A new book throws light on the state of governance in India from 2020 to 2024, marking 2024 as a crucial moment for democracies across the world. Plus, we have curated an essential reading list for India’s upcoming electoral season
Voters outside a polling centre in Rajasthan during the 2023 Assembly Elections in the state. Pic/Getty Images
As elections draw close, Sanjay Jha’s new book, 2024: India in Free Fall (HarperCollins) documents India under the current government and what it has witnessed in these four years since the last elections. Jha has been a critical voice in Indian politics for a time. For someone who shoulders the label of being a former Congress spokesperson, his voice may be easy to dismiss as tendentious. But his criticism has not been limited to the party in power alone. In the past, his statements have led to his suspension from his own party as well. In his new book, there are instances where the author’s praise for Rahul Gandhi seems more exaggerated than making sense. However, those comments aside, on all accounts, the facts presented about the last four years (2020-2024) under the current government are inescapable truths.
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Sanjay Jha
Published in the months leading to a crucial election, the book acts as an urgent reminder to its readers about the political failures and the widening fault lines in the last decade or so. Some of these include the unfulfilled promises of proper sanitation, government’s negligence during the severe second wave of COVID-19, prevalence of cronyism with the strengthening of the big businesses-government relationship, criticism of farmers’ protest against exploitative farm bills, several cases of illegal arrests of members of the minority communities, the constant name-changing of cities, and gross omissions of important historical figures from textbooks. Jha warns us, “As India is overwhelmed with… the perennial reminder that the past must be rewritten to create New India, it enters a slippery slope. After that, it is usually followed by a free fall.”
One of the most significant essays is the one titled The Shame of Manipur. India’s north-eastern states have continued to be treated as second-class citizens, or as Jha calls them, “third cousin twice removed”. He explains how the exigency of women being paraded naked and gangraped in Manipur, during violent ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities, went completely unheard until a viral video broke the Prime Minister’s silence. The horror was reduced to a mere 36-second passing mention in his speech. The numbness remains a matter of alarming shame. Jha’s unflinching voice, as he lists down the atrocities, backing them with solid evidence, will shake the readers off their indifference. In this important hour, the book should ideally be read by all.
Other recommendations
>> India’s Experiment with Democracy by SY Quraishi: The former Chief Election Commissioner’s latest book is an effort to urge readers for an “honest introspection” as he asks important questions about requisites of a democracy, laying open trends and patterns in voter turnouts, figures of political finances during elections, and issues concerning the electoral bonds schemes, among other things. As Quraishi worries for the nation, he also carries a tone of optimism and dreams of seeing harmony in the country one day. The readers may also like to pick up his earlier book, An Undocumented Wonder.
>> The Game of Votes by Farhat Basir Khan: What role has technology played in the digital era when there exists only a thin line between information and misinformation? What are the practices of looking and what manipulations take place in visual media politics? How have parties turned to ad agencies for campaigning? Khan (left) explores these in the context of shifting dynamics of governance and political communication.
>> You Must Know Your Constitution by Fali S Nariman: This book comes from a unique viewpoint of one of the most reputed jurists of the country. It is not one that demands to be read in one sitting. It acts as a guidebook giving detailed analyses, case studies, anecdotes, and developments in the provisions of the most important founding document of the country, the Constitution of India. Nariman (below) asserts how it is impossible to write a new one, but it is important for judiciary to continue doing its work and interpret it with renewed richness to stay relevant for its people.
Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala. Pics Courtesy/Youtube; Wikimedia Commons
>> The Verdict by Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala: Commenting on the turning points in the elections, electoral landslides, representation of women and Muslims, voters’ list, the workings of electoral voting machines, Roy and Sopariwala decode India’s elections with robust research and lucid arguments. What stories do the numbers tell? We find some answers to the question here.
Bonus Reads:
>> India after Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha;
>> When India Votes by Jaishri Jethwaney and Samir Kapur
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