A New Idea of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State

by Harsh Gupta 'Madhusudan', Rajeev Mantri, Sanjeev Sanyal (Foreword)

‘A clear look into India’s political, social and economic history unobstructed by decades of agenda-driven narratives that sought to muddy the waters of our civilisational truths.’
- Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India

‘India suffers from political scientists who slavishly recommend that India follow in the footsteps of their counterparts in the United States, and frame its policies around ethnic groups rather than around individuals and their fundamental rights. Rajeev and Harsh, two brilliant young authors, confront these political scientists head on with a fabulous book.’
-Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor, Columbia University

‘It has become fashionable to suggest that the Indian right has no intellectuals. Rajeev and Harsh set about disproving this in their well-researched and fluently written book. Though there is much I disagree with in both their premises and their conclusions, it is a pleasure to engage with their ideas and find much common ground in the defence of free speech, economic freedom, government reform and individual liberty.’
-Shashi Tharoor, MP and author

‘We need our own understanding to build a new idea of India. An idea of India that is actually connected to the real India. An idea of India that works. A good first step to build that is to read this wonderful book by these two young intellectuals.’
-Amish Tripathi, Director, The Nehru Centre and author

For the better part of seven decades after independence, the Nehruvian idea of India held sway in India's polity, even if it was not always in consonance with the views of Jawaharlal Nehru himself. Three key features constituted the crux of the Nehruvian way: socialism, which in practice devolved to corruption and stagnation; secularism, which boxed citizens into group membership and diluted individual identity; and non-alignment, which effectively placed India in the Communist camp.

In the early nineties, India started a gradual withdrawal from this path. But it was only in 2019, with Narendra Modi’s second successive win in the general elections, that this philosophy is finally being replaced by a worldview that acknowledges India as an ancient civilisation, even if a young republic, and that sees citizens as equal for developmental and other purposes. A New Idea of India constructs and expounds on a new framework beyond the rough and tumble of partisan politics.

Lucid in its laying out of ideas and policies while taking a novel position, this book is illuminated by years of research and the authors’ first-hand experiences, as citizens, entrepreneurs and investors, of the vagaries and challenges of India.

Genres: India, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Economics, Indian Literature

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2020

About the author

Harsh Gupta ‘Madhusudan’ is an India-based public markets investor. He has written extensively on economics, finance and politics for Mint, Swarajya, The Wall Street Journal, The Indian Express and other publications.

Harsh graduated from Dartmouth College with an AB degree in economics. Harsh also holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Reviews

[P Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book addresses majority of the issues that haunt the Indian right, especially the paucity of intellectual debate, which has been largely overcome with this well researched book. I would recommend fellow readers to read this with an extremely open mind, not with the pervasive political and cultural notions which prevail in today's India. That way, you can get a fresh perspective and better understand " A New Idea of India".

[Anil Nadella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there a single idea of India that is set in stone? This question seems to have triggered the book. India, the nation state is the latest incarnation of an ancient civilization. This fact alone has implications in how the modern state of India should be. This is a delightful, fast paced summary of those implication in almost every notable aspect of India.

[Abhishek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever so often, one picks up a book based on the promise of what it claims to offer, only to be disappointed after reading it. The analytical nature with which this exciting book is written ensures that it goes beyond what it promises to deliver. Harsh Gupta and Rajeev Mantri write a compelling book providing a comprehensive view of India's trajectory from a political, economic, social, and civilizational perspective. Being economists themselves, the authors explore India's various facets since independence and chart the way forward for the country with a unique combination of civilizational attitude and global outlook.

As the title suggests, the book primarily focuses on the importance of individual rights of the citizen as opposed to "group" based rights. Instead of doling out rights to citizens, the state's nature should presume the existence of rights and only be a protector of the same.

