Outlook Magazine - Dravida Banga Ltd. - 01 May 2026 Issue

Just as the US-Iran ceasefire appears to be holding, electoral battles in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are heating up. The Union government has suffered an unexpected setback: its bid to pass a constitutional amendment linking women’s reservation and a fresh delimitation exercise, has been defeated. This round belongs to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, one of the fiercest critics of the Delimitation Bill . In West Bengal, the exclusion of over 90 lakh voters has emerged as the defining poll issue. Can these two states resist the saffron surge this election season? In a special interview with Outlook, Stalin calls the delimitation a conspiracy to silence the southern states. Snigdhendu Bhattacharya reports an elaborate mechanism aimed at reshaping Bengal’s electorate in favour of the BJP, as part of its all-out battle against the Trinamool Congress. Campaigning in Tamil Nadu is revolving around delimitation and federalism, while on the ground the TVK factor is generating excitement, reports NK Bhoopesh from the ground. Ilyas Mohammad in his column profiles the actor -politician, Vijay and asks whether Thalapathy can become Thala. With Nitish Kumar's exit an era has ended. Asghar Khan and Mrityunjay Sharma trace the trajectory of Nitish's political career and what the future holds for Bihar. Seema Guha taken an overview of the latest developments in the US -Israel war on Iran while K.P Fabian looks at the new geopolitical equations and the social and economic impact of the war. Bhaskar Roy interviews Booker Prize winner David Szalay on his work while Shikha Jhingan turns the spotlight on Asha Bhosle, whose unforgettable voice became the soundtrack of generations of Bollywood films. Read all this and more in the latest issue of Outlook.