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Fearless in Opposition: Power and Accountability
What is the BJP's definition of nationalism? Why did the UPA government follow a policy of 'strategic restraint'? Why is MGNREGA an important instrument in the larger context of India's transformation? How has the 'surgical strike' on currency resulted in difficulties for millions of people? These contentious questions are just a few of the myriad political, strategic and economic issues that former Union Minister P. Chidambaram analyses in his latest book.
Written in inimitable style and characteristic wit by one of India's most influential political commentators, this book brings together a selection of the finest and most incisive essays published as a weekly column in The Indian EXPRESS in 2016. This is as much a showcase of P. Chidambaram's impeccable writing as it is a thought-provoking commentary on the state of the nation.
Written in inimitable style and characteristic wit by one of India's most influential political commentators, this book brings together a selection of the finest and most incisive essays published as a weekly column in The Indian EXPRESS in 2016. This is as much a showcase of P. Chidambaram's impeccable writing as it is a thought-provoking commentary on the state of the nation.
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First published February 1, 2017
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August 8, 2020
I remember reading somewhere, "BJP thinks history ended in 2014, and Congress pretends as if history started in 2014." Hence, Congress while attacking BJP, forgets that they have been at the helm of power most of the past 70 years, and BJP, while attacking Congress' misrule, forget that they have been voted to power just because of that and can't use that as an excuse for their current failures.
Anyway, personal corruption and political affiliation aside, I believe, Chidambaram is one of the most astute and able policy maker that India needs to heed to. So, even if, I knew that his writings would be biased, overlooking his own government's faults, and highlighting only the opponents shortcomings, I still wanted to read his book to understand his lines or arguments.
But, I am disappointed.
Why?
Because - why does one reads a book? To get more in-depth, structured and thorough analysis of ideas, events, policies, happenstances, etc. If one wants just information, or byte sized opinions, one reads Newspaper columns or magazine articles, isn't it?
But, if newspaper columns are collated together to make it appear as a book of detailed discussion on a subject, the reader is bound to be disappointed.
This book collates Chidambaram's 50 odd newspaper editorials appearing in Indian Express in good part of 2016. Hence, the articles are independent and all over the place.
Thankfully, I didn't spend too much money or time on this book.
Pongalswamy asked chuckling, "He is not as fearless anymore, is he?"
Anyway, personal corruption and political affiliation aside, I believe, Chidambaram is one of the most astute and able policy maker that India needs to heed to. So, even if, I knew that his writings would be biased, overlooking his own government's faults, and highlighting only the opponents shortcomings, I still wanted to read his book to understand his lines or arguments.
But, I am disappointed.
Why?
Because - why does one reads a book? To get more in-depth, structured and thorough analysis of ideas, events, policies, happenstances, etc. If one wants just information, or byte sized opinions, one reads Newspaper columns or magazine articles, isn't it?
But, if newspaper columns are collated together to make it appear as a book of detailed discussion on a subject, the reader is bound to be disappointed.
This book collates Chidambaram's 50 odd newspaper editorials appearing in Indian Express in good part of 2016. Hence, the articles are independent and all over the place.
Thankfully, I didn't spend too much money or time on this book.
Pongalswamy asked chuckling, "He is not as fearless anymore, is he?"
July 14, 2018
As far as I memory works, I have never read a book written by any active politician. And I believe this has been my best decision ever after reading P. Chidambaram’s “Fearless In Opposition”. The book also has the tagline which says “Power and Accountability”. I had a belief that a politician decides to write a book only when he takes a conscious decision of speaking truth irrespective of either it’s in his favor or not. But after reading Chidambaram’s version of how the current NDA government is working and operating the nation, it seems as if our country is only doing worst each and every hour and there’s nothing good or encouraging happening. This is such a one-sided and disappointing book that you will never want to vote such a discouraging party again in power which has nothing good to say about the current government.
Chidambaram has discussed different sectors and topics such as Nation and Nationalism where he talks about caste discrimination, dalit rights, how current government tags people as anti-nationalist as per their criterions; how this government is disconnected from people where he talks again about Dalit righ, fake encounters in the Ishrat Jahan case etc.; he also talks on the topic of Jammu and Kashmir widely in 6 articles; misgovernance, failures of policies, the state of the economy, union budget of 2016-17, foreign policy and finally in the last section about demonetisation.
