India in sepia tint

Book Review: Non-fiction/ Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack, Penguin/Viking, 323p; Rs599 (Hardback)

Ian Jack’s Mofussil Junction is a treasure trove of scintillating sketches of a bygone time, when he traversed and documented rural heartlands of Bharat.
For the veteran Guardian journalist Ian Jack, India is not just a subject close to his heart, but a second home. The compilation of his essays, written during his active days as a journalist/traveler in pre-liberalised India, emphatically announces at the outset the impossibility of collating India at the altar of coherence. This volume deserves far wider reading by those born after 1991, when the ‘enigma of reform’ finally arrived at the slumbering power corridors of Delhi.

India decided to go another way in early 1990s, not because of the Indian leaders’ newfound love for the verses of Victor Hugo, but to escape a wretched existence, wherein wealth creation had become really tough. So, it was then that ‘an-idea-whose-time-has-come’ kind of prose came into prominence and shifted the entire India narrative, turning it inside out as the country embarked on an unprecedented journey.
Ian Jack is no Max Mueller — he has real feelings for India. Unlike the German Indophile, Jack keeps himself at arm’s length from hypothetical arguments. However, he is a superlatively articulate journalist. Jack has seen much and the result is this volume, a treasure trove of scintillating sketches and travels by road and rail through the length and breadth of India, with the spotlight on rural heartlands of Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. From metropolitan India to mofussil Bharat, he appears to be a neutral observer of a changing nation.

Going against the Western trend to look at the East through either rose-tinted glasses or shambolic poverty-goggles, Jack comes across as a moderate polemicist, especially when he’s writing on Bombay or George Orwell’s Motihari, where, to his dismay, few knew the acclaimed Englishman. Similarly, Jack’s essays on the Bhagalpur incident, or the Mansi Railway accident, break the convention of traditional journalistic reportage that eschews opinionating. Knowing it to the bone, Jack’s intuitive grasp on eastern India, which he has seen and felt like no other Western traveler, spellbinds even some of the most astute readers.

The essay on Tagore confirms it, where he diligently recognises the Bard’s unmatchable fame and how that has become a myth in itself, available for popular regression. It is another thing that now Bengalis, and other Tagore-scholars, have developed many, often conflicting, sets of opinions on the Nobel laureate, but none of those challenge his supreme authority in the cultural affairs of the clan. So, while Jack confronts their obsessive side, which hinders the dogmatic Bengalis to see merit in others, he also strikes a resonant note when he asks why Tagore has suffered in translation, and why his preeminence within the Bengali cultural superset is not without its reasons.

Jack’s essays on good English-speaking people like Sonny Mehta, or his landlord in Delhi, Sham Lal, have greater symbolic value, as they were written in simpler days, when speaking mannerisms and accents accrued greater degree of appreciation than the real content. On the Gandhi troika – Indira, Sanjay and Rajiv — his pieces seem to give primary information. I would like to believe this hardly showcases his limitation; rather, it allows us to believe, blissfully so, most of us are perfectly enlightened about the precious and trashy details of our political first family.

But Jack is an old horse at narrative journalism, and it’s humanly not possible to keep the inner perspicuous observer in him hidden behind the reluctant annalist of the Indian dynasty. On 1984 Delhi riots, he provides fresh perspective. Notwithstanding the fact that it’s an old issue and India has, unfortunately, had periodical bouts of turbulence, violence and bloodshed since then, the 2002 Gujarat pogrom being one, Jack’s eyes discover new details that had gone unnoticed in the deluge of politically-motivated accounts of the ugly chapter of modern Indian history. As a democracy, India has been ceremoniously plagued by the ‘culture of riots’ and the fertile ground of hostility is right inside the polity, and partially, Jack, too, hints at the unpalatable truth.

The book has a fleeting subcontinental touch as well. It becomes evident in his recollections of Benazir Bhutto and her mother, who once danced with a white politician, interestingly, which even Oxford-educated Benazir couldn’t do, that there was more to the embrace of modernity and Western ideas than the South Asian mind would like to admit. On Benazir’s reluctance or refusal to dance with a white man, Jack muses whether it was because she was a determined conservative who had learnt Urdu to use it for embellishing both her slang offerings and fiery speeches, which we most of us have heard at some point of time.