The authors define the Nehruvian worldview and how it embodies a confusion between the state and society. They elaborate on how India is not just a nation-state manufactured in 1947 but is an ancient civilization with remarkable continuity over the ages. We are exposed to the nature of the left-leaning and socialist character of the country's intellectual elite. This cabal prevented development on various fronts - be it education, liberties to citizens, religious practices of Hindus, judiciary, and media, to name a few. This aspect has been brought out lucidly.

The nature of secularism in India, or its lack, is another topic explored in depth. For example, minority educational institutions have large religious quotas and massive government subsidies that help them achieve a premier position. This, in turn, incentivizes conversion to minority faiths to reap these benefits, effectively resulting in state-sponsored evangelism. RTE (Right to Education Act) passed by the Congress government was the final nail in the coffin. It fundamentally goes against the right to equality and poses a high cost on small private schools just because they're not minority-run.

The control of Hindu religious institutions by the government is another glaring example of this. While temples suffer mismanagement, minority religious institutions are free to control their institutions, giving them a significant advantage to influence society in various ways.

A data-based comparison of the policies enacted by the various congress governments and the BJP governments and their actual impact helps bust many myths. One such myth is the telecommunication boom, which is usually attributed to Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda. However, as the authors explain, mobile telephony and the internet's growth trajectory indicates that the real boost to the sector came from enacting the New Telecom Policy in '99 by the Vajpayee government. This enforced separation of responsibilities and gave rise to the birth of VSNL and other service providers.

The book also touches upon the judiciary and the steady degeneration of the supreme court. The court infringes upon the separation of powers by pronouncing verdicts on subjects beyond its scope. It is also flawed in its interpretation of the basic structure enshrined in the constitution. As a result, the appointments to the judiciary are nepotistic in nature. It also attempts to homogenize Hinduism's inherent diversity by trying to be a judge of what constitutes an essential practice.

Finally, the book ends on an optimistic note. We are on the cusp of imminent change in India under Modi's new administration. The policy changes and implementations under the new regime, notably GST, agricultural reforms, opening up of FDI, barring of Triple Talaq, removal of article 370, etc., are indicators of a new India breaking free from its socialist past. India continues to emerge as a powerful force with greater influence in world affairs.

This book is essential for a variety of reasons. We must understand India's story for what it actually is and not what has been taught to us. The fresh perspective helps us re-think and question many assumptions we have about India. Granting social liberties to one group and religious protections to others only leads to further fissures in society. Individual rights should take prevalence over group rights, and only this will ensure a more prosperous and united India. And it is this detail that is the biggest takeaway from this excellent book.

[Lakshmisha K S · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is one of the most detailed and comprehensive articulation of what India is, should aspire to be. It will go a long way in filling the gap to what India should be rather than the current right/nationalistic view of what India should not be (Nehruvian).

"The tide of heightened aspirations has created singularity exerting insurmountable forces that are crushing & inescapable.Without deep introspection, the cynics long accustomed to shaping India's self image & direction will be unable to emerge from singularity they find themselves in"

[Nithesh S · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a long time, people have been accusing that the right wing has no intellectuals. But these two writers dispel this myth. I have always believed that that right wing people are not able to articulate their ideas well. Reading this could help many do exactly that. This is a landmark book that provides a bird's eye view of all important right leaning thoughts of the day.

[Satwik Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives: I really like this idea of India. As clearly established by the many examples in the book, the Nehruvian idea of India is prone to failure when combined with multi-party democracy and first-past-the-post system. Incentives aren't aligned well for parties within the system to actually take national interest and a fair and just treatment of groups into account. A focus on individual rights and ending appeasement that only keeps various groups from the mainstream are very good ideas.

The judiciary has been thoroughly ROASTED, in polite terms of course. Still a very courageous thing to do.

Some very good ideas are given, alongwith solutions to the most pressing issues in governance. A free market approach is combined with an admission of the need for welfare. The extremely bs aspects of libertarianism are thankfully absent.


