Shantanu Packs A Punch With ‘The Target’

Each chapter brings out sensational revelations that if taken into consideration and scrutinised individually could be vital in understanding the larger conspiracy. For the first time since the NSEL crisis engulfed the FTIL group, an investigation uncovers sensational revelations in the chronological narrative of ‘The Target’. This is the first time that explosive exposure regarding a powerful politician and an influential bureaucrat have come to the fore in the NSEL saga. Many a times in the past, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s name has been dragged with controversies surrounding market manipulations. This book has authenticated the degree of his interest in the business of stock exchanges.

Shantanu has combined his investigation with flashbacks of Jignesh Shah’s stardom. He has produced documentary evidence that adds merit to his research which went on for nearly two years. Each chapter brings out an observation that if taken into consideration and scrutinised individually could be vital in understanding the larger conspiracy. Through a seamless flow, the book brings out the core – how Chidambaram’s most favourite bureaucrat, K P Krishnan, in the Finance Ministry took the rising competition against NSE due to FTIL’S phenomenal rise as a potential threat to their interest. NSEL crisis was a smokescreen to the ulterior motive which was to obliterate FTIL group and Jignesh Shah’s innovative spirit. The crux of the book is the strategic planning to execute the hatched plot against Jignesh Shah and his group.

Throwing in glimpses of the past, Shantanu describes Jignesh Shah as an unstoppable force who changed the dynamics of the financial markets. And, it became a catalyst for his downfall.

From then on the book spirals into exposing the conspiracy by the political-bureaucratic-rival network that colluded so that Jignesh Shah who had effortlessly torn down NSE’S cartel and established a democratic market for all could be stripped off his innovative spirit. Planned strategic measures that fell into place one by one to entangle Jignesh Shah and his FTIL group in a web of conspiracy has been narrated explicitly. One often wonders if not for this book, could anyone have imagined that the financial markets do run a parallel administration in the country.

Without any doubt, the protagonist of the book is Jignesh Shah. Shantanu draws parallels in Shah’s life from that of John Galt from Ayn Rand’s legendary novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’. John Galt dared to challenge the status quo of the existing system by standing up against those who tried to bring him down. In the end, like John Galt, Shah too revolutionised the system. Shah comes across a man who has been mis- construed because he defied popular perception by playing the odds and winning every time!