Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. - Narendra Modi: The man, the Times

PRAISE FOR THE DEMOLITION: INDIA AT THE CROSSROADS

Although centred around the Ayodhya episode, it deals with facts and controversies not only connected with the story of the disputed structure that was but also about the birth and rise of Hindu fundamentalism and militancy during the decade or more thus providing some striking insights into the complicated nexus between religion and politics.

Hindustan Times

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyays book suggests that secularism has been buried by the forces of Hindutva much to the genuine horror and regret.

The Indian Express

He introduces his subject in a couple of words, constructs a hypothesis, goes in for evidences in its favour or against it and establishes or rejects it thus giving birth to a theory, all within the confines of merely two lines of a couplet or four lines of a quartrain.

Hindustan Times

westland ltd

61 Silverline Building, 2nd floor, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095
No. 38/10 (New No.5), Raghava Nagar, New Timber Yard Layout, Bangalore 560026
23/181, Anand Nagar, Nehru Road, Santacruz East, Mumbai 400055
93, 1st Floor, Sham Lal Road, New Delhi 110002

First published in India in TRANQUEBAR PRESS by westland ltd 2013

Copyright Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay 2013

All rights reserved
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN: 978-93-82618-47-8

Typeset by Ram Das Lal
Printed at: Thomson Press (I) Ltd.

Disclaimer

Due care and diligence has been taken while editing and printing the book, neither the Publisher nor the Printer of the book hold any responsibility for any content that may have crept in inadvertently. Westland Ltd, the Publisher and the printers will be free from any liability for damages and losses of any nature arising from or related to the content. All disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of competent courts in Chennai.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

To Varsha.
For making me believe that I still had it in me.

CONTENTS

However much I wish to keep these thank you lines brief and not gush out with words written or spoken more as a form of PR exercise, there are some which I must.

I have been enabled by many maybe countless people to write this book, but there are two without whom it simply would not have been possible. Varsha, my wife, was the first and to secure her support, I had to do nothing, save tell her that I was finally writing a book. She told me long ago that she had a dream to see me in a writing of a book. Well, here it is. And thanks for bearing with me while I was often dysfunctional in almost everything except writing this book, attending to routine professional duties and of course making tea with the regularity I needed! She also always was the first to read my chapters and kept advising on a few twirls, here and there, in the narrative; filling up the odd blanks that got left and correcting errors which crept in.

This book also would not have been possible without the assistance of the subject of the book Narendra Modi. His was a brave gambit to cooperate with an author who was clear that whatever the biography would finally turn out to be, it surely would not be a hagiography. But Modi not only provided access but also ensured assistance to secure information needed for researching on the book. Modi granted time in person and over the phone even after being armed with information of my meetings and conversations with his critics and political adversaries. He had his fears that the book may damage him and expressed them. But I told him, I would not malign him no personal attacks, though the right to disagree and be critical would remain mine. It was because of Modis nod that we secured the image on the cover from the fans and followers who manage Modis personal website www.narendramodi.in.

On the issue of images, Sanjay Sharma took the trouble to shoot my cover photograph for the book and I must thank him for having allowed a decades-old friendship to be exploited. Thanks are also due to Outlook magazine and its Editor-in-Chief, Krishna Prasad, for providing access to their photo archives. Vital assistance was provided by R Balashankar, editor of Organiser who was always available for long interactions, enabling me to look at the picture from the other side. It was grave risk for him to believe my words that, I would be critical when I was convinced, but would not shy from being appreciative of Modi, if I believed that some facets of his personality or accomplishments needed to be lauded.

Daily conversations at the end of each day with Gyan Varma, enabled me to have a false sense of still being a reporter and I remained aware of macro- and micro-level developments within the Sangh Parivar with virtually no effort on my part.

A personal thank you is due to the Chauhan brothers of Ahmedabads Jade Blue for gifting me a made-to-measure Modi kurta in the course of opening up on the sartorial tastes of Modi.

My editor at Westland, Sudha Sadhanand, is possibly one of the most patient professionals I have interacted with. She enabled me to tide over difficult days, was always liberal in her appreciation when I was niggled by self-doubts and turned around some of the most tedious blocks of words into seamless chapters. Never for a moment was she insistent, only suggestive. I hope Sudhas enthusiasm for this book is shared by the readers.

Renuka Chatterjee at Westland needs to be thanked for having reposed trust in me for being able to deliver this book in the short period that was on hand.

Lastly, I must thank three little girls who I hope will grow up one day to read this book, and hopefully many more. Saanvi, Tanisha and Ritisha grumbled only occasionally because their Naanu (grandfather) had comparatively lesser time for them than before. The three innocent stress-busters knew that I was writing a book and the eldest, Saanvi, even knew it was on Narendra Modi Naanu!

I have met Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and both Bushes. At close range, Modi beats them all in charisma.

Robert D Kaplan, The Atlantic, April 2009

Without a doubt, it was probably the most important interview in almost three decades of my career. It was important because the interview was not the end to an assignment, rather it was to be among the first steps of a long haul. I had gathered that the in-time of my entry into the residence of the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, had been set, but he had given no out-time to his staff. For a man who had been for more than a decade, probably the most reviled political leader of India, this information was a tad surprising. After all, I had never been an insider and most of my writings on post-2002 riots in Gujarat, had been extremely critical of Modi. Was he signalling that he was open for cross-examination on issues that he has avoided talking about? Or was he indicating that he wanted to utilize the time to convey his viewpoint?

After weighing various possibilities, I concluded that it was more likely he wished to use the opportunity to talk without being provoked: he was not looking to get into the headlines with the interview. Through the night and in the morning before the interview, I repeatedly went over the script I had prepared in my mind what to ask and what not to; what I wanted this interview to yield and what it should not end up in. In a country where cinema influences life, politics and may be much more, I took the support of Shah Rukh Khan without being much of an admirer.