Negatives:

The opposition is almost entirely strawmanned. Anyone following the news will find faults with the authors' version of the opposing arguments. Unless they're on a strict and insipid diet of OpIndia, Swarajya and Republic. Not that there is much choice nowadays.

The authors wouldn't stop simping for Modiji. The simping went on for pages and ages. All faults of Modiji's policies are swept under the rug and the most charitable interpretations of their implications presented with glowing prose. The authors are the greatest supporters of free speech but mention of UAPA is undeserving in this book. They're against the abolition of privy purses because the state shouldn't go against its promises to the people but...you know where I'm going with this.

The clash of civilizations theory is a basic assumption of the Indic worldview, but it can be argued against.

Unfortunately. Unfortunately and not at all expectedly, this idea of India is barely agreed upon by the increasingly extremist and reactionary parts of the Indic wing, which is most of it. I wish Modiji had been as successful as we had hoped of him, or at least half of it, but BJP's poor economic performance has necessitated more radical and harmful voices to make it electable.

All in all, if this book is followed to the letter, or it is at least honestly tried, I would be down for this. Hopefully we're not destined to be underachievers.

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.

Decent effort but overtly partisan in its depiction of several ideas which it seeks to challenge or discredit. Resorts to strawman fallacies one time too many, in quest to constantly lionise the ruling government.

[Charan Kruthik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hard-hitting for India that has grown from being a cultural centre to a centre of secularism. Vasudaiva Kutambam is a great concept which treats world as a family. But to what extent? To the verge of losing India’s own heritage and cultural identity? These are some of the questions that the authors have answered courageously. “The Idea of New India”

This book is mainly based on individual rights, where a system will consider every Indian citizen as an individual, not as a member of any caste or religious group. So, this "new idea of India" contradicts with the Nehruvian idea of India, which consider every citizen as a member of majority or minority, that leads to minority appeasement, which is harmful for not only majority, but also minorities.
In search of Individual rights, this book goes to Veer Savarkar's idea of "Hindu Rashtra", which contains a Hindu nation with a secular state, which will not differentiate between its citizen in baste or creed. This idea is not much different from Mahatma Gandhi's idea of "Ram Rajya".
The book gave many solutions to many issues. I think it's a good read for every Indian.
The book has 5 chapters. It starts off with an introduction explicating some terms and ideas that are often conflated. Particularly striking is the observation that the antonym of “secular” in as much as it applies to a State or society is not “communal” as has been the common usage in India for 70 years past, but “theocratic”. Most salient is the cardinal thesis of this book – the idea that India today is a nation-state that encapsulates a unique and ancient civilization whose forged cultural identity is much older than the Republic it constituted itself into on 26th January 1950.

The next chapters try to explore the coalescence of Indian civilization into a Nation. How the post-independence political dispensations saw this as an act of balance orchestrated by the State to ensure power-sharing between identarian groups; but how in the process the State ended up entrenching and aggravating identarian fault-lines in India’s incredible diversity. This political power broking effectively reversed the centuries old process of civilizational synthesis and syncretism that has been the hallmark of Indic civilization for millennia. These fault-lines however afforded electoral advantages to the then dominant political dispensation which ended up creating a spiral of crony socialism – political patronage doled out to identarian groups in a stagnant economy creating a cycle of co-dependency. The chapter proposes the politically unpalatable antidote of shifting from identity based to need based welfare schemes and State support.
Political ideologies, like most artefacts of human minds, can be complex, nuanced and composed of many colours and shades. The Indian Right, in the minds of most observers though, is nothing but bright saffron. This Religio-political colour is so dominant that right of centre conservative ideas – comprising individual liberty, economic freedom and a strong rootedness in cultural heritage – rarely find voice. This book is a firm step in remedying that gap.

The final chapter plunges into the problems of State capacity and misdirected priorities stating succinctly that “India’s problem is having ‘State flab’ in the wrong places and no muscle in areas that matter”. This book not only looks at our policies from the administrative PoV but also critically judges our economic, military, judiciary, executive and religious actions over the decades.

