JAIMINI BHAGAWATI

The Promise of India: How Prime Ministers Nehru to Modi Shaped the Nation (1947-2019) by Jaimini Bhagwati ; Published by Penguin Viking ; Pages 385; Price Rs.799/-

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Jaimini Bhagwati was India’s High Commissioner to the UK and Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg. He has served in senior positions in the Government of India, including in foreign affairs, finance and atomic energy. In the World Bank, he was a specialist in international bond and derivatives markets; he was the RBI chair professor at ICRIER; and is a Board member of IDFC's holding company.

He has published several research papers .

Bhagwati analyses the key political, foreign policy and economic decisions of all the Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, to comprehend the role of each one of them.

With his long experience , Bhagwati reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes events and offers fresh insights into each PM's governance. For instance how, Nehru, considered a 'socialist' by some, in fact acted according to the prevailing wisdom of highly regarded economists; why P.V. Narasimha Rao has not received adequate credit for heralding economic reforms; how Atal Bihari Vajpayee followed in the footsteps of Nehru and Rao; and how and why Modi focused on the delivery of basics to the poor.

Grand in sweep and thoroughly researched, this deeply engaging book sheds new light on independent India's history. It provides an incisive overview of India's political culture and what keeps its democracy ticking.

What distinguishes this book from other books is that Bhagwati was a former Indian Foreign Service officer and is also a trained economist. In the capacity of an IFS officer, Bhagwati did have a view from inside the government for the period in which he served it, and as an economist his mastery over detailing the economic transition and policies certainly has an edge over other such other books.

A balanced reader would find his account under various prime ministers neither gushing, hagiographic, or bitterly critical. The real test lies in dealing with Nehru and Modi. Most liberal writers overly gush about Nehru and are bitterly critical about Modi. He has assessed all PMs on three Cs – Character, Competence, and Charisma. For this book he has accepted limitations by invoking the principle of master historian E.H.Carr, that all writings about the past are impacted by the choices of what to include and what interpretation to give to the so-called recorded facts.

His assessment of Nehru is quite objective. Contrary to the belief that Nehru chose the wrong economic model for the country, Bhagwati shows through facts that the model of socialism or mixed economy was the dominant theme at that time, with the majority of economists of the time also endorsing it. Nehru’s choice of economic model was fine but needed to change with time, and this time was ripe during Shastri and Indira Gandhi’s reign. Unfortunately, Shastri died prematurely and Indira took a left turn to consolidate her political career.

On Nehru’s China policy, Bhagwati is rightly unforgiving. His overall assessment of Nehru’s legacy on 3 Cs is thus: He had character and charisma in abundance. It is in competence that he may be faulted in some measure on foreign policy and national security matters.

According to Bhagwati, India should have positioned itself as a nuclear weapon power in May 1974 itself, when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conducted India’s first nuclear test and earned sanctions from the US and other nations.

He agreed that it may not have been possible for Gandhi to take such a bold step at the time, given the US pressure and India’s own domestic challenges, but she could have done it when she came back to power in 1980.

"By 1983-84, if Indira Gandhi had done the second nuclear test, two things would have happened. We could have got economic sanctions but people would have reconciled with a country that was growing, that has a large consumer base and, secondly and most importantly, the door would have been shut very firmly on the face of Pakistan.”

The fact that the Vajpayee government could do it within two months of coming to power in 1998, proves that the “scientific community was ready and waiting for the political green signal”.

We have highly readable chapters on the contributions of all the 11 leaders who held the office of the Prime Minister of India,

The author agreed to rank the top five—but ranked only four, and did not find anyone worthy of the fifth slot.

In terms of impact and long-lasting value, none can match Jawaharlal Nehru. Till today, he overshadows every prime minister who has succeeded him. Perhaps, there would not have been a nation state called India today but for him at the start, immediately after the Independence.

 Narasimha Rao really deserves the second place—he has earned country's gratitude because we had several economic problems before his coming on the scene as Prime Minister. He was one of the longest serving politicians in terms of various positions he held—from CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh and cabinet minister with so many portfolios—Home, MEA, HRD....He served in a way that gave full expression to his ability to steer the country and the economy when it was in a major balance of payments crisis. And one could say that the same of reforms which he did – industrial licensing , EXIM rationalisation,etc. Import duties were reduced from that time onwards by every successive government. He rationalised exchange rates .

