains high. I’ve had the privilege of meetings with him over these years and have always come away impressed by his determination to unswervingly follow his vision of transforming India into Viksit Bharat by 2047.

One of India’s greatest filmmakers has passed. “Iyakkunar Imayam” as the legend #Bharathiraja was admiringly titled, redefined Tamil cinema in the Eighties as never before. He took his movie camera out of the studio into the countryside, broke fresh faces on the screen who became legends in their own right and contemporised story telling on Tamil screens that set the bar very high! “Pathinaru Vayathinile”, “Sigappu Rojakkal”and the iconic “Kizhakku Pogum Rayil” were masterpieces of their time. @ikamalhaasan & @realradikaa became icons thanks to his masterly depictions in his movies showcasing a wide range of emotions. A real loss to cinema! I had the good fortune of profiling him along with Mahendran @the_hindu in November 1980 in which he shared his thoughts on his emerging cinema! Om Shanti! 🙏

Given our overpopulation & our continuing inability as a state to provide basic services to our people, why is a declining birth rate not a good thing?

The departure of the charismatic @annamalai_k from @BJP4India is a real blow to the party in Tamil Nadu. For the first time in Tamil Nadu’s politics, he was the only rank outsider, neither from a political dynasty nor a movie star to attract huge audiences who treated him like a star, rushing to hear and interact with him. He had the makings of a latter day Kamaraj or GK Moopanar who could have possibly unveiled a new brand of nationalistic politics in our state. In a state strongly anchored to the political values of the Dravidian movement, it is challenging to develop an alternate vision of politics. But Annamalai had it in him to do that. He had the potential to inspire people to rally around a vision of Tamil Nadu proud of its own unique cultural heritage but also embracing its shared inheritance of India’s civilisational history. The BJP’s loss is possibly Tamil Nadu’s gain as another modern young leader steps into the ring, rivalling only Chief Minister @TVKVijayHQ who is currently unassailable.

She may be Trump’s handpicked leader of Venezuela but @delcyrodriguezv is certainly the woman of the hour with the key to the world’s largest oil reserves estimated @grok to have approximately 303 billion barrels. India should make full use of her visit to establish a credible avenue of oil supplies with Venezuela.

Warm congratulations @khushsundar and best wishes to the young couple! 👏💐

“the United States has emerged as a very significant and reliable source of energy” acknowledges the EAM @DrSJaishankar in the joint press conference with the US Secretary of State @SecRubio. The EAM terms these energy imports from the US as part of India’s “de-risking”approach-essentially to strengthen our energy security. Makes sense 👍 !

This is surely significant & a track that India is right to pursue. Having the interim Venezuelan President in Delhi & US Secretary of State @SecRubio visit augurs well for a change of direction from what seems a bleak & unrelenting future for our economy thanks to the severe international oil crisis.

This is to be appreciated. Honesty about a country’s real history is the first step towards developing a sensitive politics. I always mourn the erasure of history from our streets. Removing Mughal and British names from our streets and buildings doesn’t really obliterate the fact that this nation called India was once ruled by the Mughals and then the British. We need to be healthy about our past and not snuff out a nation’s collective memory.

Very sad to hear of the passing of DBS Jeyaraj @dbsjeyaraj, a courageous & fearless journalist whose vivid and in depth reportage on the entire Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic conflict shone a light on its several twists and turns, illuminated the contours of the flawed yet inspiring struggle of Sri Lankan Tamils in the ‘80s Jeyaraj was a prolific writer and correspondent for @the_hindu & @frontline_india . I was therefore often in touch with him & always appreciated the earnestness & sincerity with which he approached his commentary. He was a fine journalist who was in virtual exile in Canada, thanks to the death threats from the LTTE but his love for Sri Lanka and commitment to establishing democratic values in his island home, never diminished. His passing is a loss for journalism and the democratic cause. RIP, Jeyaraj 🙏 .

Congratulations to Prime Minister @narendramodi for this breakthrough in the Netherlands, getting back a piece of our history in repatriating 11th century Chola Copper Plates held in Leiden as part of a colonial haul. The PM says “We in India are immensely proud of the Cholas, their culture and their maritime prowess” acknowledging the significance of a cherished part of Tamil Nadu’s cultural heritage. And @tskrishnan’s graphic explains the actual significance of these plates in documenting our history.