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The Promise of India: How Prime Ministers Nehru to Modi Shaped the Nation
On 15 August 1947, most Indians had stars in their eyes as they looked ahead to a glorious future as a free country. In this first-of-its-kind book, Jaimini Bhagwati analyses the key political, foreign policy and economic decisions of all the premiers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, to understand how well they steered the nation on the path of progress and development.
With his long experience in the corridors of power, Bhagwati reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes events and offers fresh insights into each PM's governance. For instance, Nehru, considered a 'socialist' by some, in fact acted according to the prevailing wisdom of highly regarded economists; why P.V. Narasimha Rao has not received adequate credit for heralding economic reforms; how Atal Bihari Vajpayee followed in the footsteps of Nehru and Rao; and how and why Modi focused on the delivery of basics to the poor. Using a novel framework, Bhagwati also assesses the PMs on the values of Character, Competence and Charisma, to measure their impact on India's story.
Grand in sweep and thoroughly researched, this deeply engaging book sheds new light on independent India's history. As it critically examines whether our leaders always put the country first, The Promise of India provides an incisive overview of India's political culture and what keeps its democracy ticking.
With his long experience in the corridors of power, Bhagwati reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes events and offers fresh insights into each PM's governance. For instance, Nehru, considered a 'socialist' by some, in fact acted according to the prevailing wisdom of highly regarded economists; why P.V. Narasimha Rao has not received adequate credit for heralding economic reforms; how Atal Bihari Vajpayee followed in the footsteps of Nehru and Rao; and how and why Modi focused on the delivery of basics to the poor. Using a novel framework, Bhagwati also assesses the PMs on the values of Character, Competence and Charisma, to measure their impact on India's story.
Grand in sweep and thoroughly researched, this deeply engaging book sheds new light on independent India's history. As it critically examines whether our leaders always put the country first, The Promise of India provides an incisive overview of India's political culture and what keeps its democracy ticking.
416 pages, Hardcover
Published August 30, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 10, 2019
An account of the major hits and misses of Indian PMs. A largely neutral perspective on the major events and decisions of India's Premiers.
Once I finished the book, i was left with a lack of fulfilment for the hours invested. Several important points in Indian history (like emergency, wars, etc) have not been given the number of pages it deserves, while the author has gone into needless levels of details for relatively insignificant events where he was personally involved, owing to his holding various positions in the government.
The author also has a tendency to make assumptions on his own on the thought process of various individuals without any supporting proof. This goes far beyond just giving perspective and quite often turns annoying with words like 'probably' and 'perhaps' abused quite often.
Overall a decent read if you are interested in post independence Indian history. Just don't expect it to be anywhere near as comprehensive as India after Gandhi.
Once I finished the book, i was left with a lack of fulfilment for the hours invested. Several important points in Indian history (like emergency, wars, etc) have not been given the number of pages it deserves, while the author has gone into needless levels of details for relatively insignificant events where he was personally involved, owing to his holding various positions in the government.
The author also has a tendency to make assumptions on his own on the thought process of various individuals without any supporting proof. This goes far beyond just giving perspective and quite often turns annoying with words like 'probably' and 'perhaps' abused quite often.
Overall a decent read if you are interested in post independence Indian history. Just don't expect it to be anywhere near as comprehensive as India after Gandhi.
July 30, 2021
Book: The Promise of India: How Prime Ministers Nehru to Modi Shaped the Nation (1947–2019)
Author: Jaimini Bhagwati
Publisher: Penguin Viking (20 August 2019)
Language: English
Hardcover: 416 pages
Item Weight: 612 g
Dimensions: 25.3 x 3.3 x 16.4 cm
Price: 605 /-
After achieving Independence, India took up the task of constructing a new country out of the depths of its colonial past. From then on, there have been epochs of promise, and there have been several setbacks. With rising awareness, the masses among the electorate are likely to seek greater accountability from India’s political elites.
This should help the country in its continuing quest to achieve a fuller expression of its soul. Such an indefinable goal may be too ambitious, yet it tugs at the heartstrings of Indians as they yearn for a future which is consistent with the teachings of India’s ancient past.
India’s on-going climb to the ranks of the world’s foremost powers is one of the most momentous developments in post-Cold War international relations. The programme of liberalising economic reforms begun by New Delhi in the early 1990s set free the Indian economy, bringing about rates of growth that are double and triple those of the Cold War era.