This book is a collection of all the columns and articles written by Chidambaram in the date range around 2016. Chidambaram has given statistics and graphs wherever he managed to show that his party did well against the current party but wherever there was a scope of the current government doing well than them, he just passed generic statements again showing the current government in the bad light. And this is continuously being done throughout the book and in each column. Whenever there is growth in percentage in any performance against his own government, he has not shied away from terming the growth as “only” or “just”. Trust me, after completing this book, you will feel as if you are living in the worst country possible. He has not even appreciated the government for terrorist attack control if not for anything but mentioned loopholes even there. If you are anti-BJP government and familiar with economic terminologies, go for it. I give this book only 2 stars out of 5.
Thanks.
ABHILASH RUHELA!!!
Chidambaram has discussed different sectors and topics such as Nation and Nationalism where he talks about caste discrimination, dalit rights, how current government tags people as anti-nationalist as per their criterions; how this government is disconnected from people where he talks again about Dalit righ, fake encounters in the Ishrat Jahan case etc.; he also talks on the topic of Jammu and Kashmir widely in 6 articles; misgovernance, failures of policies, the state of the economy, union budget of 2016-17, foreign policy and finally in the last section about demonetisation.
This book is a collection of all the columns and articles written by Chidambaram in the date range around 2016. Chidambaram has given statistics and graphs wherever he managed to show that his party did well against the current party but wherever there was a scope of the current government doing well than them, he just passed generic statements again showing the current government in the bad light. And this is continuously being done throughout the book and in each column. Whenever there is growth in percentage in any performance against his own government, he has not shied away from terming the growth as “only” or “just”. Trust me, after completing this book, you will feel as if you are living in the worst country possible. He has not even appreciated the government for terrorist attack control if not for anything but mentioned loopholes even there. If you are anti-BJP government and familiar with economic terminologies, go for it. I give this book only 2 stars out of 5.
Thanks.
ABHILASH RUHELA!!!
November 23, 2020
The year 2016 was marked by several crucial events. The death of Rohit Vemula, Uri attack and the demonetisation were few among them. That year, P Chidambaram in his own astute and undaunted style penned down fifty four columns on topical issues in Indian Express, which were later complied as a book.
In foreword of this book, Raghuram Rajan notes that, “Constructive criticism is rare. In these articles, there are lot of criticisms, but he also offers alternative pathways for the administration to follow.” If at all there is one thing I learned from P Chidambaram’s method of writing which I often try to emulate, it is that, to write in short sentences and to keep it simple. To place the facts and give opinions on a topic, one should refrain from using harsh language. But in doing so, one should not mince words. The whole point of analysing a problem and writing an opinion on it should be to provoke debate without bitterness and to influence the decision makers without being disrespectful to them. P Chidambaram with his immense clarity of thought, attention to detail and deep understanding of facts had mastered the art of writing on crucial issues. What makes P Chidambaram a standout politician is his undeterred and uncompromising commitment towards liberal democracy, secularism and market economy. Of all his five books I have read, ‘A View From The Outside’ is my all-time favourite and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding the economic views of P Chidamabram who first flirted with the idea of socialism in his formative years only to become a zealous lover of market economy later.
The first chapter on ‘Nation and Nationalism’ includes thought provoking commentary on the rise of intolerance, majoritarianism and religious nationalism across India, the need to repeal the AFSPA Act, Section 124A of IPC (Sedition) and how forceful sloganeering to test the loyalty or patriotism of an individual is a pernicious attempt to divide people. P Chidambaram is knows as a liberal democrat who values free speech and liberty. In the essay titled, ‘No Questions Please, We Are Patriots’, he had made a compelling argument on why questions and criticisms are essence of liberal democracy. He says, “If questions had not been asked, world would be flat, homosexuality would be disease, and women alone should bear the blame if a couple were childless. Gravity would not have been discovered, relativity would be crazy man’s tale and flying would be only for birds. Socrates told his pupils to question everything and a good teacher will tell the same thing today to her class. Martin Luther questioned the Catholic Church’s dogmas. Mahatma Gandhi questioned the professed authority of the white man to rule over Indian people. Fifty years later, Martin Luther King questioned the professed superiority of the white citizen over the black citizen. Deng Xiao Ping questioned the Communist-Maoist orthodoxy and ushered economic liberalization in China.”
There are two intriguing columns on judicial reforms in form of NJAC and internal security reforms in form of NCTC. More importantly, there are few essays on the story of liberalisation of economy in 1991 and the story behind the establishment of Aadhar, which were quite informative and insightful. If anyone is interested to read the condensed version of the book ‘Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste by Dean Spears and Diane Coffey, they shall check the Indian Express column written by P Chidambaram on 6th June 2016. He had written a detailed analysis on the problem of open defecation in India and had reasoned well on why the subsidy model of toilet construction is flawed, especially in rural areas which are strongly divided along caste and class lines. By sagaciously advocating for the information, education and communication (IEC) model of toilet building program in India, which was adopted by Bangladesh to achieve impressive results in bringing down open defecation rates, Chidambaram proves that he is duty bound as a member of ‘loyal opposition’, who is willing to shape policy from the opposition ranks.