Narasimha Rao is high on Competence as he demonstrated through the balance of payment and economic crisis in 1991.He did not show enough courage of conviction to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Rao was influenced by so-called god-men and that too was not a stirring example of Character. 

The next person is Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He displayed boldness in his decisions. While for the decision to go nuclear, one has to give credit to our nuclear scientists and engineers, Vajpayee. took a very bold decision here. A number of countries, including the USA, announced all kinds of sanctions, including economic. And he was also able to gradually normalise relations wit-h the  US.  Vajpayee is noted for his Character and Charisma--he was always amiable,good-natured and accommodating. 

About Lal Bahadur Shastri.the author has a high opinion.Pakistan had sophisticated weapons. Yet, Shastri was able to resist in Kashmir. He saw the situation was getting a little grim, and he remembered that Nehru had promised in Parliament that next time Pakistan attacks us, we would take the battle to them, and the battle would also be on Pakistani soil. That is exactly what Shastri, diminutive man in the sense he was short, did. He showed great strength of character when lot of people were wondering what we could or should do, and Pakistan leaders claimed one Pathan was equal to 20 Indian soldiers. He was able to push and almost reach Lahore. That was when the world community, including both the Soviet Union and the US, tried to pressurise them and us to stop fighting, and he agreed to ceasefire. With far inferior equipment, he was able to show the morale and leadership at the top that we can win.

The other area that he gave a fillip to was agriculture—the introduction of high yielding wheat, the beginning of the green revolution, and the slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. In Tashkent at the negotiating table, he lost a little bit of what he had won in the war –the Hajipir Pass—but the problem was that he was under tremendous pressure from the USSR.

Modi scored high levels on Competence and Charisma.It is too early to assess him.

It is impossible to disagree with the learned assessment of this book by Dr. Y.V.Reddy,ex-Governor of R B I.

"With his versatile background,Bhagwati provides a bridge between news headlines and the reality of behind-the-scenes public policy making under each of the Prime Ministers since Independence.This timely book is a fascinating insider's account of the interplay of politics,economics,diplomacy,administration and financial markets....The book is a must-read for leaders and laypersons, scholars and students of social sciences."

PPR

24/11/2019.

LALU   YADAV

Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey by Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nalin Verma; Published by Rupa ; Pages 214; Price:Rs 500/-

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In India the genre of political biographies has not acquired any importance. So one welcomes such books which throw light on the nooks and crannies of history. A minor attempt in this direction is the autobiography of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Originally in Hindi we have an English version.The book under review is an entertaining account of a politician among politicians.

Lalu’s memoir in English has been co-authored by Nalin Verma, veteran journalist and a writer of repute. Nothing is known about the date of birth of Lalu but this has not abated his effulgence and he continues to be a shining star—whether free or behind bars. Charisma is his passport and charm his visa !.

Lalu is a product of the JP revolution. The book recaptures the journey of India’s most colourful political leader, who turned out to be the dream boy of all cartoonists.

Lalu, has been an eloquent speaker who picked up enemies by the score and here he is open about revealing unknown or otherwise misunderstood episodes of his personal as well as political life. Each chapter brims with untold tales .

One example. Rabri Devi’s first pregnancy was advised to Lalu when he was a prisoner under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) and his first baby was born on May 22, 1975. Since he was booked under MISA and was out on parole to attend to his wife and the newborn, his political idol and mentor Jayaprakash Narayan suggested that he name his daughter Misa. Thus, his firstborn was named Misa Bharati.

Reporters have often asked Lalu about his style of oratory that matches that of poorest of the poor in society and he has always told them that since he was brought up amidst them it comes naturally to him.

Lalu has important pronouncements about events such as Politics of Mandal, Mandir and Masjid.

It is accepted by one and all that Lalu has been the best Union Minister for Railways and his experiment with kulhars (clay cups) really caught the attention of several policy makers and commentators. One can understand the story behind a complete turnaround of Indian Railways from bankruptcy to billions in Lalu’s own written words .

After the Apex Court recently rejected his bail plea ahead of the crucial 2019 polls, Lalu who is convicted in fodder scam has been reading Mahabharata in an attempt to understand the life and teachings of Lord Krishna.

Lalu Prasad has the uncanny ability to recount highlights of his life —extremely detailed, earthy language and expression, and utterly ready to sharing information others would dread to confess, even to themselves.