All in all, a superb, no holds barred book. While the authors have every right to espouse their political convictions, doing so openly in the pages of such a book brings objectivity into question. On the other hand, it is in keeping with the spirit of full disclosure - a known bias is better than a concealed one!

[Debjeet Das · Rating 2 out of 5]

My expectation regarding this book was that it would be full of beautiful and refreshing ideas regarding economic and national policy of India, it will deal with pressing challenges that Indian people are facing but I find this book more like a political manifesto where bashing of Nehru,Congress party was in forefront and excessive sycophancy towards incumbent BJP govt.

Ch5 which deals with Decolonising the indian state is only chapter that is forward looking which deals with some administrative,land ,labour,capital reforms.

[Aryan Aggarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.0: 4.0 for the first 3 chapters, 1.0 for the last 2 chapters
[This review is going to be quite long]

Should a book be judged on how good the ideas are, or how well are they argued and structured? Doing the former can be problematic sometimes, especially in the case of books on politics, because in a world of echo chambers, it implies that we read and recommend books that largely agree with our own worldview. Hence, I will try and restrain myself from doing that, at least for the majority of this review and only later explore some of the intellectual shortcomings.

The first 3 chapters of the book were surprisingly quite good. The authors take on the herculian task of providing the intellectual basis for the growing right-wing in India and succeed in doing so. The growing right-wing in India has many grievances and unique viewpoints on various issues. In the first 3 chapters multiple areas from the regressive 'minority-appeasing' by Congress, the basis for economic-based reservation, a uniform civil code, the constant fear-mongering by leftist intellectuals constantly attaching all evils onto the 'communal nationalist fascist' BJP. How Congress the flag-bearer of secularism, itself is quite communal with their role in the 1983 Assam and 1984 Delhi riots and the swift removal of various opposing factions and the consolidation of power by Nehru are bravely talked about. One can disagree with the arguments, and often provide logical inconsistencies between what the authors' value and how many of those values are actually shared by their beloved BJP. However, all ideas do combine to give a crisp and clear narrative of India being a civilisational state embedded with the philosophy of individual rights and not group politics. I would recommend the first 3 chapters to all of my friends. As it is important to step outside our echo chambers and consider the alternative.

Unfortunately, in the last 2 chapters the book shifts gears. It goes from an intellectual thesis to explicit propaganda. Reforms only undertaken under Vajpayee and Modi are mentioned and the entirety of 1991-1998 and 2004-2014 are termed as periods of stagnant economic policy. The authors try to half-heartedly defend economic blunders by the BJP such as GST and demonetisation. At one point they give policy recommendations and conclude that Modi has already implemented them. Recommendations if already implemented are not recommendations but endorsements. They then go onto spend 10 pages discussing the education policy, 10 on healthcare, 10 on public infrastructure and so on. Often these sections end similarly, there were problems but Modi has finally started solving them. My issue here isn't so much with the blind propaganda or their conclusions (some of which I do agree with) but more with the fact that if I wanted a surface-level analysis of India's education problems, I would read an online article not a book. It's the classic case of trying to say something about everything and not really saying anything at all. The book ends in a similarly disappointing manner.

Now onto the intellectual shortcomings.

The authors love quoting Taleb and criticise intellectuals in their ivory towers. Yet they are exactly the kind of people who Taleb criticises all day. The authors seem to have an opinion on every single issue in India and these opinions are praised because they sound good by other right-wing intellectuals. The authors are not talking about economic policy because they are an authority on that matter [for that please read 'Backstage' by Montek Singh] but because these ideas are endorsed by other intellectuals. Indeed the authors also sit in their ivory towers and pass judgements. If the authors had managed to keep their undying love for Modi aside, they might have managed to write an ageless classic, which would have been valid 50 years from now. Unfortunately, the book tries to throw one 'policy recommendation' after the other [because a bunch of 30 year old stock market investors apparently have opinions about every single policy in India] which are blind endorsements. Their understanding of the economy is extremely naive and instead of writing a new political framework to view India [which they did in the first 3 chapters] they choose to write a 250 page book on why Modi is god's gift to India.