New Delhi’s nuclear tests of 1998 established India as an unequivocal and impenitent nuclear-weapon state, a stance that has been ever more accepted by the international community, led by the US. Now in its 7th seventh decade as an independent country, India is broadly considered to be on the edge of achieving its mammoth potential for global influence.
Incidentally, observers point to India’s large size and population, supple democracy, speedily growing economy, booming information-technology sector, scientific and technological sophistication, fast-expanding middle class, nuclear and conformist military strength, the central role that it plays in global governance, and its geostrategic position as the most powerful state along the Indian Ocean littoral and the sea lanes between East Asia and the Middle East.
Increasingly, analysts of both South Asian international affairs, and great-power politics more generally, will have to turn their attention to India’s emergence as a major power and its relationship to the evolving global balance of power.
Former IFS officer, economist and foreign policy expert, Jaimini Bhagwati’s book is an effort to initiate such an investigation.
In this book, while covering over 71 years of India’s foreign and economic policies and practices, the author focuses on one or a couple of the short-lived Prime Ministers and incorporates true-life narratives to provide the milieu for inspections and inferences.
Into the subsequent 11 chapters has the book been divided:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru - Unparalleled Nation Builder, Caring Yet Distant Leader
2. Lal Bahadur Shastri - War and Peace during Short Tenure
3. Indira Gandhi - End of Innocence Yet Remarkable Achievements
4. Morarji Desai - Sincere Yet Inflexible and Outmoded / Charan Singh - Short-sighted
5. Rajiv Gandhi - Forward-looking Yet Catastrophically Error-prone
6. V.P. Singh - Downward Game Changer / Chandra Shekhar - Harmful Interlude
7. P.V. Narasimha Rao - Economic Reforms—Better Late than Never
8. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral - Prime Ministers of Wobbly, Short-lived Coalitions
9. Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Decisive, Balanced Yet Susceptible
10. Manmohan Singh - Long-lasting Achievements Yet PM in Name
11. Narendra Modi - Result Oriented, Charismatic Orator and Controversial
In the book, PMs are assessed on the following inquiries:
a) Did they deliberately or involuntarily promoted an elitist India?
b) Were they more homespun and pushed for an all-inclusive Bharat?
c) Did they bestride both India and Bharat with equivalent reassure and moved into and out of each reality proficiently?
But why Prime Ministers, one might ask.
The answer is simple – he is the keystone of the Cabinet arch. The prime minister, as primus inter pares in the Central government, is the key decision maker in all important appointments. He is the head of government and the chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), and the final arbiter in the selection of the chief election commissioner (CEC), comptroller and auditor general (CAG), all Indian ambassadors and high commissioners around the world, and all secretary-level officers of the Central government including the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, the heads of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
Each major government decision taken by India’s PMs must have been preceded by careful weighing of pros and cons from the perspective of the nation, the party in power and the personalties involved. It is difficult long after the fact to take into account the circumstances and comprehend the full
Nehru was the longest-serving PM with an unremitting tenure of close to 17 years, followed by Indira Gandhi — 16 years, Manmohan Singh — 10 years, Atal Bihari Vajpayee — 6 years, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao — about 5 years each.
The PMs who were in office for five years or more are analysed in greater detail. The ephemeral coalition governments of Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral were marked by variable loyalties. The configurations and reconfigurations of the assorted political parties to form these governments were driven by the aspiration of the leaders of those years to be the PM, even if it was copiously understandable that it would be for a short while.
This frame of mind did minute credit to them.
The growing disparagement with which the short-lived PMs achieved their slender objectives was illuminating of the measured yet fixed erosion in the answerability of Indian political figures.
The personal characteristics, or the three ‘Cs’, of India’s PMs have been itemized to evaluate performances across different points of time.
The three Cs are 1) Character, 2) Competence and 3) Charisma, in that order of importance.
The qualities of compassion and commitment are estimated to be part of Character for the purposes of this book. No other quality in a leader can make up for deficiencies in Character, and that is why it has pride of place among the sought-after Cs.
Ideally, India’s PMs need all three Cs to move India along to a better future.
This book, meant for students and scholars alike, solicits through its chapters interconnected questions:
1) What is India’s probability to emerge as an enormous power in the near future, between now and approximately 2030?
2) What is the nature of India’s relations with other major powers in the international system and how is that posture likely to evolve?
3) What are the prospects for New Delhi’s great-power aspirations?
The author’s larger case is that in material, ‘hard-power’ terms, India is hastily achieving great-power status and will almost surely qualify as a military and economic great power by 2030.
