Left, Right and Centre

by Nidhi Razdan

As India approaches its seventieth year of Independence, its people continue to grapple with multiple discourses: a few from the left, a considerable sum from the right and an impressive lot from the centre. This book brings together diverse views from people across a wide spectrum of life-politicians, activists, administrators, artistes, academicians-who offer their idea of India. With a contextual introduction by Nidhi Razdan, this politically charged, argumentative, candid and humorous book opens a window to our understanding of India that largely remained untold and unknown for a long time.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, India, Essays

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Udit Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of India and what it means is fiercely contested nowadays. This book is an attempt to give some direction and nuance to the idea of India as percieved by individual contributors. It can be easily established that any truism about India can be immediately contradicted by another truism about India. It is often said that 'anything you can say about India, the opposite is also equally true'.

It is also true that no other country in the world embraces the extraordinary mixture of ethnic groups, the profusion of mutually incomprehensible languages, the varieties of topography and climate, the diversity of religions and cultural practices and the range of levels of economic development like India does.

The initial part of book focuses on conflict in Kashmir. Shah Faesal and Rahul Pandita have managed to showcase mirror to both sides of the aisle about the ongoing crisis in that land. The essay by Pratap Bhanu Mehta was very engaging and it explored the idea of identity and freedom. Sunita Narain was able to focus on environmental crisis along with other intersectional crisis which india faces everyday. Gautam Bhan focussed on dignity of sexuality or more so we can say the indignity associated with it as percieved by society.

[S.Ach · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the intention of the book was to present the idea of India from the prisms of left right and centre, I am afraid, the objectives were far from being achieved.
The selection of essays to expound the ideologies is not spectacular, even if those are from the very prominent voices, some of who I personally have great admiration for.
And, most voices in the book honestly very moderate, probably all leaning slightly towards the left. You can't have one essay from Chandan Mitra and claim to have covered the views of the right.
I liked some of the essays stand-alone, though.

[Umesh Kesavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a curious pot-pourri of 13 essays by different contributors- ranging from Shah Faesal, a Civil Services exam topper from Kashmir to Aruna Roy, an activist who resigned from IAS to work in rural Rajasthan. The best essays are by the usual suspects- Mukul Kesavan (original as always,he brings to light the role of Parsis in fathering an anti-colonial nationalism) and Pratap Bhanu Mehta ( scholarly essay which introduces the ideas of Federation Of Communities and Zone of Individual Freedom).

Aruna Roy and Sunita Narain fail to convert their field/domain expertise to readable essays. Shashi Tharoor regurgitates ideas he has been articulating right from his first non-fiction book. In times when even courts instruct us to rise for the National Anthem at theatres to prove our patriotism, the book's premise is promising but it falls short due to inconsistency in quality.

[Puneetsingh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though the name is left right center it highly inclined in one direction

[Ranjan Atreya · Rating 3 out of 5]

In full disclosure, I picked this book up because of the introduction by Nidhi Razdan. I have always liked her analysis and the piece did not disappoint. The rest of the book is made up of essays that cover a range of subjects from the politics of self, Kashmir, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, the Right movement and a lot more. And to each author's credit, everyone covers their respective subjects in great depth. While some are easy to read and comprehend, others are not so and that is where my issue lies with this book. Yes, they are complex subjects to cover but drowning the narrative in complicated terms and history does no one any favours and more over deters people from proceeding. This is not supposed to be light reading but I wish some of the language was more common place and relatable.

But overall the analysis on the range of subjects is solid and for anyone looking to go deep into these matters, this book will act as a good starting point.

[Mohan Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nidhi, one of the finest journalist. Her shows are unique in NDTV, very polite,composed and gentle. No shouts & No scream. Very informative.
About the Book.....
70th years of Independence, under the title 'the idea of India' with various selection of essays from eminent people, starting from Nidhi's introduction, Shash Faesal - First Kashmiri Muslim cracked IAS, Rahul Pandita Kashmiri Pandits essay, Ghautam Bhan LGBT activist, Yashwant Sinha's essay, Chandan Mitra's very beautiful India's idea, Derek O'Brien's as usual style of his idea of India, Mukul Kesavan & Pratap Bhanu Mehta's history touch, Sunita Narain's idea of Utopia, Shashi's usual style of expressing idea of India, Aruna Roys feminism finally shabana Azmi's essay under the heading of negotiation. Its really superb collection of essay.
Really very interesting read. It covers all aspect of India.

[Delson Roche · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have been following Indian news even casually for the last 20 or so years, then the book doesn't add much- however if you are suddenly interested to know more about India, then perhaps its a good book to start.
The book is a collection of essays by people of various ideologies- It seems like there was no direction on what they are supposed to actually write about. The matter is all over the park. Frankly disappointed with the book.

[Satyam Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

essays by aruna roya, sunita narain fails to connect fully with the readers inspite of their enormous experience. Writings by unseasoned writers often get messy.

[Neil Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is quite appealing I must say , it can draw a lot of casual readers , scholars and likewise . It's a collection of accounts shared by a handful of known public figures with diverse ideological leanings .
Nothing out of the box , and definitely not a guide for demystifying the complexities of the ideological divide , neither does the book claims so. The editing could have been a little tighter as the book drags with unwanted detailings unnecessarily stretching the argument . But overall it was a good one time read .

[Sohini Bhattacharyya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The converging as well as the dichotomy of thoughts presented in the series of essays in this book gives food for thought. Essays by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Aruna Roy and Yashwant Sinha are especially engaging.

[Sankarshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well edited and the collection of pieces does justice to the title. There are however some weak(er) pieces and be prepared to be dismayed when you chance on them.

[Charles A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good view on each topic from different people which gave different perspective