India after Gandhi: History of World’s Largest Democracy

The book written by the noted historian Ramchandra Guha chronicles the history of modern India, right from the beginning of the freedom movement to the recent past. The book begins with the British Raj, when the ruling government believed India to be too mature and another school of thought believed India to be too young to self-govern itself. Then came along Jawaharlal Nehru – the most trusted confidant of Mahatma Gandhi, who was Oxford educated and had view of the world, which was quite different from a contemporary Indian at that point in time. The Nehru era lasted for 15-years and during the time – India was able to frame her constitution, give equal rights to men and woman. And mostly, he believed a rightful place for India in the context of the world – and engineered movements like Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in world afflicted by Cold-war syndrome. Later in 1966, Nehru’s daughter – Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India, although she continued her father’s good work, India for the first-time after Independence had emergency imposed on itself. Post her death, it was her second son Rajiv Gandhi, who took over the mantle and became one of the most popular leaders of a youthful India. Also, the book captures images of India, which had its fair share of ugly incidents like communal riots, which scarred the country for long. This book and other political books are available on the India online shopping website, homeshop18.