However, the book also maintains that India’s actual Achilles' heel lies, and will continue to lie, in the non-material, ‘softer’ aspects of power that also add to a well-rounded great-power status in today’s international system.
Especially, the extensive, domineering Indian state persists in proving to be a bottleneck to India’s economic arteries with protectionism, overregulation and bureaucratic bloat.
In the Epilogue to this book, the author observes that the Indian electorate, with 900 million eligible voters in the general elections of April–May 2019, was undoubtedly the largest anywhere in the world. The voting, at 67.11 % , was the highest ever in any Indian general election since Independence.
By the time of the elections, perhaps over 90 % of Indian voters got their news and entertainment in the vernacular, with emphasis on issues of local interest, and often on hand-held phones. It has to be a matter of celebration that, despite the cynicism that was thoroughly evident in the selection of candidates and statements made by several party leaders, the elections were held without evidence of extensive fraud or violence.
The BJP got a clear majority, winning 303 out of 543 seats, and the participation of women was higher than in earlier elections.
The author summarizes right at the conclusion that, a number of major and inspiring steps were taken by the Narendra Modi government; for instance, to promote cleanliness, implement GST, and float an as yet untested scheme called Ayushman Bharat to provide universal health coverage and to provide easier access to loans for smaller businesses.
Simultaneously, among the sensitive and tricky issues confronting the Narendra Modi government after one and a half terms in power are doubts about commitment to interfaith harmony, announcements of income support without mention of bringing down non-merit subsidies and higher levels of reservations.
This is a multifaceted mix of issues, and it will take substantial dexterity on Modi’s part to sustain sanguinity among the masses over the coming years, after securing an even more lopsided victory in the May 2019 elections.
As for the 3 Cs, on Character, the Supreme Court has not indicated that Modi had any express accountability for the 2002 communal riots. Modi’s empathy for the economically weak and socially marginalized was evident in his frenetic and even frantic pushing for JAM which should help in direct transfer of cash benefits, cooking gas cylinder connections, housing and toilets for lower income households.
Although political rivals and worrywarts remain incredulous that these and other welfare initiatives have succeeded in any substantive manner, the fact is that all public outreach programmes in India take time to grow roots. Modi’s commitment was plentifully evident from the impossibly long hours that he has so visibly put in at work.
However, Modi concentrated more, according to the author, on starting any number of specific programmes rather than trying to implement systemic reforms. Minority communities had reason to be vocal in expressing their disquiet about physical insecurity.
On the remaining 2 Cs, Modi scored at tremendously high levels on Competence and with large sections of the population on Charisma.
If truth be told, according to the concluding section of thgis book, Modi’s magnetism is evident from the warm reception he gets from crowds at his public meetings in many parts of the country.
An interesting read!!
Author: Jaimini Bhagwati
Publisher: Penguin Viking (20 August 2019)
Language: English
Hardcover: 416 pages
Item Weight: 612 g
Dimensions: 25.3 x 3.3 x 16.4 cm
Price: 605 /-
After achieving Independence, India took up the task of constructing a new country out of the depths of its colonial past. From then on, there have been epochs of promise, and there have been several setbacks. With rising awareness, the masses among the electorate are likely to seek greater accountability from India’s political elites.
This should help the country in its continuing quest to achieve a fuller expression of its soul. Such an indefinable goal may be too ambitious, yet it tugs at the heartstrings of Indians as they yearn for a future which is consistent with the teachings of India’s ancient past.
India’s on-going climb to the ranks of the world’s foremost powers is one of the most momentous developments in post-Cold War international relations. The programme of liberalising economic reforms begun by New Delhi in the early 1990s set free the Indian economy, bringing about rates of growth that are double and triple those of the Cold War era.
New Delhi’s nuclear tests of 1998 established India as an unequivocal and impenitent nuclear-weapon state, a stance that has been ever more accepted by the international community, led by the US. Now in its 7th seventh decade as an independent country, India is broadly considered to be on the edge of achieving its mammoth potential for global influence.
Incidentally, observers point to India’s large size and population, supple democracy, speedily growing economy, booming information-technology sector, scientific and technological sophistication, fast-expanding middle class, nuclear and conformist military strength, the central role that it plays in global governance, and its geostrategic position as the most powerful state along the Indian Ocean littoral and the sea lanes between East Asia and the Middle East.
Increasingly, analysts of both South Asian international affairs, and great-power politics more generally, will have to turn their attention to India’s emergence as a major power and its relationship to the evolving global balance of power.
