Word: guha
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...Smart money was against India in 1947. Independence celebrations were quickly marred by communal violence, fierce territorial disputes with new neighbor Pakistan over the control of Kashmir, and the death of the country's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, in January 1948. But, as Guha points out, the fledgling state was blessed with a generation of gifted leaders who had fought with Gandhi against the British, believed in his liberal values, and were determined to keep his nation in one piece. Some of these early leaders, like Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister, became world celebrities, but readers will discover other...
...From the first generation of statesmen, Guha moves on to the next, more ambiguous lot, led by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi. Militarily astute, she led India to a thumping victory over archrival Pakistan in a 1971 war. But she also weakened the state by appointing sycophants to high positions, and by displaying an authoritarian streak that culminated in 1975, when democracy was suspended and a state of emergency declared. The ensuing period of authoritarian rule, and resistance to it, led by figures like Narayan, is the crux of Guha's book. In 1977 new elections were called, Gandhi...
...Guha intertwines biographies of political leaders with anecdotes that show how ordinary Indians have helped to sustain their extraordinary body politic. During the Emergency, he notes, when public dissent was curbed and newspapers were censored, an article published in an economic magazine under the innocuous title "Livestock Problems in India" began with the line: "There are at present 580 million sheep in the country." It was a premature judgment, for those same sheep, ultimately, did not relinquish their freedoms, nor have they limited their democratic aspirations to simply voting at the polls. They have been behind a whole host...
...Guha does not gloss over India's numerous failures. He describes how New Delhi's bungling has combined with Islamic fundamentalism to nullify most attempts to weave the valley of Kashmir into the fabric of India. He doesn't shy away from the still-lopsided economy (at least one-quarter of the population is extremely poor, and many social services are in an appalling state). Most disturbingly, he warns that there has been a rotting away of the institutions that allowed democracy to thrive in the decades after 1947-political dynasties now dominate most Indian states, corruption has grown...
...Guha's conclusions are sobering. Today's weakened institutions, he says, mean that Indian democracy is best described as a partial success. India is mostly democratic "when it comes to holding elections and permitting freedom of movement and expression." But it mostly isn't "when it comes to the functioning of politicians and political institutions." The survival of Indian democracy is magnificent, but as its preeminent chronicler points out, more must be done before the all of India's citizens can fully enjoy its fruits...