Logo

Synopsis This work contains selected articles, editorials and interviews by Ayub Syed, the editor of current, which week after week for the last quarter century were witness to the issues that have shaped the changing face of our nation. This book is a contemporary chronicle of the major political events and political movements, which have become the history of modern Indian politics. It is a chronicle of the personalities who enacted those events and who nurtured and then unleashed those movements, made by a journalist who was always so close to the action so as to almost be a part of it. Possibly the first of its kind, this book represents a new approach to the history of modern Indian politics. The analysis and perspective provided by the author and the political players contribute to giving the reader a valuable insight into what are probably the most important years in Indian politics. Volume 1 covers the period 1970 – 1989 in four thematic chapters and consists of interviews with Prime Ministers and national leaders who have played a crucial role in the living history of India. This volume deals with the emergency and post-emergency scenario, the decay the Indian National Congress, emergence of the Janata Party, fragmentation of political parties, institutionalisation of corruption and the beginning of economic liberalisation. Volume 2 covers the period 1977 – 1994 in five thematic chapters. This volume looks at the challenges to a political order built around a system of one party dominance – emergence and establishment of coalition politics, growth of regional parties, communalisation, Mandalisation and the search for a national alternative.