Deeper questions could have been asked. How can India truly remain secular when the two biggest parties in the country seem hell-bent on destroying? Why does identity and group politics still dominate the country? Why is true free speech still a distant memory? Why did leftist intellectuals dominate India's thinking and what does that say about our commitment to pluralism? Alas, none of them are mentioned.

Conclusion: [the rant's of a stranger online]

My review will probably piss people off [if someone actually reads it]. The notion of accusing both sides of the parliament is often immediately connected to being an anarchist. In a 2-party world, we often start living in a false dichotomy. We believe it is either left or right. Political discourse exists only to decide which party to vote for and beyond that it has no role. We often forget that ideas which ended up changing the world were often criticised by all major political parties at first. A free market in India would gain no support in the Indian parliament in the 1960s-70s. Female enfranchisement offended everyone, and so would enfranchisement for African-Americans in the 19th century. Ideas about a democracy in 18th century France initially was only supported by men who had too much free time to think and argue. Our ideas and opinions should not be bound to party manifestos, but manifestos should adapt to our ever changing beliefs.

Now a lesson from Kant. Immanuel Kant arguably revolutionized philosophy. Kant’s main criticism of philosophy was that it had been a 'maidservant' to theology. Different religions had different interpretations of god, soul, etc and various philosophers set out to give complicated narratives to justify pre-existing beliefs. Kant’s main contribution was to look into how beliefs and reason itself worked. This is what opened the pandora’s box. Marx looked into how economic conditions affect beliefs, Neitszche and then later Freud, looked into psychological conditions, Wittgenstein looked into language. However many today critique popular intellectuals for becoming the 'maidservants' to a new civil religion- party politics. They have given into dogma once again. Intellectuals come and provide complicated narratives as to why one party is better than another.

The role of intellectuals should be to criticise all and push parties forward, not provide justification for the current status quo. And writing books for a major party who is not in power, is still supporting the current status quo. [ Which is why 1984- banned both by the US and USSR was a masterpiece and The Handmaid's tale is not. It doesn't change perspectives just confirms liberals of their self conceived moral superiority.]

Political discourse exists to advance civilisation, not to merely decide your vote. In an era where political affiliation is a part of your identity, this becomes hard to understand. If Buddha was right about anything it was that once we create a self-identity for ourselves, we cling onto it like hell, and this is the one main reasons behind dukkha or suffering.

[Akash Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOOK REVIEW: A New Idea of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State
Authors:
Publisher:
Points:8/10
It is always said that the image on the book cover tells many things about the content of the book. The book cover of this book has a picture of Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman which can be found in the Fundamental Rights section of the main copy of the Constitution of India. This book is based on a relative topic, that is Individual rights. This leads to a system that will consider every Indian citizen as an individual, not as a member of any religious group or caste. So, this “new idea of India" contradicts with the Nehruvian idea of India which consider every Indian citizen as a member of majority or minority. This kind of idea leads to minority appeasement, which is not only harmful for majorities, but also minorities. Because, “special minority rights pander to conservative elements that keep communities socially backward in the first place.”
In search of individual rights, authors found Veer Savarkar’s idea of “Hindu Rashtra”, which contains a Hindu nation with a secular state, which will not differentiate Indian citizens in basis of caste or creed. This idea is not much different from Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of “Ram Rajya". This book says, “gov. welfare programmes should be targeted at those in economic need, and not just based on a person’s identity.”
The second chapters contains many important issues like the Kashmir issue. Authors said that our society should be a salad bowl, but for state, it should be a melting pot.
Third chapter contains many incidents, where the self claimed secular governments appeased minorities in the name of secularism. Authors described what the real secularism is. They also described what the real rationalism is.
Forth chapter contains many solutions for the economic problems and they described how to create jobs in today’s hard times.
The last chapter contains how to decolonise education system, health system and judicial system. This book introduced a social reformer Hamid Dalwai, who started the social movement against triple talaq. This book praised and criticized governments on many issues. So it is a must read for the people, who can think beyond political party based politics.

