Finished reading Intertwined Lives book on P.N. Haksar (and Indira Gandhi) by Jairam Ramesh
This post is a follow-up post on my 10th Nov. 2019 post: Have started reading Jairam Ramesh's book "Intertwined Lives - P.N. Haksar and Indira Gandhi", https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2018/11/have-started-reading-jairam-rameshs.html
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY POLITICALLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts that I put up related to Indian political leaders which may include leaders in government currently and those not in government. I am an Indian citizen and resident of India. I do vote in Indian elections but I keep who I vote for as a private matter. I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in India.
I usually get time to read such books on some nights and so it has been few pages at a time, off and on, over the past many weeks. The book is over 500 pages.
As India is in general election season (which decides who gets to rule the country at the Union/Federal level), I have decided not to write my detailed thoughts on the book and the events it covers over a large period of time. I may do so after the heat and dust of the general elections are over.
But I would like to say now that I found the book to be an interesting read. I found Jairam Ramesh's painstaking sharing of evidence - notes/letters put up by Haksar, responses received by Haksar - backing the story he tells, to be of great interest. The events covered and the period covered range from immediate pre-Independence India and UK (and the communist movement then) to immediate post-Independence India to India-China border conflict (war) to Bangladesh liberation war to Indian atomic research programs and space research programs to tragic assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to the dark days of Emergency in India to 1991 liberalization of Indian economy to A.B. Vajpayee becoming a full term Prime Minister of India from 1998 (Vajpayee had first been PM for a very short stint of around 15 days in 1996).
The story portrayed by Ramesh may be - I am not saying it is, but that it may be - somewhat biased towards his political and economic policy views and the selection that he presents of Haksar's notes/letters and responses may be influenced by that bias. However, as one sees the notes/letters themselves, one is able to draw independent conclusions too. That's what I really liked in this book. I would say that the book is an evidence-based biography of a top former bureaucrat of India who was viewed as a very powerful and influential person in Indian government.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY POLITICALLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts that I put up related to Indian political leaders which may include leaders in government currently and those not in government. I am an Indian citizen and resident of India. I do vote in Indian elections but I keep who I vote for as a private matter. I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in India.
I usually get time to read such books on some nights and so it has been few pages at a time, off and on, over the past many weeks. The book is over 500 pages.
As India is in general election season (which decides who gets to rule the country at the Union/Federal level), I have decided not to write my detailed thoughts on the book and the events it covers over a large period of time. I may do so after the heat and dust of the general elections are over.
But I would like to say now that I found the book to be an interesting read. I found Jairam Ramesh's painstaking sharing of evidence - notes/letters put up by Haksar, responses received by Haksar - backing the story he tells, to be of great interest. The events covered and the period covered range from immediate pre-Independence India and UK (and the communist movement then) to immediate post-Independence India to India-China border conflict (war) to Bangladesh liberation war to Indian atomic research programs and space research programs to tragic assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to the dark days of Emergency in India to 1991 liberalization of Indian economy to A.B. Vajpayee becoming a full term Prime Minister of India from 1998 (Vajpayee had first been PM for a very short stint of around 15 days in 1996).
The story portrayed by Ramesh may be - I am not saying it is, but that it may be - somewhat biased towards his political and economic policy views and the selection that he presents of Haksar's notes/letters and responses may be influenced by that bias. However, as one sees the notes/letters themselves, one is able to draw independent conclusions too. That's what I really liked in this book. I would say that the book is an evidence-based biography of a top former bureaucrat of India who was viewed as a very powerful and influential person in Indian government.
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