Grand Tamasha

Ami Bera, U.S. Representative from California and senior House Foreign Affairs member, known for his work on U.S.–India relations and founding the Samosa Caucus. He discusses tensions around U.S. actions on Iran and War Powers. He talks about trade and immigration moves that unsettled the Indian American community. He examines shifting political alignments and the future of strategic ties.

Naomi Hossain, Global Research Professor at SOAS and author of The Aid Lab, unpacks Bangladesh’s sudden political upheaval. She traces the protests that toppled a long-serving leader. She examines the 2026 vote, the interim government's limits, BNP’s revival under Tarique Rahman, economic pressures, rising party rivals, and the military’s restrained role.

Sandra Destradi, an academic on India and international relations, discusses her research on populism and foreign policy. She explores how personalization and domestic mobilization shape foreign-policy change. Conversations cover why India treats Pakistan and China differently, populist engagement with global public goods, and contrasts between Global North and Global South populists.

Over the past year, Europe India relations have entered a markedly upbeat phase. What was once a diffuse partnership long on rhetoric, short on strategy now looks far more purposeful.  From the announcement on a long-delayed EU-India Free Trade Agreement to expanding cooperation on security, technology, and migration, Europe and India appear to be finally converging around a shared strategic logic. To unpack what’s driving this convergence and where its limits lie Milan is joined on the show this week by Garima Mohan. Garima is a senior fellow in the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund based in Brussels. In this capacity, she leads GMF’s work on India and serves as convenor of the India Trilateral Forum.  Her research focuses on Europe-India ties, EU foreign policy in Asia, and security in the Indo-Pacific. She’s also the author of a new GMF report titled, “A Long Time Coming: Europe and India have discovered a strategic partnership,” published in January 2026. Milan and Garima discuss the geopolitical drivers that are bringing the EU and India closer together, Europe’s views on the limits to India’s potential, and the key takeaways from the EU-India FTA. Plus, the two discuss how Russia might derail Indo-European security cooperation and the urgent need for Europe to invest in India expertise. Episode notes: 1.     “Europe’s long-awaited free-trade deal with India,” The Economist, January 25, 2026. 2.     Garima Mohan, “As Trump takes Office, Planets Align for the EU and India,” India’s World, March 6, 2025. 3.     “Can Europe be India's Plan B? (with James Crabtree),” Grand Tamasha, September 17, 2025. 4.     “India and the Reordering of Transatlantic Relations (with Tara Varma),” Grand Tamasha, March 11, 2025. 

Mark Linscott, a trade veteran who advised the U.S. government on South and Central Asia, breaks down India’s rapid return to deal-making. He discusses why India chose bilateral pacts over mega-regionals. He analyzes the geopolitics and slow economics of the EU agreement, the phased U.S. trade framework, supply-chain implications, and likely roadblocks like tariffs, standards, and ratification risks.

Over the past few years, South Asia has witnessed a striking wave of mass protests toppling governments and upending long-standing political arrangements in countries ranging from Bangladesh to Nepal and Sri Lanka. These upheavals are often explained in terms of domestic factors—such as corruption, economic mismanagement, and democratic backsliding.  But in a recent Foreign Affairs essay titled “The Folly of India’s Illiberal Hegemony,” the scholar Muhib Rahman argues that there is a larger regional story at play—one that implicates not just local leaders, but also India and the United States. The essay challenges the assumption that India’s regional leadership has been a stabilizing force and asks whether New Delhi’s choices have instead helped create openings for China across South Asia. To talk more about the essay, Muhib joins Milan on the show this week. Muhib is a Perry World House Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. His research sits at the intersection of international security, emerging technologies, and the politics of the Global South. He has served as a Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and holds a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas-Austin. Muhib and Milan discuss India’s illiberal hegemony in its neighborhood, the downturn in Bangladesh-India ties, and the enabling role of the United States. Plus, the two discuss the drivers of the “India Out” phenomenon in countries ranging from Nepal to the Maldives and how China is positioning itself to take advantage. Episode notes: 1.     Muhib Rahman, “Bangladesh’s Quiet Pivot to China,” The National Interest, October 27, 2025.   2.     Muhib Rahman, “Explaining Trump’s Surprising Turn to Pakistan,” War on the Rocks, October 1, 2025. 3.     “Why Washington Is Wooing Pakistan (with Uzair Younus),” Grand Tamasha, October 1, 2025.  4.     “Sri Lanka's Peaceful Revolution (with Neil DeVotta),” Grand Tamasha, January 29, 2025.

U.S.-India relations were once described as one of Washington’s MOST important strategic bets in the twenty-first century. But over the past year, that partnership has come under serious strain buffeted by trade disputes, sharp rhetoric, and deep disagreements over Pakistan and Kashmir.  In the current print edition of Foreign Affairs, Lisa Curtis and Richard Fontaine argue that this rupture is not just another rough patch, but rather a potentially consequential turning point. The essay, “America Must Salvage Its Relationship with India or Risk Losing a Global Swing State,” makes the case that how Washington manages its ties with New Delhi in this moment will have lasting implications for the Indo-Pacific balance of power, U.S. credibility in Asia, and competition with China.  To talk more about this new piece, Lisa joins Milan on the show this week. Lisa is Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. She is a foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the U.S. government including at the National Security Council, CIA, State Department, and Capitol Hill. Most recently, Lisa served as Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council from 2017 to 2021.  Milan and Lisa discuss the “fit of presidential pride and pique” that has derailed bilateral ties, President Trump’s repeated desire to mediate between India and Pakistan, and the sudden revival in U.S.-Pakistan ties. Plus, the two discuss America’s strategic competition with Beijing, what it will take for Washington to remedy its trust deficit with New Delhi, and the long-term consequences of a sustained rupture between the United States and India.