Lalu recounts how he got then-BJP president L.K. Advani arrested in Samastipur during Advani's 1990 Rath Yatra account and this is a spine thriller. Lalu writes in detail about the fodder scam, the birth of his party—the Rashtriya Janata Dal—and the BJP's reaction to Sonia Gandhi becoming the President of the Congress.

Lalu projects himself as someone who is happy with what life has dealt him, and especially with the way his son Tejashwi is shaping up as a leader. Lalu’s commitment to secularism and democracy seems genuine.

Yadav begins his journey from the fields of Gopalganj, where he describes his struggles with poverty. He has chosen to use his native tongue in places in the book, which jump out at the reader.

Yadav is clearly admiring himself in the mirror of history— his ornate sense of humour, his pathologically over-the-top manner manage to create an image that is exceptional, even if highly flawed.

This memoir, offers glimpses of what Yadav can offer, but for the most part, this side of him remains elusive.There are of course interesting political revelations. There are other instances, for example where Yadav casts George Fernandes as the man who orchestrated most of his downfalls. Yadav may or may not be the many things he is accused of, but he is, as portions of this book suggest, eternally intriguing, perplexing and unmissable. Politics in this country is poorer without his enigmatic presence.

The former Bihar chief minister then goes on to add some ‘Laluisms’, “Powerful people and powerful classes always managed to divide society into ruling and the ruled classes. And whenever anyone from the lower hierarchy challenged this unjust order, they would be deliberately punished.”

Lalu adds, “The journey of my life has been similar to those of these great men, though I make no claim to be anywhere near their stature; it would be foolish of me to do so. Throughout my political life, I have relentlessly struggled and followed the path shown by these great leaders and unflinchingly fought against the oppression of Dalits and other backward classes, as well as for the rights of the minorities. I have adopted the call of non-violence given by Mahatma Gandhi to accomplish in Bihar what Mandela, King and Ambedkar did in their times. As expected, my path was strewn with thorns, and the journey has not been easy. But I have never flinched from walking down that road. I believe in the dictum: When the going gets tough, the tough get going,”

Talking about himself now, Lalu claims that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar have been rattled by his methods of communicating with people — and the people’s unadulterated love for him. “They have been against me because I gave a voice and dignity to the struggling masses, who lived in bondage. The Sangh Parivar minions intensified their campaign against me, particularly, after I halted Lal Krishna Advani in the tracks of his destructive Rath Yatra and arrested him in 1990 in Bihar. They have relentlessly spread false propaganda against me and have tried to create a negative perception about me through various instruments they control or have influence over”.

A readable book—though not earth-shaking !

PPR

17/11/2019.

MANU PILLAI

The Courtesan,the Mahatma and the  Italian  Brahmin   by Manu Pillai; Published by Context ; Pages 394 ; Price Rs.590/-

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Manu Pillai  is an astonishingly young writer—only 30-- who won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for his debut book, “The Ivory Throne”.

The book under review —The Courtesan, The Mahatma and The Italian Brahmin— is an engrossing collection of essays on arresting incidents from Indian history. These essays have appeared earlier in Pillai’s regular columns in the Press. Pillai has divided the book into three parts: Before the Raj, Stories from the Raj and Afterword.The book has around 60 stories in all.

Pillai declares “Pride should not eclipse the realities of feudalism, caste, class, and other dynamics that shaped society."

Pillai is tracing the diverse and disparate narratives reiterate ancient India’s plurality. Heterogeneity in our world  exists with all manner of warts and inequities.

Part One of the book is peopled with those who opposed the repulsive practices of their times and called into question the status quo. A wonderful beginning is with the utterly butterly tale of Roberto de Nobili who proclaimed    ‘I will become a Hindu to save Hindus’ in his quest to convert Brahmins . 

This is followed up with the story of the mischievous Maratha king of Thanjavur who wrote a satirical play featuring a Brahmin priest and a lower caste woman challenging upper caste beliefs. 

These two essays are the first steps towards a fascinating sojourn through Indian history.

Pillai recounts the stories of Bhakti saints which present the revolutionary aspect of their work while highlighting the contradictions in their work such as the anti-women couplets of Kabir, the upper caste privilege of Basava which possibly allowed him to be a contrarian and the submissive nature of Chokhamela’s devotion.

Intrepid women are featured here and they include the fearless courtesan Muddupalani, Akbar’s wife and a warrior Jodhabai, the all-conquering Madurai Meenakshi and the brave Begum Khunza Humayun. We have remarkable portraits of Jahangir, Ibrahim Adil Shah II and Alauddin Khilji. We also peek into the lives of Gauhar Jaan, Annie Besant, Balamani, Savitri and Janaki Ammal, controlled and shaped by patriarchy.