Former IFS officer, economist and foreign policy expert, Jaimini Bhagwati’s book is an effort to initiate such an investigation.
In this book, while covering over 71 years of India’s foreign and economic policies and practices, the author focuses on one or a couple of the short-lived Prime Ministers and incorporates true-life narratives to provide the milieu for inspections and inferences.
Into the subsequent 11 chapters has the book been divided:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru - Unparalleled Nation Builder, Caring Yet Distant Leader
2. Lal Bahadur Shastri - War and Peace during Short Tenure
3. Indira Gandhi - End of Innocence Yet Remarkable Achievements
4. Morarji Desai - Sincere Yet Inflexible and Outmoded / Charan Singh - Short-sighted
5. Rajiv Gandhi - Forward-looking Yet Catastrophically Error-prone
6. V.P. Singh - Downward Game Changer / Chandra Shekhar - Harmful Interlude
7. P.V. Narasimha Rao - Economic Reforms—Better Late than Never
8. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral - Prime Ministers of Wobbly, Short-lived Coalitions
9. Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Decisive, Balanced Yet Susceptible
10. Manmohan Singh - Long-lasting Achievements Yet PM in Name
11. Narendra Modi - Result Oriented, Charismatic Orator and Controversial
In the book, PMs are assessed on the following inquiries:
a) Did they deliberately or involuntarily promoted an elitist India?
b) Were they more homespun and pushed for an all-inclusive Bharat?
c) Did they bestride both India and Bharat with equivalent reassure and moved into and out of each reality proficiently?
But why Prime Ministers, one might ask.
The answer is simple – he is the keystone of the Cabinet arch. The prime minister, as primus inter pares in the Central government, is the key decision maker in all important appointments. He is the head of government and the chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), and the final arbiter in the selection of the chief election commissioner (CEC), comptroller and auditor general (CAG), all Indian ambassadors and high commissioners around the world, and all secretary-level officers of the Central government including the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, the heads of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
Each major government decision taken by India’s PMs must have been preceded by careful weighing of pros and cons from the perspective of the nation, the party in power and the personalties involved. It is difficult long after the fact to take into account the circumstances and comprehend the full
Nehru was the longest-serving PM with an unremitting tenure of close to 17 years, followed by Indira Gandhi — 16 years, Manmohan Singh — 10 years, Atal Bihari Vajpayee — 6 years, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao — about 5 years each.
The PMs who were in office for five years or more are analysed in greater detail. The ephemeral coalition governments of Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral were marked by variable loyalties. The configurations and reconfigurations of the assorted political parties to form these governments were driven by the aspiration of the leaders of those years to be the PM, even if it was copiously understandable that it would be for a short while.
This frame of mind did minute credit to them.
The growing disparagement with which the short-lived PMs achieved their slender objectives was illuminating of the measured yet fixed erosion in the answerability of Indian political figures.
The personal characteristics, or the three ‘Cs’, of India’s PMs have been itemized to evaluate performances across different points of time.
The three Cs are 1) Character, 2) Competence and 3) Charisma, in that order of importance.
The qualities of compassion and commitment are estimated to be part of Character for the purposes of this book. No other quality in a leader can make up for deficiencies in Character, and that is why it has pride of place among the sought-after Cs.
Ideally, India’s PMs need all three Cs to move India along to a better future.
This book, meant for students and scholars alike, solicits through its chapters interconnected questions:
1) What is India’s probability to emerge as an enormous power in the near future, between now and approximately 2030?
2) What is the nature of India’s relations with other major powers in the international system and how is that posture likely to evolve?
3) What are the prospects for New Delhi’s great-power aspirations?
The author’s larger case is that in material, ‘hard-power’ terms, India is hastily achieving great-power status and will almost surely qualify as a military and economic great power by 2030.
However, the book also maintains that India’s actual Achilles' heel lies, and will continue to lie, in the non-material, ‘softer’ aspects of power that also add to a well-rounded great-power status in today’s international system.
Especially, the extensive, domineering Indian state persists in proving to be a bottleneck to India’s economic arteries with protectionism, overregulation and bureaucratic bloat.
In the Epilogue to this book, the author observes that the Indian electorate, with 900 million eligible voters in the general elections of April–May 2019, was undoubtedly the largest anywhere in the world. The voting, at 67.11 % , was the highest ever in any Indian general election since Independence.
