This is not just about apportioning blame- de rigueur in the current climate of rage against India’s past leaders-but about the milestones on the path of descent.

What makes his narrative interesting and, more importantly fair, is the care that he’s taken to look at all the leaders from Nehru to Modi in equal light. To that extent, his claims are standard fare of the left-liberal criticism about the direction India has taken since 1991. These include inequality, the marginalisation of minorities and the general decline in political culture. One part of his description about the alleged degeneration of India is indeed simple: the combination of economic liberalism and Hindu nationalism causing many problems that are visible today. The story, told in the opening pages of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India (Context Rs599 pages228) can be considered the background score against which the book unfolds.Ī simplistic reading of Komireddi’s book would be that it describes the destruction Eden from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi. Caught in an alleged case of terrorism, in which he had no role, life broke Murad. While the Hindu moved on in life, matters soured for the Muslim. In the seminary began a friendship with Murad, an underprivileged but spirited boy, who showed Komireddi his world and never gave up on his friend. It was meant as a ‘primer in Indian pluralism’. WHEN KAPIL KOMIREDDI was a child, his father enrolled him in a madrassa in Hyderabad.

Ks komireddi