India Rising: Fresh Hope, New Fears

Abstract

Rising: Fresh Hope, New Fears. By Ravi Velloor. Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2016. Softcover: 368pp. Rising is a deft chronicle of during 2004-14, an eventful decade marked by several major developments in Indian politics. During this period, left-centre United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ruled India. The decade which started with unexpected victory of Congress-led UPA, went on to become a Dysfunctional Diarchy, with executive power split between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi. As Chairperson of UPA coordination committee and President of Congress party, she firmly controlled levers of power. The book ends with decimation of Congress party in general elections of 2014 in which Congress failed to secure enough seats in Lok Sabha to formally claim title of official opposition. With a gripping narrative style and innovative design, book is an exciting addition to new writing on India, by an ace journalist with privileged access to seats of power and scenes of action, crucial to narrative. Velloor's selection of salient facts of decade--adroitly chronicled in a precise timeline (pp. 31-33)--shows a fine balance of UPA at its most effective and at its nadir. There were moments of glory for UPA such as opening of bus service in 60 years between Srinagar, capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 2005 (p. 30), signing of civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between United States and in 2006, and posting of 9.4 per cent rate of growth in March 2007, the strongest in decades (p. 31) all of which were legacies of NDA, its vanquished predecessor. Then there were moments of triumph like passing of epochal legislation such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that ensured a safety net for rural population in 2006, surviving trust vote on nuclear deal in 2008, and return of UPA to power in 2009 with an enhanced majority. Then we see UPA at its nadir as government of Manmohan Singh unravels with rupee going into a free-fall, corruption scandals rocking government in rapid succession and anti-corruption movements gaining in momentum. Most of these facts are well known, but Velloor's is a decadal history of a novel kind. Rather than recounting history in a monotonous narration, Velloor invites his readers in to scene of action and allows dramatis personae to say it as it was, in their own words, and in terms of context and motivations that drove them. He has seen Indian Air Force violating Sri Lankan territorial sovereignty in 1987, dropping emergency aid to beleaguered Tamils of Jaffna, from cockpit of leading plane; he has been to morgue to survey bodies of victims of Mumbai terrorist attack, and looks away as he is shown body of lone female victim from Singapore; and he has witnessed most of other salient points, both high and low, of this eventful decade. That gives his narrative its gripping quality. His uncanny sense of telling fact, observed at first hand, narrated with sure-footed confidence of a mountain goat negotiating a treacherous precipice, and his deep insight into character and motivation of main characters are a pleasure for general reader and a puzzle with regard to received wisdom for professional students of Indian politics. The first impression that some readers might get from Rising is a sense of an ominous ring to its main title. Rising rhymes with India Shining--the eponymous slogan of Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in campaign of 2004 parliamentary elections. The claim had disastrous consequences for BJP, which lost elections and stayed out of power for decade that followed. …