THE DISRUPTOR
The Disruptor is certainly an apt title for a book on V.P. Singh. Written by senior journalist Debashish Mukerji, the book very neatly captures a tumultuous period in Indian history for it is Singh who implemented the Mandal Commission report that took our caste politics to the level where it is still at today. It’s interesting to see the Modi-yogi duo implementing the same brand of Mandal-kamandal politics that we saw back in the 80s. Debashish’s book is well researched and has some very telling anecdotes, especially of the face-off between V.P. Singh and Rajiv Gandhi (as well as Amitabh Bachchan). He traces some of the bitterness to V.P. Singh’s raid-raj as Finance Minister, especially when he took on the formidable might of Dhirubhai Ambani when he used Fairfax to nail Reliance. The book throws light on the cast of characters that dominated our political theatre, both on stage and behind the scenes, like S. Gurumurthy. It’s a must read both for students of political history as well as analysts.