The Latest Breaking News from Newslaundry

4 tests, 1 question: Did SIR shape Bengal outcome?

On May 4, the BJP clinched 207 of 294 seats in West Bengal. It was historic. So was what preceded it.

Newslaundry · May 7

Beyond anti-incumbency: What Kerala’s verdict says about the LDF

Kerala has a reputation for political predictability. Governments come, governments go, and every five years, voters quietly switch sides. It’s a rhythm the state has followed for decades. So when the Left Democratic Front (LDF) lost in 2026, it could have been dismissed as just that, the system doing what…

Newslaundry · May 7

Press freedom index puts focus on newsrooms telling India’s hardest stories

Every year we are informed that India is sinking lower on the World Press Freedom Index put together by Reporters Without Borders. India now stands at 157 out of 180 countries. “So what?” says the government. “We know,” say journalists who have felt the brunt of this decline.

Newslaundry · May 7

गंगोत्री से गंगासागर तक डंकापति का डंका और प्रेस की आज़ादी का बंटाधार

इस हफ्ते बात डंकापति के जलवे की. दरबार कई दिनों बाद सजा था. फ़िज़ा में गर्मियों की बेचैनी फैली हुई थी. गोया कि फाड़ू टाइप गर्मी पड़ रही थी. दबी जुबान में डंकापति के जश्न के चर्चे चल रहे थे और संजय समेत समस्त दरबारी, उनकी ताजा चुनावी सफलता को…

Newslaundry · May 6

‘Killed by a cop after being called a Bihari’: A family loses its sole breadwinner

At their tiny home in Uttar Nagar, the family of Pandav Kumar is trying to pick up the pieces days after his murder, amid a stream of visitors, and a wait for their demands to be fulfilled.

Newslaundry · May 6

The Red sunset: How India’s Left lost relevance

The fall of the communist government in Kerala marks another low in the overall trend of decay and decline in the Left movement in India. This decline marks a definitive end to the Left's political relevance, driven by a failure to engage the post-1991 workforce and a geriatric leadership that…

Newslaundry · May 6

Anti-defection law or escape route? The Raghav Chadha case explained

Seven MPs switch sides.

Newslaundry · May 5

Saffron ink: How Bengal’s newspapers covered – and coloured – the BJP’s win

By Monday night, the BJP had established leads in over 200 seats in West Bengal. The numbers on the ECI website were not final, but the picture they painted was already difficult to misread. 

Newslaundry · May 5

Operation Sindoor: One year on, Poonch has a plaque for its dead, few bunkers for its living

A year after Operation Sindoor, the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir is still tending its wounds and still waiting for the bunkers that were promised years ago.

Newslaundry · May 5

Can BJP govern Bengal without becoming its old political order?

After weeks of saturation coverage and sustained commentary, election outcomes in India often arrive weighed down by interpretation. A familiar tendency persists to read into them too many meanings and to insert too many subtexts. 

Newslaundry · May 5