Desai’s latest truly rediscovers India!

Mehgnad Desai has tried to analyze the last 500 yrs of Indian history.

Bikas Bhagat

New Delhi: Padma Bhusan awarded literary figure and a distinguished economist, Lord Mehgnad Desai has tried to analyze the last five hundred years of Indian history in his latest book, ‘The Rediscovery of India’. During a literary event in the capital, the author raised some very basic but substantial issues. He gave an insight into the socio-political framework upon which India stands today. Some really thought provoking questions the author pondered over are - What makes India a nation? What has held its many disparate societies with their diverse, sometimes conflicting, narratives together for more than sixty years? What has allowed India to sustain its commitment to the democratic process, given its location in a region that is largely undemocratic? The book tries to capture the essence of India in certain periods of time by giving examples like British parliamentary debates on the question of India’s independence or the liberalization of the economy after decades of licence-permit Raj or the state’s involvement in the Gujarat riots, and other instances. It talks about the outcome of the actions taken by the then central heads of the state. That’s exactly what Lord Desai has to offer in the ‘The Rediscovery of India’. The book will enlighten you on India’s colonial past, its struggle for independence and its many issues related to social, economical and political scenario at large. Meghnad Desai goes back to the beginning of the East–West encounter at the end of the fifteenth century. He tracks its impact on the cultures and politics of the present day, from the emergence of new classes under colonialism, the influence of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi on the idea of Indian nationhood, to the entirely parallel discourses that developed in North and South India. This book is the journey of India from the last five hundred years into the twenty first century. You can’t just afford to miss it!