'Any normal, pragmatic PM or politician would not have done what he has done'

Monday , 14 July '08

Once shunned by the Congress and now a trusted ally, Amar Singh is the person the UPA is counting on to help it win the trust vote. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, the SP general secretary talks about his years of political isolation...

'When we ask for more power for states, we are called separatists'

Monday , 7 July '08

After 58 years in public life, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is a ‘satisfied’ man. In this concluding part of an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Badal talks about his solitary confinement in Pachmarhi...

"Govt has a rule that only a fixed percentage can join Army from a state. This quota must go"

Monday , 30 June '08

Having entered politics in 1947 and first elected to Vidhan Sabha in 1957, Parkash Singh Badal Last year, he became Chief Minister of Punjab for the fourth time. In the first part of an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Badal talks about terrorism in Punjab...

"Failure to qualify for the Olympics is the catalyst for the change that needs to occur"

Monday , 23 June '08

If anyone can turn India’s fortunes around in hockey, it has to be the legendary Ric Charlesworth. Cricketer, hockey star, doctor, and politician, prior to coming to India as technical advisor for hockey, In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Charlesworth talks about what ails Indian hockey, the changes that need to happen...

‘Long-term big subsidies in energy prices are well worth getting rid of’

Monday , 16 June '08

Recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics, Michael Spence is well known for his job market signalling model. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Spence speaks on growth versus inflation...

‘I would put Shah Rukh Khan in a situation in which he was the underdog...vulnerable’

Monday , 9 June '08

Filmmaker and scriptwriter Manoj Night Shyamalan is famous for his movies of mystery and fear. He was in India recently after being awarded the Padma Shri. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Shyamalan speaks about his connection to India...

'What you (Indians) are doing in England is what Jews did 30-40 years ago...Indians are now taking over local councils...you'll live to see an Indian PM of England'

Monday , 2 June '08

Bestselling author Jeffrey Archer is a man of many parts -- he was captain of the athletics team at Oxford, he ran for his country, and was a Conservative MP at 29. Archer was recently in India to promote his latest book A Prisoner of Birth. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7's Walk the Talk, he speaks about cricket, of which he is an avid fan, about politics in the UK, and about getting on in life without being in the dumps over the mistakes one makes

'It makes no sense... If you (the Centre) can allow it (an anti-terror law) in Maharashtra, why not in Rajasthan?'

Tuesday , 20 May '08

In December 2003, Vasundhara Raje became the first woman chief minister of Rajasthan. Now in an election year, she faces perhaps her biggest challenge as administrator and political leader. The May 13 serial blasts that ripped through crowded places in Jaipur have not just announced the advent of terror in Rajasthan. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Raje talks about how her government is coping with the fallout of Terror Tuesday, and what needs to be urgently done to frame an all-India response to a common threat

‘There’s no compromise on Sonia as PM. I have no problem with any other person, Priyanka or Rahul’

Monday , 12 May '08

Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader P.A. Sangma is that rare politician from the northeast who has carved out a national political presence for himself. For nearly three decades he was with the Congress, and was considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family before being expelled for opposing the choice of Sonia Gandhi as prime minister. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Sangma recalls his good times in the Congress and the break-up. He also floats the idea of a BJP-Congres...

‘India will never have a revolution. China will need one every two-three centuries, their society is hierarchical, has one core centre. India is diverse’

Monday , 5 May '08

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo takes a keen interest in India - something he says goes back to his first visit here in the eighties. He also plays an active role in the Nalanda project. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, he talks about the difference in the ways in which tiny Singapore and large India deal with diversity, about how India has changed over the last few decades, and about how the world looks at China

‘I want govt to declare Chandigarh a hockey city and put five astroturfs there. Automatically the players will come’

Monday , 28 April '08

The Indian Hockey Federation’s image has nosedived since the Indian team’s failure in the Olympic qualifier and the recent Jyotikumaran sting episode. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, IHF president K.P.S. Gill speaks about the mess Indian hockey is in and what he thinks is the way out

‘If you give computers to young children, they start to believe that you don’t have to think, all you have to do is search’

Monday , 21 April '08

Dr Edward de Bono is famous the world over for his concept of lateral thinking. Through his numerous books, workshops, and school initiatives, Dr de Bono has made people not only think about how they think, but also use new ways of looking at things to invent products, find solutions to persistent problems, and resolve conflict. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7's Walk the Talk, Dr de Bono talks about some of his thinking tools, how his training in medicine helped him arrive at some of his concepts, and about his meetings with Rajiv Gandhi, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and...

‘Millions and millions have come into cricket... We have to get over the feeling that making money is a crime’

Monday , 14 April '08

The newly appointed Principal Adviser to the International Cricket Council and President of the Punjab Cricket Association, I.S. Bindra, has seen it all—hits, misses, fixes—and has refused to be stumped. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Bindra talks about Indian cricket’s financial clout, the dark period of match-fixing, the alarming Australian episode and the challenges of his new charge

‘Husain’s exile makes me ashamed of my culture. . . the state hasn’t expelled him, mob culture has’

Monday , 7 April '08

Painter, sculptor, architect Satish Gujral has been all that, and with amazing versatility. In his paintings and sculptures, he adopts new styles ever so often, surprising those who follow his works. Past eighty, he still continues to create. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Gujral talks about how he has learnt to live with silence, how he finds his creativity, and about his brush with communism

‘There’s no communication (with Cong). I don’t think (my breaking the ice) would be rightly understood’

Monday , 31 March '08

In this second part of an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani speaks on his party’s opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, the lack of communication with the Congress, and why he thinks Dr Manmohan Singh is a weak prime minister

‘No attempt being made (by Pak) to undo terrorism infrastructure. It is still there, kept as a reserve’

Monday , 24 March '08

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who the party has named its prime ministerial candidate, has spent six decades in public life. His autobiography (My Country, My Life) was released last week. In this first part of an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Advani talks about how, despite being viewed as anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim, it was his party that took the initiative to improve relations with Pakistan. He also speaks about the drama surrounding the Kandahar hijack

‘U Me Aur Hum isn’t Mills & Boon. It’s about what happens after The End’

Monday , 17 March '08

Kajol is a star who has defied many a Bollywood stereotype to deliver hits. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, she talks about how she always chose to do things her way, about being a lucky mascot in Karan Johar movies, and about her forthcoming film U Me Aur Hum, with which her husband Ajay Devgan makes his directorial debut

‘I have not read the Vedas or the Upanishads. I confess I haven’t read the Gita’

Monday , 10 March '08

He has been described as the ‘Monk on a Motorcycle’ and is known to play Frisbee and dance at discos. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who has a wide following in India and abroad, is equally enthusiastic about spreading the word on how to use yoga and inner sciences for self-transformation in the contemporary world. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Sadhguru Vasudev speaks about how he learnt what he knows through mystic experience and not through reading the scriptures. He also talks about how it is possible for people ...

‘If you have Obama, McCain or Clinton taking office, you will have new a mood on nuclear issue which may translate into CTBT’

Monday , 3 March '08

Strobe Talbott, writer and expert on American policy, heads the Brookings Institute, Washington, an independent think-tank. As deputy secretary of state in the administration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, he was a key interlocutor who helped redefine the Indo-U.S. relationship when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister. In an interview with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Talbott speaks about how important it is for India to get the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal done with and implemented. He also explains what India should prepare itself for a...