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

Great book and terrific insight into `Indian history after Gandhi' and how India and its democracy survived and evolved to what it is today. Ramchandra Guha wrote the book in a very objective manner. Also, various anecdotes and quotes from newspapers and personalities of bygone era make this book an interesting read. Author's style is simple and lucid not pedagogy. I recommend this book for any student/observer of Indian history or world political history in general. After reading this book, one would appreciate Indian democracy and understand why much needed social and economic equality has been slow and tough to achieve in India. This book is a must read for all the `armchair' critics of India. --Ajay K. Hari

Reading this book one is impressed with the making of Indian democracy. India for many years was seen as a desperately poor country which struggled to make even modest gains in increasing its living standards and dealing with issues flowing from its poverty. In more recent times it has seen significant growth especially after it freed up its economy from private controls. Yet this book makes clear that even when economic growth was at a modest level a new nation was being born. India has many significant achievements since its formation. One of the most remarkable is that it is still a country. India of course had never previously been a country and its inhabitants had diverse cultural traditions and languages. Many prophesised prior to its independence that it would fragment into many countries or that it would soon become a military dictatorship. One of the first challenges of newly independent India was to integrate the old princely states into what was to become a modern country. This was done with what now seems surprising ease. What then was required was to develop a state structure which would be reasonably harmonious. States were constructed on linguistic lines with some cultural homogeneity. Previously the country had developed its own constitution which remains in place to this day. Whilst the country saw a brief end to democratic government in the 70s with a state of emergency being declared democracy was soon restored. One can say that India's path has not been easy and the country has the potential to slide into violence. There have has been a Maoist insurgency and also two separatist movements which have used guerrilla forces. In more recent times the BJP has used a crude and ugly nationalism to garnish support. This has been based on the toleration of anti Muslim violence by state governments it controls. The Congress Party also seems to have declined from the once great progressive secular force that it was at the beginning to a crude fiefdom of the Ghandi family. Yet despite these shortcomings elections continue to be held and the majority of the population see the political system as the way of way of resolving political conflict. Even the BJP has had to work in coalition with other parties and this has moderated the practice of their rule. Castes who have been lower on the pecking order have been able to use the political system to advance their interests to achieve significant improvements in their position. One of the books conclusions is that the communist parties in India are in fact de-facto fronts for lower class special interests rather than being socialist organisations in the Leninist mould. The book is fascinating as one does not realise the complexity of India's recent history and the sheer complexity of the workings of politics in such a large and diverse country. The book also is well written and although not a journalistic or populist work it is easy to read and something of a page turner.

This is a must read for anyone with any connection to India! The first lively, readable popular hstory of modern India built on deep and scholarly knowledge of the subject, this book will change your views on many aspects of present day India and how its kaleidoscope of the human condition came about. There is a priceless page about Richard Nixon, not to be missed!

To appreciate this book, you must be interested in a balanced presentation of the many facts that bore on the issues that faced India from 1948 forward. The author writes well; this is fortunate, as otherwise the reader would be snowed under with all of the characters, the political positions, and the maze of details that pertain to the multiple historical subplots. This is excellent history. It treats the major events with the pages that they deserve. For example, the whole story of Kashmir is described, from the fears that preceded partition through partition, the first war and all the successive battles, the personalities of the major participants, and the political and religious positions. Here, as elsewhere throughout the book, the difference between the sectarian positions of Pakistan and the secular positions of India are explored, along with the consequences. The movements to establish states along linguistic lines is well explored. Likewise, the politics relating to lower castes and treatment of minorities is given plenty of attention. Nehru gets much attention, and although the author recites the criticism that he faced for what were perhaps overly socialistic central government programs, he repeatedly receives credit for taking nonpartisan positions that promoted the greater India welfare, particularly in the areas of preserving rule of law and ensuring the rights of minorities (such as the millions of Muslims in India). For all of the multiple subjects, the author explores the opposing positions, and places matters in a historical perspective. Time after time it is fascinating to see how various Indian leaders' views were shaped by their respective different backgrounds, and how biases prevented them from supporting what, in hindsight, appeared to be correct solutions. There is much here that makes one think of American politics, and our own inabilities to avoid arguing from highly partisan positions. Ted Preston, author of Judging the Lawyers

This is an extremely well organized, readable, informative, and insightful history of India after independence. Guha details the political and socio-economic history of India from August 15, 1947 to today. The author does an outstanding job of bringing such a voluminous amount of material and a somewhat chaotic history with many, many themes into a coherent whole. To date this is the best writing I've seen on post-independence India.