[Arpit Mittal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the articulation of the new "Right-of-center" Indian political thought. It argues for paramountcy of individual rights, seeing India as a civilisational state and free market economics with a liberal social outlook.

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Narendra Modi Govt elected in 2014 is the first unapologetic “Right-Wing”/“Conservative” Govt of the Republic of India. What is the Right-Wing’s “idea of India” ?
The authors make a strong case for considering India as a Dharmic state - and a Dharmic state guided by the consciences of legislators would be a genuinely secular state. I am surprised and proud that I pitched the same idea to a friend earlier - India can look to “Dharma” (not religion BTW) for secularism. And we have a strong tradition of discussions and debate - for freedom of expression. I loved this section and the arguments made by the authors. The authors were also generous - praising Nehru at times - and precise. It seemed that they could do nothing wrong !
In the later sections on economics and governance I found them to be a little partisan. This was in contrast to the earlier section and a little disappointing. For example, while criticising non-BJP Govts one after the other for minority appeasement, they didnt include any discussion on the rift between BJP/RW and minorities. They may have their own opinions on the rift but atleast acknowledge the elephant in the room !
Their understanding of reservations too was shallow as evident by their mixing up the basis of SC/ST and OBC reservations. The former is bcoz of social discrimination, the latter is bcoz of backwardness.
Much praise was lavished on Modiji and Vajpayeeji and the Congress was criticised for its rights and endowments based approach. BUT, even while talking of corruption and transparency and increasing information in public domain, no mention was made of the seminal RTI. Or on the other hand of demonitisation while discussing Modi Govt’s economics ! Or the draconian and ultra-stupid TCS and TDS on goods that mimic GST and cause massive duplication of data.
But, it is still an important book with some v.good ideas. Just pause and ponder a bit while reading.

[Arjun Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

India being a complex country, no single Idea of India should hold monopoly forever and must be open to making amends from certain tenets with changing times. But for decades, a certain Idea of India, mostly shaped by the Nehruvian brand of thinking has dominated views on Secularism, National identity, Foreign policy, and Economics. It was pushed as "The idea of India.

This book challenges this notion and presents a refreshing counternarrative, on lines of India being a Civilizational State, and makes a strong case for greater individual rights, liberal values, and a pro-free market. The authors provide very interesting commentary on Indian politics, Judiciary, Economics and Society, and suggests to relook into our institutions. Upgrade our policy doctrines.

They have brutally taken down the Indian establishment's obsession with Socialism, and presents a really strong argument in favor of free-market economics, while not dissing welfare. They have also provided some hard-hitting critique of the Indian judiciary, beyond talking about their inefficiency but also exposes other aspects like nepotism in higher courts and how courts have gifted powers to themselves beyond what was intended in our Constitution.

Cons: This book does have its negatives though, they are mostly praising and hardly critical of the current govt. Mostly ignored faults of this govt's policy implementation and poor economic performance. Would have been better if they had spoken more about it.

Having said, it is definitely a refreshing read, with a right-of-center perspective. I genuinely root for the policy suggestions made here and am personally in sync with their views mostly. Good read.

[Sumit Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brick-by-brick breaks the Nehruvian idea of India what the many 'eminent intellectuals' of the day swear by. At the same time, it tries to build up an image of India of the day, which is young, restless, and at the brink of a great civilizational change. A New Idea of India.

The political system, secularism, rationalism, the call to free markets, lesser governmental control with timely governmental interventions, and judicial overreach are but a few topics discussed by the authors in this book. They provide a broad overview of what the new India should look like; while asserting that this is only their idea of India, and which may differ from anyone else's.

