'A stalwart Congressman symbolizing the party's foundational values' - SONIA GANDHI'Sushilkumar embodies Lord Krishna's mantra on how to address a challenging situation: "He who responds to every situation with a smile and never reacts with anger is the one who wins".' - SHARAD PAWARVeteran politician Sushilkumar Shinde's career trajectory is unrivalled in Indian politics. Beginning life working as a child labourer and as a ward boy to make ends meet, he went on to hold som...

A provocative new account of how India moved relentlessly from its hope-filled founding in 1947 to the dramatic economic and democratic breakdowns of today.When Indian leaders first took control of their government in 1947, they proclaimed the ideals of national unity and secular democracy. Through the first half century of nation-building, leaders could point to uneven but measurable progress on key goals, and after the mid-1980s, dire poverty declined for a few d...

Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is powerful, popular and controversial. With the general elections due to conclude in May 2014, Modi's campaign rallies have drawn unprecedented crowds. Yet, the man remains an enigma. His supporters regard him as the visionary, decisive leader India needs today. His detractors see him as a polarizing fi gure. Is Modi authoritative or authoritarian? Decisive or divisive? A team player or a loner?Andy Marino recorded interviews w...

Columnist, author and political commentator, Aakar Patel has long been a close observer of the political scenario. In Price of the Modi Years, he seeks to explain the data and facts on India's performance under Narendra Modi.Modi's predecessor, Manmohan Singh, had once said that Modi would be a disaster as prime minister. This book shows how. It concedes Modi's popularity; this is an accounting of the damage he has wrought. It is the history of India since 2014, assessing ...

On 23 May 2019, when the results of the general elections were announced, Narendra Modi and the BJP-led NDA coalition were voted back to power with an overwhelming majority. To some, the numbers of Modi's victory came as something of a surprise; for others, the BJP's triumph was a vindication of their belief in the government and its policies. Irrespective of one's political standpoint, one thing was beyond dispute: this was a landmark verdict, one that deserved to be reported and analysed...

Writer-turned-politician Muthuvel Karunanidhi is amongst the most important political figures India has ever seen. He was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for over five decades. Still remembered for his controversial but fruitful career as a regional leader, his contribution to Tamil history and culture has been invaluable. Meticulously researched and deeply engrossing, Karunanidhi: A Life delves into the life and ti...

Dr. Manmohan Singh, the incumbent Prime Minister, and his government are the makers of modern India. Dr. Singh's achievements have been fogged by a politically motivated, negative propaganda barrage launched by his adversaries. Under his leadership, India has become a donor from a head-down recipient of foreign aid; India's diplomatic and commercial clout in the world has gone sky-high and 21st Century is about to become India's century. On the domestic scene, poverty has been reduced and ...

In less than forty years of its existence, the Bharatiya Janata Party has become the world's largest political party and continues to go from strength to strength in Indian politics. Although its historic rise may seem organic to some, there is much internal deliberation and planning that has aided the growth of this 180-million-member organization. The Architect of the New BJP uses in-depth research and concrete examples to explain how the BJP has transformed over the decades. It...

Is he the next Prime Minister in the making? He is young and dynamic. He is a fierce orator and is often perceived as unconventional. Most importantly, he is an incredibly popular politician in India. Is Yogi Adityanath India's next Prime Minister in the making? His unprecedented rise in the Bharatiya Janata Party and his over-the-top campaigns and displays of his photograph along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's on billboards, among many other moves, seem to ...

Sharad Pawar is one of India’s key public figures. Through his five- decade-long career, during which he has never lost an election, he has served as chief minister of Maharashtra four times and as India’s defence minister and minister for agriculture. On two occasions he came close to becoming the country’s prime minister. He has often bucked the trend, preferring policy and pragmatism over populism, and won admiration for his administrative acumen and consensual politics.Eyewitne...

When P.V. Narasimha Rao became the unlikely prime minister of India in 1991, he inherited economic catastrophe, violent insurgencies and a nation adrift. Yet because he was unloved by his people and mistrusted by his own party-a minority in Parliament and ruling under the shadow of Sonia Gandhi-Rao lacked the mandate to combat these crises. Yet, Rao was not just able to last a full five years as Prime Minister, he reinvented India, at home and abroad. Few world leaders have achieved so muc...

‘War Room stands out as an example of real field work and rigorous research… Anyone who wants to understand how decisions are made in India should read this brilliant study of the BJP.’—Dr. Walter K. Andersen, Author of The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism‘Ullekh NP has crafted a well-researched and gripping narrative of how the BJP seized the moment in 2014. Its penetrating analysis of the personalities, politics and methods of Mo...