What makes this book a must read is the last six essays on demonetisation. While the demonetization was first projected as surgical strike on black money, skeleton started to tumble out of the cupboard after fifty days when the black money rhetoric was trimmed down to curbing terrorism funding and then to the distracting mirage of cashless economy. An intellectual man will always put forth his arguments based on facts, truth and statistics. Likewise, Mr. Chidambaram slashed his opponents into pieces who were proponents of so called ‘surgical strike on black money’ with his data on percentage of cash returned to RBI, number of ATMs and bank branches in India, the digital divide among Indians, withdrawal and payments made through debit cards among Indians and much more analysis of various factors which were bluntly ignored before exercising such monumental mismanagement. He had rightly termed the bizarre move as ‘Khoda pahad nikli chuhia’ (digging a mountain and finding a rat).
To summarise, only the columns on union budget and state of economy were bit dull and boring. But overall, it was a good read to understand the political issues which dominated the public discussions in 2016.
In foreword of this book, Raghuram Rajan notes that, “Constructive criticism is rare. In these articles, there are lot of criticisms, but he also offers alternative pathways for the administration to follow.” If at all there is one thing I learned from P Chidambaram’s method of writing which I often try to emulate, it is that, to write in short sentences and to keep it simple. To place the facts and give opinions on a topic, one should refrain from using harsh language. But in doing so, one should not mince words. The whole point of analysing a problem and writing an opinion on it should be to provoke debate without bitterness and to influence the decision makers without being disrespectful to them. P Chidambaram with his immense clarity of thought, attention to detail and deep understanding of facts had mastered the art of writing on crucial issues. What makes P Chidambaram a standout politician is his undeterred and uncompromising commitment towards liberal democracy, secularism and market economy. Of all his five books I have read, ‘A View From The Outside’ is my all-time favourite and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding the economic views of P Chidamabram who first flirted with the idea of socialism in his formative years only to become a zealous lover of market economy later.
The first chapter on ‘Nation and Nationalism’ includes thought provoking commentary on the rise of intolerance, majoritarianism and religious nationalism across India, the need to repeal the AFSPA Act, Section 124A of IPC (Sedition) and how forceful sloganeering to test the loyalty or patriotism of an individual is a pernicious attempt to divide people. P Chidambaram is knows as a liberal democrat who values free speech and liberty. In the essay titled, ‘No Questions Please, We Are Patriots’, he had made a compelling argument on why questions and criticisms are essence of liberal democracy. He says, “If questions had not been asked, world would be flat, homosexuality would be disease, and women alone should bear the blame if a couple were childless. Gravity would not have been discovered, relativity would be crazy man’s tale and flying would be only for birds. Socrates told his pupils to question everything and a good teacher will tell the same thing today to her class. Martin Luther questioned the Catholic Church’s dogmas. Mahatma Gandhi questioned the professed authority of the white man to rule over Indian people. Fifty years later, Martin Luther King questioned the professed superiority of the white citizen over the black citizen. Deng Xiao Ping questioned the Communist-Maoist orthodoxy and ushered economic liberalization in China.”
There are two intriguing columns on judicial reforms in form of NJAC and internal security reforms in form of NCTC. More importantly, there are few essays on the story of liberalisation of economy in 1991 and the story behind the establishment of Aadhar, which were quite informative and insightful. If anyone is interested to read the condensed version of the book ‘Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste by Dean Spears and Diane Coffey, they shall check the Indian Express column written by P Chidambaram on 6th June 2016. He had written a detailed analysis on the problem of open defecation in India and had reasoned well on why the subsidy model of toilet construction is flawed, especially in rural areas which are strongly divided along caste and class lines. By sagaciously advocating for the information, education and communication (IEC) model of toilet building program in India, which was adopted by Bangladesh to achieve impressive results in bringing down open defecation rates, Chidambaram proves that he is duty bound as a member of ‘loyal opposition’, who is willing to shape policy from the opposition ranks.
What makes this book a must read is the last six essays on demonetisation. While the demonetization was first projected as surgical strike on black money, skeleton started to tumble out of the cupboard after fifty days when the black money rhetoric was trimmed down to curbing terrorism funding and then to the distracting mirage of cashless economy. An intellectual man will always put forth his arguments based on facts, truth and statistics. Likewise, Mr. Chidambaram slashed his opponents into pieces who were proponents of so called ‘surgical strike on black money’ with his data on percentage of cash returned to RBI, number of ATMs and bank branches in India, the digital divide among Indians, withdrawal and payments made through debit cards among Indians and much more analysis of various factors which were bluntly ignored before exercising such monumental mismanagement. He had rightly termed the bizarre move as ‘Khoda pahad nikli chuhia’ (digging a mountain and finding a rat).