Jack’s essays are musings, repositories of collected memories — memories which are personal but have huge relevance for the larger audience, whether Indian or Western. At a juncture, when the incessant drone of breaking news clogs off the sieves of mind, and few are left with a proper appetite for narrative journalism, essentially, which is the better part of the trade, Jack’s work comes as a whiff of cool breeze and refreshing change. Mofussil Junction is here to buck the trend and is a delightful addition to your library, big or small.
Atul K Thakur
Email: summertickets@gmail.com
(Published in Millennium Post on 1September2013)

The Unfinished Memoirs of a Complete Past!

Book Review: Non-fiction/The Unfinished Memoirs by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Penguin/Viking, 323 pp; Rs699 (Hardback)
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s diaries, on a very important phase of twentieth century, came into the light in 2004 and now have been compiled as a book in the English. These memoirs were written during the prison days of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, when he was a state prisoner in the epochmaking years: 1967-1969. His autobiography begins with him recalling his days as a student activist during the movement, aimed for the creation of Pakistan in the early 1940’s. Further, the book covers his experiences of the Bengali language movement, besides offering new insights on the initial struggle of the Bangladeshi independence movement and self-rule. The major events and political planks up to the time of struggle for democratic rights in 1955 are given prominence in Mujib’s memoirs.

His notebooks have some remarkable details and it is hardly surprising since he was catalyst behind the birth of Bangladesh. His autobiography, though doesn’t enable a reader to judge the status of his convictions but at a different level, gives enough space to introspect those early conditions that came into existence after the creation of Pakistan and not very lately, with the birth of another nation-Bangladesh. Troubled and impatient, yet that was a very interesting timeframe in the Indian subcontinent. Mujib’s autobiography, remotely distant from any soft ends, leads to the unusually abnormal past that affected the geography and psyche of south Asia.

Though compelled by bitter circumstances, patriots of highest order were not less accountable for carrying out the procession of partition. Indeed, Pakistan was born as the outcome of those unfortunate tussles, but the creation of Bangladesh, was more the result of Muslim League’s failure to live up to Jinnah’s dream of ‘working democracy’, than any other factors. This book establishes some vital facts, such as, why more than India’s role, the idea of Bangladesh materialised under the unrelenting failures of Muslim League’s leadership which maintained ‘disconnect’ with the people of East Bengal for long time.

The top Muslim League leaders were appearing more as the representatives of the party than people. Institutionally, democracy was functional in Pakistan, since it became a nation state but its liberal attributes were missing and that caused impractical maneuverings on socio-political fronts. Later on things went the wrong way and progresses were not as normal as desired. Shockingly, a leading Muslim League leader, Liaquat Ali Khan, was too not ready in any case to accept the existence of other parties, apart from Muslim League-his speech underlines it more clearly…
“I have always said, rather it has always been my firm belief, that the existence of the League, not only the existence of the League, but its strength is equal to the existence and strength of Pakistan. So far as I am concerned, I had decided at the very beginning, and reaffirm it today, that I have always considered myself the Prime Minister of the League. I never regarded myself as the Prime Minister chosen by the members of the Constituent Assembly.” (Page-144)

And from the opposite side, Suharawardy and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not less vocal towards the chasm, the new nation was running with. This statement of Mujibur Rahman highlights the geographical/cultural divide Pakistan affronted those days…
“I am from East Bengal, a land where one can go through an entire winter with only a light blanket. Here you have to wear layer upon layer of warm clothes and wrap yourself in blanket after blanket. And yet it is so cold that sleep evades you despite the layers of clothes and the blankets!” (Page-149)

In its part, the Muslim League leaders failed to understand the repercussion posed in downsizing the leadership from East Bengal, on which, the discomfort was being felt by culturally distinct and much reserve natured Bengali speaking population. Most surprisingly, Jinnah too was unaware of the truth, holding that Pakistan’s way ahead was not rosy and as easy, thought out by few in high degree of complacency. More than an assumption, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman got the political height in ‘isolation’ that the Islamabad’s bureaucratic machinery allowed him in unmindful.