While this book does present an alternate view of politics that is not seen in the mainstream media, there are clear faults as well. The book lionizes the current PM while not commenting on where he went wrong. However, with the disclaimer of this being their idea of India, we can take this as an obvious flaw in their work.

[Amit Bagaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a non-fiction book after 5 months and reading 51 fiction novels during this period.

"A New Idea of India" is probably the best book that I have read to date on Indian socio-political history and current affairs, which also lays down the path for what India must do in the near and long-term future in order to realise its true potential.

The authors have analysed India's socio-political past, starting with the Mughal era, and up to the Modi government, very well. They have also laid down excellent ideas for India's future, all of which are easily achievable. All those involved in policymaking and execution in India must read this book.

While I have given 5 stars, I want to add a note that, because of the complex language used, the book will only be understood by less than 2% of India's population.

[Appu · Rating 1 out of 5]

The expression ' the idea of India' was popularized by Sunil Khilnani when he wrote the eponymous book in 1997. It suggests that Indian nation is based not on shared ethnicity but on certain shared ideas. These ideas are pluralism. secularism, socialism and non alignment. Thanks to Indian society, polity and economy gradually shifting to the right, these ideas have become discredited. But an alternative idea of India has not been cogently articulated. This book appears to be an effort in this direction but falls far short of the mark. Other than offering the familiar right wing critique of the Nehruvian Consensus, this book does not go far. The authors throw around a disjointed jumble of ideas most of it of a journalistic level. But they have failed to articulate a conservative alternative to the original idea of India.

[Bindesh Dahal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully argued and presented. Comprehensive in coverage of India's ills and possible cures.

[Amartya Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a refreshing intellectual treat in a world of Twitter comments and lack of meaningful discussions. The book delivers on what it had set out to demonstrate, an alternate vision of India. It's one of the few books that demonstrates the right wing intelligentsia and their clarity in vision.

It felt good to read a vision for India that sought to protect individual liberty, economic freedoms and government reforms. I liked how the authors went about defining the idea of India. Then they dismantled some of assumptions in areas like secularism, capitalism and governance. The authors have tried to show the wrongs in our past and have provided a prescription for the future. I also resonated with the the authors recounting of the various important reforms that the Modi government has brought about.

But of course there are limitations in this book as well. The authors have tried to paint previous Congress governments as near draconian and full of false intent, in their adulation for the present government. They have glossed over every shortcoming of the present government in their defence for their idea of India. I am also not satisfied with their criticism of selective judicial decisions.

No doubt it's a good book. It was an intellectual challenge that I have very much appreciated. I would suggest everyone to read this.

[Sreejith Parameswaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors are ideological supporters of the BJP/RSS and the book explicitly puts forward arguments supporting pro-market policies (among many other interesting observations). Unlike many other authors and their books, there is no pretension of being ideologically and politically neutral, which is commendable. I think the book should be read by everyone (right, left and centre) in the ideological spectrum in India, because the ideas and issues are worth pondering over. I don’t agree with many solutions suggested or many of the arguments, but I must admit that there is need for discussion and debate on these issues. The book does discuss some issues which are not addressed by the main stream media in India. Some of the topics (eg: healthcare system) are not properly researched and the arguments appear immature or even ignorant. Some of the chapters are not focused / coherent and the reader is bound to lose track of the ‘theme’ of some of the chapters.
Over all a worthy read, especially if one is curious to get a glimpse of the thought process of the so called ideological right in India.

[Girish · Rating 5 out of 5]

To sum it up - This is a book which shouldn't be missed by those who want to know how our country could have become better since independence and where can we go from today.

For the first time, this book made me ask a fundamental question - Why India look at its citizens through the lenses of identity rather than the lenses of individuality? Have we normalised the discrimination in India in the name of Identity-based policies and actions?

This book not only looks at our policies from the administrative PoV but also critically judges our economic, military, judiciary, executive and religious actions over the decades.