To summarise, only the columns on union budget and state of economy were bit dull and boring. But overall, it was a good read to understand the political issues which dominated the public discussions in 2016.
March 6, 2017
Mr. P. Chidambaram is a prominent personality in academia and politics. However, his book is disappointing narrative of defunct polemical rhetoric. Mr. Chidmabaram is disappointingly confused about "liberty" he so pretentiously professes to defend. He has no understanding of root causes of problem (unrestrained and unaccountable State power) that led to systemic fizzling out of ethical and justifiable democratic process and the institutions undergirding it. The tapering of fundamental rights and liberty is catalyzed by a complacent judicial system which has become a millstone around the neck of a liberal democracy.
Mr. Chidmabaram seems to suffer from a summary sleeper effect when he tries to argue for a "democratic vigilance" - which is more an exercise in perception management now that he sits in opposition in Parliament of India.
Mr. Chidmabaram seems to suffer from a summary sleeper effect when he tries to argue for a "democratic vigilance" - which is more an exercise in perception management now that he sits in opposition in Parliament of India.
August 16, 2017
I had read this book few months back.
Covers a wide range of current issues.
The analysis of Kashmir problem along with solutions provided is quite sufficent- focus on the people, not the land. There is enough cautionary note on the rise of jingoistic nationalism in India in the articles on sedition charges on student, the sloganeering of patriotism, the threats to minority for being different etc. The dilution of debates on critical matters in India is also presented . For eg . A dalit student committed suicide because of caste discrimination, but the debate was trivialized on the matter of whether he was dalit or not.
Economic issues have received attention. The primary one is demonization of notes by govt. It's impact on GDP in the short run is evidently adverse- the author shows proof by slowdown in industrial production, credit, falling gross value addition etc which contradicts the official claim of high growth.
Yes, sometimes,the tone of the book gets irritating as the writer has to support his party by pulling down the ruling party. But, he writes well and has valuable analysis to offer on important challenges in India.
Covers a wide range of current issues.
The analysis of Kashmir problem along with solutions provided is quite sufficent- focus on the people, not the land. There is enough cautionary note on the rise of jingoistic nationalism in India in the articles on sedition charges on student, the sloganeering of patriotism, the threats to minority for being different etc. The dilution of debates on critical matters in India is also presented . For eg . A dalit student committed suicide because of caste discrimination, but the debate was trivialized on the matter of whether he was dalit or not.
Economic issues have received attention. The primary one is demonization of notes by govt. It's impact on GDP in the short run is evidently adverse- the author shows proof by slowdown in industrial production, credit, falling gross value addition etc which contradicts the official claim of high growth.
Yes, sometimes,the tone of the book gets irritating as the writer has to support his party by pulling down the ruling party. But, he writes well and has valuable analysis to offer on important challenges in India.
May 14, 2018
Mr P Chidambaram is a distinguished lawer and a seasoned politician and one of my favorite public figures. An interesting read and an intelligent voice among the highly vocal politics of India, this book presents the reader with a criticism of the policies of the government. As in the review by ex governor RBI, R Rajan, Mr Chidambaram presents some criticism, some evidence and lastly proposes a solution to the problems faced by India today.
May 6, 2017
Enig eller uenig, dette er førsteklasses journalistikk. De ukentlige artiklene er grundige, godt dokumenterte og polemiske, men saklige.
March 6, 2017
This book is the collection of articles written on the current issues in the daily's. A good to read on the observation on various policies of the government and what could be the failures. I found although the points are valid, but is the opposition is doing the right thing on power and accountability ? I could not observed any reference of these article in parliament in any of the debates. Any of these articles published in the book could make government introspect on the policies...
Yes being in opposition is to safe guard the interest of the people by questioning the government on its deliverance. Hope some of the articles makes it way for a larger debate.
A good to read !!
Yes being in opposition is to safe guard the interest of the people by questioning the government on its deliverance. Hope some of the articles makes it way for a larger debate.
A good to read !!
May 2, 2017
It is a civilised opposition columnist view and is applauded for it. However, the heavily sloganised politics of today seen to succeed in walking over the suffering of the multitude. Opposition failed to capitalize on the monumental failure of demonitisation, as seen by latest election successes of the ruling party. The book did not challenge the reader to go beyond the happened or happening.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews