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This elegantly written book by the renowned author Ved Mehta
is a chronicle of a tumultuous dozen years of recent Indian history—from
the unsettled conditions that preceded the assassination of Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi to the Hindu revival that followed the
assassination of her son Rajiv. As Mehta explores the impulses
that brought about the political and economic changes between
1982 and 1994, he also reveals what life is like in modern India,
giving us a memorable portrait of an enigmatic land.
Mehta begins by describing the politics that swirled around Indira
Gandhi during the last two years of her life—in particular,
the growing hostility among Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. He tells
of the Sikhs’ demand for special status, their uprising against
the Hindus in the Punjab, the government’s retaliation, the
murder of Mrs. Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards, and the anti-Sikh
rioting that followed. He goes on to reconstruct the circumstances
surrounding Rajiv’s election as his mother’s successor;
the change in atmosphere from optimism to disenchantment as Rajiv’s
government became mired in a kickback scandal; Rajiv’s loss
of office to V. P. Singh in the 1989 election; and his murder
by a secessionist Tamil group from Sri Lanka in 1991. Throughout,
Mehta provides vivid details of aspects of Indian history and
culture, such as the impact of the accident at the Union Carbide
plant in Bhopal, the debate between the judiciary and Muslim clerics
over economic support of divorced Muslim women, the peculiarities
of the Indian telephone system, and the effect of television and
movies on Hindu revivalism. His lucid and incisive book is mandatory
reading for those who wish to understand India today.
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