I can assure the readers that at many points of this book you will be simply shocked to learn some facts, which have played an enormous role in our nation's fate but have been hidden from us to prevent any review of them.

I don't guarantee that you will agree with the various conclusions drawn in this book. Nor it is the intent of the authors. But you will certainly expand your horizon of perspectives and will learn to see things in a different, yet more nuanced way for India.

[Satendra Thakur · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5.

The book is quite good in criticising the "Nehruvian Idea of India" but it doesn't suggest things that contributes to the 'civilization' as such.
The authors totally avoided the criticism of BJP, and instead of going deep into any topic they suggested one reform after another, and this is how they plan to preserve the Indian civilization.

Also, the title of the penultimate chapter seems to be a bit misplaced, the buzzword 'decolonization' is used for a lot of things which aren't necessarily related to colonization. A lot of police posts are vacant, concurrent list was expanded through the 42nd amendment of the constitution, our PSUs are inefficient, and other problems like these are not because of colonization.

Many other negatives are there which I'm too lazy to write about.

Also, quoting Taleb doesn't make you cool, Mr. Harsh and Rajeev. But if that's what you think then.....

As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said
"A book that can be summarized should not be written as a book."

And this book can be easily summarised as "india = civilizational state, congress = bad, individual right>>>group rights"

[Harshil Mehta · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is “the idea of India”? Does that mean to live in a socialist state and to pamper minorities? Is there only one idea of India?

Answer is No. Harsh Madhusudhan and Rajeev Mantri explains how India is becoming the nation from the civilisation. They assert what does it mean to live in a civilisational state where rights are given to individuals not to groups based on their identities.

There are other three aspects of the book: Saving Secularism from the Secularists, exposing what they call the pseudosecularist fraud in India; Profit is not a dirty word, Nehruvian blunder of ignoring capitalism; Decolonising India, things we should do in government services, judiciary, education, healthcare etc.

Book shows the Indic-Capitalist-Liberal narrative for India’s growth. It is in sharp contrast with the so-called RW, whose image for media is extremists who call for genocide and praise the murderers. It is a perfect read

[Suryapratap Babar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents an interesting way to look at India. It argues that India is a civilisational nation state. Being such an entity it lays down what Indian politics and policies should be like in fields of macroeconomy, education, defence, social issues, judiciary and international relations.

It rightly states that India is the only civilisational democratic republic in existence today. India is a 5000 year old civilisation but has a new State with a new framework of governance, The Constitution of India. The authors have stated that politics and economics of Nehruvian kind have come to be identified as The Indian Way. They have outrightly rejected this notion to assert that 'A Indian Way' is all encompassing and multi-dimensional.

The authors have tried to explain the vision of the 'Indian Right'.

In toto, I feel it is a 'good read' to understand the ideology with which the current dispensation at Union level moves forward.

[Venkateshwaralu S · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read on the current state of affairs that is influencing India. It ably sets the tone for the upcoming decade(s) and sends home the crucial message on how the current demographic advantage should be used. Articulation could have been better ; nevertheless, the intent and the content are spot on.

For the uninitiated, don't get lost in the dark and haunted forest of the past, stay grounded and the light of hope will guide you through.

[Roopesh Kohad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read which makes a good insight into why India is the way it is and what is the way forward. Recent events in last 2-3 years like CAA, Ram Mandir are not solvable just by looking at constitution but a cumulative civilization context. The book later identifies issues with our administration, judiciary which need to be tackled.

[Priyanka Zielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rajeev and Harsh's book is bold, commanding and well researched - it urges you to consider the political debate from so many different angles. Some parts I agree with easily while others challenged my own assumptions. Fantastic and much needed. Bravo, guys!

[Gv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written. Clear lucid presentation. A must read

[Sharat Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed book dealing with current political situation of India.
Excellent reading. Got lots of input.

[Dhananjay Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read to understand where india is heading and to know the insights of a right wing intellectual in modern India