Among the several books written on Indian Presidents, few have explored the President’s role in the government, especially his role with a powerful and popular Prime Minister. Singh, a former diplomat and now a columnist, deals with these questions in his book The Indian President: An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years. While examining the role of the President, …
Sedition and free speech in modern India This week’s pick of interesting reads includes a volume that stresses the need for free speech, a book that examines the President’s role when authoritarian governments are voted into power, and a coming-of-age novel. * An insider’s account of the Zail Singh years 275pp, ₹699; HarperCollins A study of the institution of the …
A Life in the Shadows is an interesting memoir by A.S. Dulat, who spent the bulk of his career as an officer of the 1965 batch of the Indian Police Service in intelligence work. Two doctrines on how to deal with Jammu and Kashmir emerge: the Vajpayee approach which Dulat always practised and endorses, and the Narendra Modi doctrine that …
