Ziya Us Salam is associate editor at The Hindu and a widely published author. A literary and social commentator, Salam has examined critical subjects through his books Women in Masjid: A Quest for Justice (Bloomsbury 2019), Nikah Halala: Sleeping with a Stranger (Bloomsbury 2020) and Being Muslim in Hindu India: A Critical View (HarperCollins 2024).

Salam, who has been with The Hindu for nearly twenty-five years, also served a stint with The Statesman in the mid-1990s. In his journalism career spanning more than three decades, he has held various roles, including that of features editor and film critic.

His other books include Of Saffron Flags and Skullcaps: Hindutva, Muslim Identity and the Idea of India (Sage 2018), which deals with challenges to the idea of India, and Lynch Files: The Forgotten Saga of Victims of Hate Crime (Sage 2019), which focuses on the victims of hate and violence.


Anand Mishra is a senior journalist with nearly twenty-five years of experience across news organisations, including Hindustan Times, Press Trust of India, Indian Express, DNA, Deccan Herald and Frontline. He has travelled across north India to cover key political developments and elections, tracking the evolution of political parties across the spectrum - left, right and centre - in the national capital and the states in the Hindi speaking belt.

Hailing from Gaya in Bihar, Mishra is an English literature graduate. His poems have been published in national and international publications, including The Asian Age, The Sun, North East Sun, World Poetry, Poetry India (The Poetry Society India), Poetcrit and Metverse Muse. He has been a political editor for the past six years and is currently working with Frontline.