Review: India After Gandhi

India is indeed the world's largest democracy. But, writes essayist Guha, the question is, what sort of democracy? India's first postindependence government was marked by Jawaharlal Nehru's admirable determination, in the face of the violence accompanying the partition of India and Pakistan, to establish India as "a democratic secular State where all citizens enjoy full rights and are equally entitled to the protection of the State, irrespective of the religion to which they belong." Nehru, highly regarded for his statesmanlike and reasonable views, did not want partition in the first place; it came about, Guha suggests, for several reasons, not least a long tendency for India's Hindu majority to underestimate the nation's massive Muslim population. Though Nehru's successors attempted to put beneficial programs in place, including much-needed land reform, they have in the main been no match for him, Guha further suggests. Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, was, unlike her father, "neither well-read nor widely traveled," inarticulate about many of the nation's most pressing problems and world affairs—the market economy, the Cold War, the development and strengthening of that secular state. She was deft in certain ways, however, balancing the U.S. against the USSR; Richard Nixon was moved to fury when she went to war with Pakistan over East Bengal, soundly defeating America's closer ally. Increasingly isolated as her power grew, Gandhi did nothing to stop rising religious strife throughout the early 1980s, which culminated in her assassination. Her successors have made progress in some areas, Guha writes, though, he notes, "India is no longer a constitutional democracy but a populist one." He closes by elaborating on that distinction, as well as noting India's growing contributions to global culture. Evenhanded, particularly on the thorny matter of Indo-Pakistani relations. Well timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of independence, and well worth reading for anyone interested in world affairs.

GOOD

this book i have read but a little ....... author is great

India after Gandhi is a great work by Ramchandra Guha. His lucid writing style make this book highly readable and interesting. His work throws light on India as a nation in making. He has shown the problem which India was facing during initial years and discussed about those people who could make this possible to emerge India as the largest and most successful democracy in the world. He also write about those factors that have kept the country together after independence and made the prediction of Winston Churchill wrong. 

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

A voluminous book that surprisingly is a great page turner. A book whose stated objective was to unravel the reason that holds India against all odds, gives a huge focus on the odds but does not ... Read full review

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

Do you really think that history of India has not been documented post independence? This is the chief premise with which historian Ramachandra Guha documents history of India post 1947 to 2005 ... Read full review

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

Ramachandra Guha says in the prologue of “India after Gandhi” that in India, history seems to end in 1947. He quotes the educationist Krishna Kumar who says that 'for Indian children, history itself ... Read full review

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

A very comprehensive history of modern India, and it's surprisingly interesting and gripping given that it is a historical record. A must read for any one who wants to know how modern India came to be ... Read full review

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

"If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you ... Read full review

Review: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

History is impossible to write without bias. Author does a good job in his own right to create a great times after independence but looks like this book is written by sophisticated english educated ... Read full review