Post 1947, the whole political processes were being controlled by the distorted aspirations of political elites. Then in Pakistan-two nations were making strides. Marginalization of real issues for the deviant political policies harmed in general and caused for the condition that led to the brutal partition and immense shock to the people at both sides of the border. Later, similar fear haunted in 1971, when hawkish situation again made people the easiest target of irrational power play.The birth of Bangladesh happened under the ‘guise of cultural isolation’ of East Bengal’s population, but the real reasons were more political.

This was clear to few, as the euphoria was at sky high and Mujib had so far established himself an unchallengeable authority in Bangladesh. But his edge couldn’t sustain for long. Though initially, Mujib received an unprecedented response on his call to move for the economic freedom by uniting the entire nation. The economy picked up rapidly. Production increased substantially. The prices of essential came down sharply. With greater hope, the new conditions for inclusive growth were near the reality but all ended shortly!

On 25January 1975, the country switched to the Presidential system of government and as expected, Mujib took over the charge as first President of Bangladesh. But not very late, in August 1975, he was assassinated in Dhaka along with his family (barring two daughters)-that immediately caused for Martial law in the country. The basic democratic rights were withheld. Thereafter, the politics of killing, camps and conspiracy were revitalized. Nine years later, almost similar scene was replicated in India too after the assassination of Indira Gandhi-in both the countries, innocents’ people were seen at margin in those ugly days, on the wake of violent reprisals from authority!

With straight talking and revelations, an autobiography makes its place prominently established. This book broadly qualifies in that category with its less ‘conformist’ stand-it allows readers to engage on the pages without any epistemological load. In simple words, Mujib’s biography tells the history of making of a nation, not of farce.

In the wish lists of serious readers on modern south Asian history, any miraculous turn out of Nehru and Jinnah’s hidden autobiographies would make the picture of regional politics much comprehensive than it has been over the decades with feeble documentary sources. More than the technicalities of wardrobe, theirs descendant can produce anything ‘exclusive’ on the passed fate of subcontinental history!

Atul Kumar Thakur
Email: summertickets@gmail.com
(Published in The Kashmir Monitor, dated on November11th, 2012)

India & China- The Next Question?

Book Review: Non-fiction/ India& China: The Battle between Soft and Hard Power by Prem Shankar Jha, Penguin/Viking, 398 pp; Rs599 (Hardback)

Prem Shankar Jha belongs to that class of journalists who could turn meticulous empirical observation with very high scholarship for his analysis and perceptions. In his journalistic career spanning over five long decades, he has been proving his descript authority in various areas, most noticeably in foreign affairs. With increasing his concentration on China, in 2010, he published two books on China's development. The first, “Managed Chaos,” dealt with the fragility of the Chinese miracle-so far it was indeed being taken literally but this book shaped the opinion for a more radical truth about the pros and cons of China’s extractive system.

Much before Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s bestselling book-Why Nations Fail, Mr. Jha had proved that China’s crouching and India’s hidden status is not going to be long lasting, as soon the democracy would give India a much sharper edge over China’s hard and fast systemic solipsism! He uncovered many paper trails to placate the well trodden belief that China is destined to grow indefinitely at 10 per cent. He identified the impeding areas that may hamper sustained growth but ofcourse without scarifying the deserving extol where China has made commendable progress. Most remarkably, he attempted and succeeded well to establish the complex web of social, political, and economic factors that shape and pose challenges for China's growth.

The second book internationally published as “Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger: Can China and India Dominate the West?” and later with present title for Indian subcontinent as “India& China: The Battle between Soft and Hard Power “dismissed the turpitude notions about China having an edge over India and refereed that both have different problems at the bottom level. However, he makes it clear that many similarities in their trajectories of growth and experiences have remained unnoticed under variant ideological preoccupations in comparative dealing of these two giant powers. The title, “The battle between soft and hard power”, is in no manner themed forwardly as basic contention in this book, rather it exemplifies the two different political systems under these nations are dwelling and their fateful ways lying ahead.

