Beyond the Indus The Diplomat

How the BJP plans to win over South India in the lead up to the 2024 election.Political parties in India are slowly gearing up for the 2024 election showdown. Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty speak with a BJP heavyweight and strategist in the state of Telangana, Krishna Sagar Rao, to break down the BJP’s approach to win in South India -- a region that has long withstood Modi’s political juggernaut. We discuss the BJPs organizational shake up, its attempts to reverse its political fortunes in the southern states, and the historical reasons why the party has found it difficult to compete in the region.

We also talk about the Supreme Court decision to stay Rahul Gandhi’s conviction -- and his reinstatement to the Parliament -- as well as a historical analysis of the politics of polarization in the subcontinent.

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Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty speak to survivors of the Rohingya genocide, currently living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, as well as Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights.In this week's episode of Beyond the Indus, Joe and Tush speak to survivors of an ongoing genocide to discuss a topic largely ignored in the international community: the Rohingya crisis. We are also joined by Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights, about Rohingya refugees facing violence, human trafficking and slow starvation in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

We also discuss India’s recent moon mission, the Sino-Indian political dispute over the succession of the Dalai Lama and the role of federalism in strengthening Indian democracy and its impact on the 2024 general election.

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Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty speak to Gaurav Narain about layers of this new technology and its impact on the Indian economy.Join Joe and Tush as they explore the revolutionary new technology that is transforming India’s governance and economy - The India Stack. Starting with the digital biometric Aadhar program that provided 1.4 billion Indian with the world's most advanced digital ID, integrated with a publicly owned payments platform and e-authentication of documents that eliminated the need for physical paperwork, India’s new approach to digital public infrastructure is, to quote Bill Gates, “leapfrogging the world.” We speak to Gaurav Narain who helps us break down the layers of this new technology and understand its impact on the Indian economy.

We also discuss India’s new Green Energy policy, caste discrimination laws in the United States, and the response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, D.C.

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Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty discuss Modi's state visit to the U.S., and broader trends in India-U.S. relations, with Rajeshwari Pillai Rajgopalan.In this episode, Joe and Tush cover one of the most hotly anticipated events in international diplomacy: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States. We speak to Dr. Rajeshwari Pillai Rajgopalan, director at the Centre of Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation, one of India’s leading think tanks, to understand what this visit means for India-U.S. strategic cooperation and defense ties, the history of the India-U.S. relationship, and the challenges and limitations faced by both countries in this evolving partnership.

We also discuss the violence ongoing in the Indian state of Manipur as well as the horrific train crash in Odisha.

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Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty explore how Bhutan is quietly gearing up to become the world's next Bitcoin superpower.For the very first episode at our new home, The Diplomat, Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Joe Wallen and Tushar Shetty explore how Bhutan, an isolated kingdom tucked in the Eastern Himalayas, is quietly gearing up to become the world's next Bitcoin superpower. We speak to Tenzing Lamsang, editor of Bhutan's largest private newspaper, The Bhutanese, to understand how the former hermit kingdom decided to leapfrog into the fourth industrial revolution by aiming to become the world's largest per capita producer of cryptocurrency.

We also discuss the political controversies surrounding the recent opening of the new Indian Parliament, as well as Rahul Gandhi's visit to the United States.

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The rise and fall of Pakistan's most controversial populist.Beyond the Indus podcast hosts Tushar Shetty and Joe Wallen explore the legacy of Pakistan's most intriguing and enigmatic leader in recent decades. With riots and protests sweeping through Pakistan after Imran Khan's arrest, we speak to Dr Avinash Paliwal of the SOAS London to break down how the one time darling of the Pakistan military became the bete-noire of the establishment, and how his face off with the state evolved into the most serious internal challenge to the Pakistani state in its entire history.