Dr R. Balashankar is a political analyst, activist and academic. He has been extensively writing on the new phase in Indian polity. He is a former Editor of Organiser weekly and former National Convenor of the Bharatiya Janata Partyâs (BJP) Intellectual Cell. He was advisor to Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, the Union Minister for HRD and Science and Technology, in the Vajpayee Government from 1998-2004. He is a regular columnist for NDTV, Outlook, DailyO and many other publications. Currently, he is the Co-convenor of BJPâs Department on National Training Programme and Department of Publications. He has also authored two more booksâAgitation against Bengal Partition and History of Indian Telecommunication.