The book is documented into parallel parts that deal individually with China and India, tracing the history of their metamorphosis from closed and mixed economy into market economies and in the process revealing their commonness. Jha produce a unique thought how, “contrary to universal belief, India did not embark on its reforms in 1991, all of 13 years after China, but around the same time”, with Indira Gandhi’s 1980 government and later Rajiv Gandhi’s government marking the beginnings of a liberalized regime from the command economy. Both India and China moved with a gradualist approach on reform, which under the intense pressure of rapid industrial openness later caused for the wave of corruption in governments.

In initial four chapters, comparisons and contrasts between the two countries are the focus area and that makes this book very insightful. Knowing about the “intermediate class” from this book would be helpful in searching the factors behind the accelerated growth in China, but similar observation which could have made easily, is missing on India. The rest chapters are like case based studies on China and India, whose values would be ageless as such work of deep concentration reappears not more often.

This book is a timely intervention, to unleash the actuality of crisis ridden west’s overt exuberance for world’s most happening economies-China and India or CHINDIA. In retrospect, it was an attempt by a leading investment company, Goldman Sachs, to lure investments into Asia at a time when the United States market was sagging. As Jha says, “projections of China's and India's future, such as those made by Goldman Sachs in its BRICs report, … fail to take into account the fact that the two countries are not simply undergoing rapid economic growth, but undergoing transformation into capitalist states.” Hence his critical views put forth a cautionary discourse for both nations to address their unresolved bilateral issues if really they have to reorientalise the existing economic-strategic order of the world.

The growing strength of local authorities is leaving mixed effects on the growth in China; but proportionally, more it has benefitted than tolling any big damage. Also it has not weakened the dominant centralized core of Beijing, as it became evident when China put through very actively a massive stimulus programme of $590 billion after the financial crisis. Though, Jha has not appreciated the role and strength of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and there may have some reasons, specifically in broad context. On India, Jha argues that the decline of Congress, the advent of coalition politics in late 1980’s, and the Supreme Court's decision on the Centre's powers under Article 356 of the Constitution have weakened the state-that’s to an extant true though existence of state is still very strong in India and no reason is visible for its seizure in foreseeable future.

Jha’s insights on the real scores of China’s growth are a pathbreaking contribution, which suddenly allows readers to get free from the abundantly stocked fancied views on the same matters. Moreover, he leads readers into the fateful years of China’s policy reform in the 1980s, when the foundations of China’s cadre capitalism were established. Jha paints a genuinely bleak picture of a troubled state with local officials increasingly running out of control, given their power to take loans from banks free of the responsibility to pay them back. A very right observation that much of the foreign investment-fuelled growth witnessed by the country, argues Jha, is a house built on sand.

A finding of this book is quite havocking regarding the dualist temptations of Chinese society towards the Chinese Communist Party-there seems marked difference in actual internal feelings and its expressions. It seems astonishing, how alike elites and working classes publicly announces their sycophant loyalty for the centralized role of Communist party. Notwithstanding an ideological attachment that shows such restricted voices as the side effects of China’s closed polity, which the author of this book rationally presents as China’s major impediment in smoothly sustaining its impressive growth for long. Not surprising, if with its rigidly monopolized political system, Beijing is usually able to successfully continue its strong political authoritarianism even with its high economic growth.

But Premshankar Jha does admit that while China’s leaders are aware of the dangers, and on the constant look-out for solutions to contain social discontentment, India’s political leadership is “thoroughly unaware” of the dangers that lie ahead. He pragmatically appears to favour India’s chances given its democratic system and the existence of institutions consolidated by the democratic ethos that could manage social conflict. Mr. Jha makes it clear that India has some strong advantage over China with its democracy but in its current state, things would be difficult for India to compete China’s enterprising capacity.

In the near future, as the major constituents of BRICS and even beyond it, both the nations would compete in economic race where the fair political system would decide the real courses of action. This book should be in the must read priority of all those who continue to struggle to reckon and analyse the fundamentals of liberalized growth in India and China. With this second major work on the India-China project, gifted narrator Premshankar Jha naturally stands as the most authentic source of knowledge on the world’s two most diversely complex nations!
Atul Kumar Thakur
April 16, 2012, Monday, New Delhi
Email: summertickets@gmail.com