K. S. Komireddi

This is a book that you will either love, or hate. It depends on which political leader you follow or, if you tend to be apolitical, you may indeed read it more objectively.

The book’s essential premise is bleak, and it can make for some depressing reading. Mr Komireddi does take a rather pessimistic position on most of India’s leaders.

I tend to agree with much of his assessment. Surprisingly, he did leave out any deep analysis of Mr Vajpayee, who was one of India’s more liberal Prime Ministers.

A deeper analysis would have also allowed us to understand (from his perspective) how a phenomenon like Mr Modi rose like a meteor, and why he continues to exert an almost fatal attraction for most Indians. An analysis of Indian society during the times of Mr Nehru, Mrs Gandhi, Mr Rao and Mr Modi would have put things in better perspective.

The book was written in 2019, and in 2020 Mr Modi returned with a bigger mandate, in terms of seats won. How? Why?

There is a lot of good analysis in the book, however, it does not seem to paint a very bright picture for India. This is sad for India.… (lisätietoja)