Catagory: Politics

This is a parallel history of resistance to Indira Gandhi’s dictatorial rule between 1975 and 1977, when an internal emergency was proclaimed in India. The events here unfold entirely in the United States of America surrounded by the echoes of emergency action in India. The book has an intimate historiographic style and is narrated through the lives, actions and world views of chosen protagonists, who with perseverance and principle constructed a classic Gandhian movement.

The book not only tracks political developments, ideological debates and sociocultural contexts of the time but also records how American pacifists, Quakers, civil rights activists, academics, authors, senators and Congressmen came together in solidarity to form a network of conscience to save India’s democracy. Amid this, a quiet thread in the book is the story of the Indian diaspora in the US that had just about begun staring at a horizon of influence.

It is widely believed that one of the factors that pushed Indira Gandhi to end the Emergency in 1977 and call for a general election was international pressure. Being Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter, it is said that she was sensitive to how she was being perceived overseas, and after a point, thought it was counterproductive to play dictator. However, this book does not get into such conjectures or presumptions but endeavours to paint a true and complex picture of the time.

The narrative here is fused with a diligent study of personal papers and archival material in India and overseas that had neither been accessed or assessed till now. This is yet another offering from an author whose books have been applauded for their uncommon insights, intellectual bandwidth and a fine literary style.

As technology, trade and affordable travel make our planet a much more interconnected place, and India’s importance on the world stage grows, India’s foreign policy attracts greater interest and scrutiny than ever before, both within and outside the country.

How do we understand the evolution of India’s foreign policy from the early years after Independence to the present day? How should India position itself as it moves towards 100 years of independence in 2047? These are among the big questions India’s Tryst with the World seeks to address.

Recognizing that India’s foreign policy is ultimately driven by the strength of its people (not just the privileged few) and its economy as a whole, this book prises open the discussion on India’s place in the world, taking it far beyond traditional foreign policy mandarins.

A thoughtful mix of essays by some of India’s most respected diplomats, opinion makers and political leaders—including the late Manmohan Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Shivshankar Menon, Suhasini Haider and Kishore Mahbubani—this new volume in the acclaimed Rethinking India series could not be coming out at a more opportune time in history, with all the uncertainty wrought by wars on several fronts and political disruption caused by the rise of the Right the world over.

The Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet in 1959 after its occupation by China and established a government in exile in India. There, Tibetan leaders aimed to bring together displaced people from varied religious traditions and local loyalties under the banner of unity. To contest Chinese colonization and stand up for self-determination, Tibetan refugees were asked to shed regional allegiances and embrace a vision of a shared national identity.

The Politics of Sorrow tells the story of the Group of Thirteen, a collective of chieftains and lamas from the regions of Kham and Amdo, who sought to preserve Tibet’s cultural diversity in exile. They established settlements in India in the mid-1960s with the goal of protecting their regional and religious traditions, setting them apart from the majority of Tibetan refugees, who saw a common tradition as the basis for unifying the Tibetan people. Tsering Wangmo Dhompa traces these different visions for Tibetan governance and identity, juxtaposing the Tibetan government in exile’s external struggle for international recognition with its lesser-known internal struggle to command loyalty within the diaspora. She argues that although unity was necessary for democracy and independence, it also drew painful boundaries between those who belonged and those who didn’t. Drawing on insightful interviews with Tibetan elders and an exceptional archive of Tibetan exile texts, The Politics of Sorrow is a compelling narrative of a tumultuous time that reveals the complexities of Tibetan identities then and now.