India After Gandhi !!

I always tell my friends that I don't read as much as I'd like to. I attribute it mainly to the fact that I'm an out-and-about kinda guy. Every single day (even a work day) is packed with so many outdoor activities and there are so many things that I need to follow (like sports, politics, movies, economics, technology etc) that whatever leisure time I get I tend to spend it on these activities.

But over the last month or so I've managed to find the time to read 2 books. The first one was 'Too Big To Fail' which I read en-route to my brother's place in Arkansas (there's not much else you can do on a plane that's not much bigger than a bus !!). That book was just too good to put down. A true page-turner. Its a behind-the-scenes account of the financial meltdown. Awesome awesome read!! I highly recommend it to anyone with even a scintilla of interest in finance & economics.

But this post is for the second book. It's titled 'India After Gandhi'. And if the title didn't make it amply clear it's the story of India after the demise of Gandhi. In the foreword the author rightly points out that all history books in India seem to climax with the independence of India in 1947. We are 60 years past that point. But we don't have a book that chronicles the issues and challenges India has faced since.

This book describes the affair between India and it's destiny after their famous tryst on the 15th Aug 1947. India's problems did not end that day with the attainment of liberty. As the leaders of that time were to find out, they had just started.

The book talks abouts how independence came not to "one" but to "two nations". The anguish that was caused by the partition. Countless people died, countless became refugees, lives changed forever. It details the plight of refugees from both East & West Pakistan. I came to know so many things I had absolutely no idea about.

Then there was the onerous task of including the various "princely states" to the Indian union. It was as the author puts it "the hottest of all the hot potatoes of the time". Also the herculean task of drafting a new constitution. A constitution that had to take into consideration the aspirations of a multitude of communities, religions, classes & regions and had to allay the fears of minorities in a Hindu dominant nation.

In 1952 the first general elections were held. This was a formidable challenge to say the least. The issue of Kashmir was still unsettled in the 50s (remains unsettled till date). The book also talks about how the Congress leaders had always professed the formation of states based on language but how after independence they thought it wouldn't be wise to divide the nation, already marred by a bloody partition, any further . And how they eventually had to give in to the numerous protests in favor of linguistic states. How the leaders of the time handled the Naga rebellion, the Hindu Civil Code and India's foreign policy.

I've been through just one portion of the book up till now. I must say reading it drains you. It's not one of those books you can read for pleasure but a book that you should read nonetheless. I look forward to reading the rest of it !!

If you do too then we should talk afterwards.