By the time of the elections, perhaps over 90 % of Indian voters got their news and entertainment in the vernacular, with emphasis on issues of local interest, and often on hand-held phones. It has to be a matter of celebration that, despite the cynicism that was thoroughly evident in the selection of candidates and statements made by several party leaders, the elections were held without evidence of extensive fraud or violence.
The BJP got a clear majority, winning 303 out of 543 seats, and the participation of women was higher than in earlier elections.
The author summarizes right at the conclusion that, a number of major and inspiring steps were taken by the Narendra Modi government; for instance, to promote cleanliness, implement GST, and float an as yet untested scheme called Ayushman Bharat to provide universal health coverage and to provide easier access to loans for smaller businesses.
Simultaneously, among the sensitive and tricky issues confronting the Narendra Modi government after one and a half terms in power are doubts about commitment to interfaith harmony, announcements of income support without mention of bringing down non-merit subsidies and higher levels of reservations.
This is a multifaceted mix of issues, and it will take substantial dexterity on Modi’s part to sustain sanguinity among the masses over the coming years, after securing an even more lopsided victory in the May 2019 elections.
As for the 3 Cs, on Character, the Supreme Court has not indicated that Modi had any express accountability for the 2002 communal riots. Modi’s empathy for the economically weak and socially marginalized was evident in his frenetic and even frantic pushing for JAM which should help in direct transfer of cash benefits, cooking gas cylinder connections, housing and toilets for lower income households.
Although political rivals and worrywarts remain incredulous that these and other welfare initiatives have succeeded in any substantive manner, the fact is that all public outreach programmes in India take time to grow roots. Modi’s commitment was plentifully evident from the impossibly long hours that he has so visibly put in at work.
However, Modi concentrated more, according to the author, on starting any number of specific programmes rather than trying to implement systemic reforms. Minority communities had reason to be vocal in expressing their disquiet about physical insecurity.
On the remaining 2 Cs, Modi scored at tremendously high levels on Competence and with large sections of the population on Charisma.
If truth be told, according to the concluding section of thgis book, Modi’s magnetism is evident from the warm reception he gets from crowds at his public meetings in many parts of the country.
An interesting read!!
March 27, 2021
This brief history of independent India is one that was quite a good read. Bhagwati is a seasoned member of the Indian foreign service (he discusses it), and I quite liked reading his takes. As a foreigner (I am American), there are things about India that I have only ever viewed from an outside lens. Sometimes, that is very useful, but other times, I don't see the full picture. For example, I was impressed with Indira Gandhi's handling of the 1971 war (as I have long been), but was quite irritated when I saw how she passed up a chance to make peace with Pakistan over Kashmir, considering just how little that front has changed. Rajiv Gandhi seemed a decent man at heart but made several wrong decisions (a line that can actually describe a lot of India's Prime Ministers based on this book). Of course, this book ends right as Modi wins his second term, so I am not going to discuss anything after May of 2019 - but what I can say is, based on the two possible outcomes that Bhagwati described, one certainly appears to becoming true far more so than the other.
There are a few reasons why I docked off one star, though; first, there are things Bhagwati hardly touched upon which surprised me. The Bhopal disaster didn't get too much discussion (outside of one or two areas), which is a bit surprising. Mention of India's engagements with nations in Africa was minimal, and considering how it was affected by policies of Apartheid South Africa and of Idi Amin's Uganda (the expulsion of South Asians really got no mention at all), I'm perplexed about this exclusion. India's drive to eliminate smallpox was not discussed at all, either.
Finally, as an American, I must say I am quite disappointed that a few errors were made and no one caught on to these. First, Bhagwati mentions a Senator Adlai Stevenson who worked with Nehru. Adlai E. Stevenson II was the Governor of Illinois and then UN Ambassador under JFK and LBJ. He was never a senator - perhaps Bhagwati was thinking about his son, Adlai E. Stevenson III, but Adlai III was only a senator after Nehru died. Bhagwati refers to the 41st president as George W. Bush - he definitely meant George H. W. Bush as the former was the 43rd president. Referring to Bush 41 as George W. Bush is incorrect and misleading. Finally, Bhagwati mentions that the administration of Bush 43 and Dick Cheney was sworn in during January of 2000 - this is also incorrect. Bush 43 won election at the end of 2000, and was sworn in on January 20th, 2001. I am surprised no one caught on to these mistakes.
Otherwise, I liked reading this book and definitely learned quite a bit from it. I know I sound nitpicky, but for a work of nonfiction of this caliber, I feel more could've been done to correct it. Still, Bhagwati did a great job in making fair assessments of all of India's Prime Ministers (of course, Modi's term is not done so it's a bit harder there, but still).
