Dhiren Bhagat

Dhiren Bhagat (1957–1988) was an Indian journalist and poet known for his provocative and distinctly unconventional conservatism.

Bhagat was born in Tokyo in 1957. He returned to India to school at Mayo College, Ajmer, before joining Merton College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1981.

Besides writing regularly for the Spectator (London), the Sunday Observer, the Indian Post, and the Illustrated Weekly of India, he also contributed articles to The Telegraph and the Hindustan Times, the Indian Express, India Today, Sunday, Harpers and Queen, and the London Magazine. In 1986, he became the South-East Asia correspondent of the Observer (London). In addition to his journalism Dhiren Bhagat wrote short stories and poetry.

Dhiren Bhagat's articles continue to influence contemporary Indian society & politics with his articles being used against public figures like Rajiv Gandhi, Khushwant Singh, Arun Shourie and Mani Shankar Aiyar. Bhagat's views ranged from the fourth estate (Why Shourie Can't Think Straight); politics (The New Hypocrisy); and the Punjab of the early 1980s (Bloodstained Whitewash) to Indian writing and theater (The Limited Club); conservative morality (Auschwitz for the Chickens) and the seamier side of covert operations (How Disinformation Works).

Bhagat was writing a book on the Punjab at the time of his death in a car accident in November 1988.