After several centuries of the ascendance of classical liberalism, the ideology has not only peaked but has become a poor parody of its former self. 

Some eight decades after the end of the second World War, when we thought all ideologies will converge towards the liberal and democratic middle ground, polities are more polarised than ever in almost every country. Battles between Left and Right have become sharper, even as these labels have themselves become irrelevant.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but if liberalism, including secular liberalism, is failing, and cancel culture and intolerance taking its place, liberals must take the lion’s share of the blame. 

The talk by Raghavan Jagannathan will analyse where liberals, especially those who hyphenate Liberals with the Left, have gone wrong, and why reducing liberalism to a mere label without real content or meaning is not worth the candle anymore.

About the Speaker

Raghavan Jagannathan is a journalist and writer with over 46 years of experience in business and political journalism. In his long career, he has served as editorial head of Business Today, Business World, Financial Express, DNA, Forbes India, and First​post​.com. He has also worked with India Today as Business Editor. 

He currently works as Editorial Director with a magazine (Swarajya) that was originally associated with C Rajagopalachari and revived eight years ago as a new start-up.

Jagannathan won the Shriram Sanlam Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. He is the author of The Jobs Crisis in India, which was published in 2018. 

Find him on Twitter @TheJaggi