There are a few reasons why I docked off one star, though; first, there are things Bhagwati hardly touched upon which surprised me. The Bhopal disaster didn't get too much discussion (outside of one or two areas), which is a bit surprising. Mention of India's engagements with nations in Africa was minimal, and considering how it was affected by policies of Apartheid South Africa and of Idi Amin's Uganda (the expulsion of South Asians really got no mention at all), I'm perplexed about this exclusion. India's drive to eliminate smallpox was not discussed at all, either.
Finally, as an American, I must say I am quite disappointed that a few errors were made and no one caught on to these. First, Bhagwati mentions a Senator Adlai Stevenson who worked with Nehru. Adlai E. Stevenson II was the Governor of Illinois and then UN Ambassador under JFK and LBJ. He was never a senator - perhaps Bhagwati was thinking about his son, Adlai E. Stevenson III, but Adlai III was only a senator after Nehru died. Bhagwati refers to the 41st president as George W. Bush - he definitely meant George H. W. Bush as the former was the 43rd president. Referring to Bush 41 as George W. Bush is incorrect and misleading. Finally, Bhagwati mentions that the administration of Bush 43 and Dick Cheney was sworn in during January of 2000 - this is also incorrect. Bush 43 won election at the end of 2000, and was sworn in on January 20th, 2001. I am surprised no one caught on to these mistakes.
Otherwise, I liked reading this book and definitely learned quite a bit from it. I know I sound nitpicky, but for a work of nonfiction of this caliber, I feel more could've been done to correct it. Still, Bhagwati did a great job in making fair assessments of all of India's Prime Ministers (of course, Modi's term is not done so it's a bit harder there, but still).
November 17, 2019
The author Mr.Jaimini Bhagwati had political relation with congress party of India. So, few might consider this book could be biased,however, except the chapter on Nehru, the rests are quite informative and supported by good numbers of reference.
Author tries to absolve first Prime Minister of India, Mr.Nehru, however, there are several books available which point out blunder of Mr. Nehru. The chapter on Nehru has to be verified with recent published book "Nehru’s Himalayan Blunders" by Justice S N Aggarwal and "Nehru's 97 Major Blunders" by Mr. Rajnikant Puranik.
However, author gives brief description of contribution and achievement of each PM of India till Shri Narendra Modi. For each and every PM, at last of chapter, author summarizes respective PM according to three criteria - Character, Charisma and Competency. It is great to observe India's current PM Shri Narendra Modi has overall high score in all the three categories.
Author makes the book attractive by sprinkling ageless political cartoons by Shri R.K.Laxman, known as 'common man' in his creation.
Author tries to absolve first Prime Minister of India, Mr.Nehru, however, there are several books available which point out blunder of Mr. Nehru. The chapter on Nehru has to be verified with recent published book "Nehru’s Himalayan Blunders" by Justice S N Aggarwal and "Nehru's 97 Major Blunders" by Mr. Rajnikant Puranik.
However, author gives brief description of contribution and achievement of each PM of India till Shri Narendra Modi. For each and every PM, at last of chapter, author summarizes respective PM according to three criteria - Character, Charisma and Competency. It is great to observe India's current PM Shri Narendra Modi has overall high score in all the three categories.
Author makes the book attractive by sprinkling ageless political cartoons by Shri R.K.Laxman, known as 'common man' in his creation.
October 11, 2019
An objective analysis of the various Prime Ministers from Nehru to Modi. However, I don't completely agree that the recency of Modi regime affects a fair, objective and critical analysis unlike the earlier Prime Ministers, as the author puts it. Some of the economic and foreign policies of the Modi regime should have come under a more critical scanner as would have befitted the author's caliber.
April 23, 2020
Written by a former bureaucrat, the book presents a balanced and unbiased analysis of the prime ministers that India has been under so far. With methodical data to back his arguments, Mr Bhagwati presents a comprehensive and detailed picture of why India has turned out this way. I am delighted to recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand the contemporary political history of India.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2020
Good Book to gather some facts. Most of the things related to economical, foreign relation will be difficult to understand as it requires more background knowledge as prerequisite to astute the situation. Good thing is that Author is not biased and presented everything the way it is, without any personal inclination.
May 31, 2020
Another book written by biased writer who goes on and on with his opinions glossing over facts and providing little reason. Best to avoid, Wikipedia is 100X better in content than the lies in this book.
June 8, 2025
comprehensive and objective view on the history of the PM's of India
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews