Sudheendra Kulkarni is Chairman, Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Mumbai, an independent public policy think tank. A socio-political activist, he was an aide to India's former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Prime Minister's Office (1998-2004). He also worked closely with L.K. Advani, India's former deputy premier, in the Bharatiya Janata Party. He left the BJP in 2013 due to ideological differences.
He is actively engaged in the harmonisation of Hindu-Muslim relations and the normalisation of India-Pakistan relations. His initiative ‘Mumbai-Karachi Friendship Forum' seeks to promote people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan.
He has also authored Music of the Spinning Wheel: Mahatma Gandhi's Manifesto for the Internet Age.