The essay on the syncretic history of the Mappilas of Malabar with their own Ramayana ‘featuring Ravana as a sultan; Surpanakha’s proposition to Rama in this version seeks sanction from the Sharia’ and the story of theTulukka Nachiyar (Tughlaq Princess) who falls in love with a Hindu god and is ‘commemorated in Srirangam in a painting on the wall’ provide a great glimpse of the multicultural history of South India.

Lesser characters appear in  Part Two of the volume. Foremost is the one on Sir William Jones, followed by the determined queen Malika Kishwar, the brave Savitri who challenged the male sexual entitlement in the Namboothiri clan, the enterprising Chidambaram Pillai from Tuticorin, Janaki the wife of Ramanujan and Naga rebel leader Angami Zapu Phuzo.

Finding out Malika Kishwar’s grave in Paris is a fascinating story. In fact, in the essay,A Forgotten Indian Queen in Paris, the author describes his own travels from London to the French capital tracing the whereabouts of the graves of the baby princess and the last Begum of Awadh. After tracking down the cemetery in Paris, it was still a challenge to locate the Begum’s grave which is now identified by a plaque but until January 2018 lay unmarked, “a square plinth overgrown with weeds,” upon which people would sit to smoke.

The portrait of the eccentric Wajid Ali Shah reveals hilarious details such as his attempts to divorce the remaining 27 wives (after divorcing 50 earlier) in one go, much to the chagrin of the British whose efforts to stop him forced the Nawab to respond, ‘But the women are old and ugly!’ and when asked who should take care of them, quick came his reply ‘The Government’. 

The bloody account of the rebellion and its aftermath in 19th century Vellore and the story of the attempted demolition of a temple in Ayodha bring to the fore two lesser known episodes in Indian history, the first of which, Pillai says, had the potential to be the first war of Independence if not for the silly mistakes committed by the rebels and the second one should have been a lesson to the state on how to quell attempts by extremists to damage any religious structure.

The Ifs of History are intriguing and Pillai has his quota. ‘What if Vijayanagara had survived?’ explores the possibility of a more balanced power equation with Mughals in the North and Rayas in the South, ‘What if there was no British Raj?’ dreams of a more diverse India sans Victorian moralities.

‘What if the Mahatma had Lived?’ The projection of Mahatma Gandhi into a futurity where he could have lived to see 125 years and died in obscurity , while battling modernity and watching his philosophy and values fall into perpetual neglect, echoes patterns in the life and death of V O Chidambaram Pillai in The Champion of Tuticorin, among others.

Part Three--- ‘An Essay For Our Times’ is a detailed meditation on nationalism where Pillai pits the two prominent ideas: our founding fathers’ ‘unity in diversity’ and the Hindu Mahasabha’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ against each other, and after making convincing arguments declares: ‘To re-engineer this mature, long-standing policy in black and white today will only prove calamitous, showing that far from making India great again, what one will end up doing is breaking India.’

A phalanx of Indian residents of diverse faiths from different walks of life entertain and enlighten us . We run into Tipu Sultan and Shivaji, a gamut of English administrators: good, bad and indifferent, including Sir Arthur Cotton, whose avant-garde environment-friendly irrigation practices in Andhra Pradesh allow him to be revered to date.

These thoroughly researched episodes from the lives of history’s instrumental figures – Queen Victoria, Wajid Ali Shah, Meerabai, Mahatma Gandhi, Dara Shukoh and others – form Pillai’s latest collection which offers a glimpse into a realm of victories and foibles that is India’s history.

Tipu Sultan, for instance, Pillai says, stood up to the British on the one hand, and on the other desecrated temples in the lands of enemy kings that he conquered. He called Kerala Hindus infidels and yet employed many such "infidels" as ministers and functionaries in his court. He is regarded as a hero by a certain quarter even as some of his acts were horrific.

Then how do we regard Tipu Sultan? Was he a brave, heroic soldier or a violent conqueror?

"Context is what helps us comprehend this and shows us how it is not a case of either-or. On the contrary, he was all of this at once."

Through his work, Pillai suggests he is trying to "construct a bridge so that these tales can travel down, and we too can walk across and know our past more fully, in all its layered, exquisite complexity."

