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“In India, the sapling was planted by the nation’s founders, who lived long enough (and worked hard enough) to nurture it to adulthood. Those who came afterwards could disturb and degrade the tree of democracy but, try as they might, could not uproot or destroy it.”
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
“in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be the road to the salvation of a soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.”
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
“So long as the Constitution is not amended beyond recognition, so long as elections are held regularly and fairly and the ethos of secularism broadly prevails, so long as citizens can speak and write in the language of their choosing, so long as there is an integrated market and a moderately efficient civil service and army, and — lest I forget — so long as Hindi films are watched and their songs sung, India will survive”
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
“It is in the nature of democracies, perhaps, that while visionaries are sometimes necessary to make them, once made they can be managed by mediocrities.”
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
“Thus, Rajaji wrote of the need to try and think fundamentally in the present crisis. Are we to yield to the fanatical emotions of our anti-Pakistan groups? Is there any hope for India or for Pakistan, if we go on hating each other, suspecting each other, borrowing and building up armaments against each other – building our two houses, both of us on the sands of continued foreign aid against a future Kurukshetra? We shall surely ruin ourselves for ever if we go on doing this . . . We shall be making all hopes of prosperity in the future a mere mirage if we continue this arms race based on an ancient grudge and the fears and suspicions flowing from it.27”
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
― India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
Anu’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Anu’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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