The rare brutally-honest political memoir

{ SUNETRA CHOUDHURY } National Political Editor

Ibrought in the year by reading former US President Barack Obama’s A Promised Land. It still amazes me that the most powerful man on earth could write an honest account of his experiences just four years out of office. It had brutally honest descriptions of world leaders like Vladimir Putin and, closer to home, Rahul Gandhi. The second volume is expected to cover his second term, which means that it will contain his impressions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reading these books makes me painfully aware that this is a missing genre in India. Yes, we had the odd MO Mathai (Nehru’s aide) and Sanjaya Baru (Manmohan Singh aide) book that revealed insider details about two regimes, but the first was soon banned and the second was loved by readers like me but discredited by the Congress party. It’s a pity that while both Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru wrote vibrant memoirs, other politicians have stayed away from the genre. Former bureaucrat Wajahat Habibullah’s book on his time with the PM’s Office, My Years With Rajiv, was a great read. It was sympathetic to Gandhi for his actions during the Bofors scandal but made up for it with anecdotes that bring a period of history alive. The other memoir I recommend is Strictly Personal by Daman Singh, daughter of Manmohan Singh. It is a lovely account and helps in getting to know our former PM and why Obama was so impressed with him. Looking ahead to 2022, I’m going to continue reading political non-fiction that is work-related and hoping that one of our politicians decides to dish the dirt.