Manu Pillai is a master of precision and wields an exquisite style of writing unlike Shashi Tharoor noted for his obfuscation and wordiness. I have selected three pieces from this book to give the reader an idea.

"Krishna Menon was essentially a lonely man.”,wrote a relation, and his was a life that married emotional instability to political petulance.But for all that,the dangers of his influence were overrated.As he himself said in an interview, “ I was neither a buffoon nor a Rasputin.”He was merely Krishna Menon,who did some good but invited plenty of trouble.

Writing on the widow of Srinivasa Ramanujan—the great mathematician, Pillai has this to say--

“A widow at barely twenty one, Janaki learnt English and acquired the skills of a seamstress...... Occasionally great scholars from abroad came to see Janaki, seeking answers to questions left behind by her legendary husband. But she only had only memories. and gentle words to offer .As this seamstress of Triplicane said to one of them, the chief thing she remembered about her beloved Ramanujan was that he was always surrounded by sums and problems.

Mokshagundam Visveswaraya—the Dewan of Mysore—had risen from legendary mind into an object of sheer wonder. Nearing his hundredth birthday,when asked about the secret of his longevity he remarked in a matter of fact fashion

"Death called on me long ago but found me not at home and went away.” It returned on April 12,1962,and this time the bachelor from Muddenahalli was ready, having made his mark in the world,and having said everything that needed to be said.

Pillai’s book offers a thoroughly absorbing account of those played a key role in history textbooks or were wrongly relegated to footnotes .

Pillai has a remarkable style and Priya Kurian’s wonderfully detailed charcoal sketches enable one to assimilate the fascinating stories in every essay.

PPR

10/11/2019.

VENKAT    IYER

Moong over Microchips by Venkat Iyer;Published by Penguin  ; Pages 211 ; Price Rs.295/-

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From a stressful life to a carefree one, from the city's concrete jungle to nature's open spaces, from zipping around in cars to taking public transport, and from pollution to clean air, Moong Over Microchips is the journey of an IT professional who dared to leave behind the trappings of a plush city life, including a six figure salary, and found his calling as a farmer in a peaceful rural setting.

The book traces Venkat Iyer's dilemma of leaving his job in India's financial capital after 15 stressful years of being bogged down by the hustle-bustle of the city and his professional life. "I felt alienated by this rat race and also felt isolated in my attempt to give it all up and try to eke out a simple existence by farming," he writes.

Iyer says he seemed to have everything he desired except the time to enjoy it, and this necessitated a change in lifestyle. Calling his decision 'reverse migration', he realised that many want to take the leap but were prevented by insecurity and fear – not to forget money, which plays a major role in such decisions. He had bought a few acres of land in Peth village in Dahanu taluk, Palghar district near Mumbai, and settled down there to practice organic farming.

Fifteen years on, Iyer not only has the satisfaction of growing his own vegetables but also sustains himself with what he makes by selling the produce. This happy outcome comes at the end of many hurdles – corruption, lack of knowledge of farming, and shortage of labour, among other issues.

One often hears people talk of taking such a drastic shift, but Iyer is one of the few who took the plunge and even managed to make it work. No doubt, this required advanced planning, especially on the financial front, which Iyer did very meticulously. On the plus side, the author did not have any major responsibilities – his parents were independent and did not stay with him; he did not have children and his wife landed a job with a newspaper, which helped during the transition.

"I was not looking for retirement but for a new lifestyle," says Iyer.The techie-turned-farmer does a fair job painting a balanced picture of life in a village – the lack of 24x7 electricity, TV, Internet, the broken roads, the ramshackle public transport and lack of healthcare facilities, weighed against the beauty of nature, the calm ponds, birds chirping at dawn, and a relaxed pace of life with many creatures around. "There is a calming effect when one does not have to do anything in particular. It is almost akin to meditation.

Something in the city made people restless, one had to do something to pass the time."Though Iyer was lucky to make the shift from city to village and stuck to it for the past 15 years, the exact opposite is what is more common – people migrating from villages to cities in search of better opportunities unable to cope with the increasing challenge of farming in India such as the lack of an assured income and high debt, which has forced farmers to commit suicide.

The book ends with Iyer's concern that even basic food items might need to be imported in the future as the younger generation in villages is not keen to continue with farming. "I cannot imagine what will happen to our food security in a few years. We will probably have to start importing from abroad as fresh food would have vanished from this country. Or will we let contract farming take over? Is this where we are headed? A scary thought."

PPR

3/11/2019.