2026 is shaping up to be a hectic political year in India. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed the relatively unknown Nitin Nabin to take over as party president. The BJP and its opposition challengers are gearing up for high-stakes assembly elections in five states later this spring. And the Election Commission of India (ECI) is in the midst of a controversial revision of India’s gargantuan electoral rolls. To discuss these and the country’s other key political stories, Sunetra Choudhury—the national political editor of the Hindustan Times—joins Milan to kick off the fifteenth season of Grand Tamasha. The two sat down for a special episode recorded live in HT’s New Delhi studio.  Listeners will know Sunetra from her past appearances on the podcast, as well as from her reporting for the Hindustan Times—and, of course, from her book Black Warrant, which has since been adapted into a hit Netflix crime drama of the same name. Sunetra has over two decades of reporting experience and was the recipient of the Red Ink award in journalism in 2016 and the Mary Morgan Hewett award in 2018. Milan and Sunetra discuss the prevailing political winds in Delhi, the BJP’s surprising new president, and the long shadow of the 2025 Bihar assembly elections. Plus, the two discuss the upcoming state elections, the inner turmoil within the Congress Party, and the ECI’s controversial “special intensive review.” Episode notes: “Interpreting the 2025 Bihar Verdict (with Roshan Kishore),” Grand Tamasha, November 19, 2025. “How India’s Women Are Redefining Politics (with Ruhi Tewari),” Grand Tamasha, November 5, 2025. Sunetra Choudhury, “NDA's landslide win will cause ripples far beyond Bihar,” Hindustan Times, November 15, 2025.

Grand Tamasha is Carnegie’s weekly podcast on Indian politics and policy co-produced with the Hindustan Times, a leading Indian media house. For six years (and counting), host Milan Vaishnav has interviewed authors, journalists, policymakers, and practitioners working on contemporary India to give listeners across the globe a glimpse into life in the world’s most populous country.Each December, Milan looks back at the conversations we’ve hosted during the course of the year and selects a handful of books that stayed with him long after our recording wrapped. This year’s selections span biography, history, and political economy—but they share a common thread: Each offers a bold reinterpretation of India at a moment of profound political and social churn.In keeping with this tradition, here—in no particular order—are Grand Tamasha’s top books of 2025.  A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India’s Development OdysseyBy Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian. Published by HarperCollins India. Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977–2018By Abhishek Choudhary. Published by Pan Macmillan India. Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern AsiaBy Sam Dalrymple. Published by HarperCollins India. Taken together, these books showcase the breadth of scholarship animating debates on India and South Asia today. They remind us that the region’s past remains contested, its present deeply complex, and its future still uncertain. I hope you find these conversations as stimulating and inspiring as I did.One final note here: As you consider your year-end charitable giving, we hope you will choose to support Grand Tamasha. This season, you might have noticed that we’ve expanded into video, allowing listeners to watch full-length conversations on YouTube. Listener contributions sustain the costs of production, research, and distribution—especially as we expand our video offerings. The podcast receives no external funding beyond what our audience generously provides, and contributions from U.S.-based supporters are fully tax-deductible. We would be grateful for whatever support you can offer. Please visit https://donate.carnegieendowment.org/for more information on how you can give.On behalf of the entire team, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for listening to the show—and see you in the new year. Episode notes: 1. “The Forgotten Partitions That Remade South Asia (with Sam Dalrymple),” Grand Tamasha, October 29, 2025. 2. “A Sixth of Humanity and the Dreams of a Nation (with Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian),” Grand Tamasha, October 22, 2025. 3. “Vajpayee and the Making of the Modern BJP (with Abhishek Choudhary),” Grand Tamasha, September 3, 2025. 4.  Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2024,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 17, 2024. 5.  Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of 2023,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 19, 2023. 6.  Milan Vaishnav, “Grand Tamasha’s Best Books of the Year,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 20, 2022.

Despite a year marked by tariff battles, confusion over Washington’s China policy, and the shock of the 2025 India–Pakistan war, one part of the U.S.–India relationship has held firm: bilateral defense cooperation. The two sides recently announced a new defense framework, are deepening links between their private sectors, and are boosting military-to-military ties. To review the state of the U.S.-India defense relationship and to help unpack the secrets of its success, Milan is joined on the show this week by Sameer Lalwani. Sameer is a senior advisor with the Special Competitive Studies Project and a non-resident senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund. Sameer and Milan discuss how the U.S.-India defense partnership has survived the general tumult in the relationship, the significance of a recently signed defense framework agreement, and the future of defense co-production and co-development. Plus, the two discuss Inda’s lessons learned from Operation Sindoor and whether China still serves as the glue that keep these two powers together. Episode notes: 1. Sameer Lalwani, “Don’t Call it a Comeback: Why US-India Relations are Due for a Rebound,” Special Competitive Studies Project, November 20, 2025. 2. Sameer Lalwani and Vikram J. Singh, “How to Get the Most Out of the U.S.-Indian Defense Partnership,” War on the Rocks, February 11, 2025. 3. “Why Washington Is Wooing Pakistan (with Uzair Younus),” Grand Tamasha, October 1, 2025. 4. “From Convergence to Confrontation: Trump’s India Gambit (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, September 24, 2025. 5. “Can Europe be India's Plan B? (with James Crabtree),” Grand Tamasha, September 17, 2025. 6. “How This India-Pakistan Conflict Will Shape the Next One (with Joshua White),” Grand Tamasha, May 21, 2025. 7. “Operation Sindoor and South Asia’s Uncertain Future (with Christopher Clary),” Grand Tamasha, May 14, 2025.