It was with keen and eager expectation that I picked up and perused Chad M Bauman’s Anti-Christian Violence in India (originally published by Cornell University Press, 2020). The book is a timely contribution to understanding an issue of extreme significance not just to the Indian Christian community but also to the secular-democratic fabric of India itself.
Allah Naam ki Siyasat, Hilal Ahmad’s first book in Hindi, brings together his writings over a period of about ten years. It kicks off as an autobiography. The author talks about his understanding of Islam and its Indian variant. He tries to explain how he comprehends Islam. Going into the past, he talks about Prophet Mohammad and the evolution of the concept of the state in Islam.
In Who Moved My Vote?, Yugank Goyal and Arun Kumar Kaushik have a simple point to make. Elections are pivotal to modern representative democracy, and the credibility and legitimacy of the political system depend on how well election results reflect the people’s will. The authors highlight some quirks of the First Past the Post (FPTP) system.
Anuradha Bhasin hit the national headlines with her challenge in the Supreme Court on the Government disconnecting Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) from India and those living there from each other by turning off the internet as part of its massive crackdown to usher in Naya Kashmir with the evacuation of Article 370 of all meaning.
Britain’s botched cartographic endeavour to partition the Indian subcontinent not only left behind a legacy of bloodshed but also people who, till now, are trying to fit into the larger picture of ‘India’. Freedom in Captivity: Negotiations of Belonging along Kashmir’s Frontier by Radhika Gupta tries to explore what meaning belonging, identity, and freedom have for the people in Kargil along the most militarized border of the world.
The author, S Narendra, formerly of the Indian Information Service, has comprehensively explored the extraordinary rise of PV Narasimha Rao (PVNR) from the grassroots, a journey that saw him become Prime Minister in June 1991 and the only one till then, from outside the Nehru-Gandhi fold, to complete a full term in office. He was known for his sharp analyses of political situations and was prominent in many an electoral battle.