Derek O’Brien - Inside Parliament: Views from the Front Row

This is my fifty-third book, and yet I am feeling like an author making his debut. After all, this is my first book on politics.

I must begin by expressing my gratitude to Mamata Banerjeeor Mamata-di as we know and cherish her. She has not only been my political leader, but also a teacher, an anchor and a guide who has taken me through each stage of my political and parliamentary career. Many of the lessons that I have written about in this book have been learnt from herfrom what she may have told me one-on-one, or simply from watching her at work.

Over the years, there have been many people who have touched my life at a personal or professional level. I feel abundantly blessed. Its been a fascinating journey of over five decades.

At the risk of leaving someone out, let me acknowledge:

My brothers Andy and Barry, and their families.

Gautam De, Prabir Ghosh and all my friends I grew up with in Jamir Lane, Calcutta.

Patrick Baptiste, Christopher Jones, Michael King and all my friends at the DI clubeven today my second home.

Ron and Pat Forbes, my parents dearest friends, and my foster parents.

The Jordan family in Nagpur and Bilaspur.

The OBrien family.

The late Srikantan and Tulu Basu, and family.

Shauri and Ranu Banerjee, and family.

The late Reverend Basil Manuel for inspiring me as a teenager with his good deeds and good words.

David McMahon and Tiger Pataudi for hiring me as a rookie sports journalist in Sportsworld while I was still in college.

Sumit Roy, Bunny and Jug Suraiya for teaching me more about life than advertising at Ogilvy.

Rila Banerjee for always being generous, supportive and special.

Naresh and Sunita Kumar for taking me into the simple world of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity.

My colleagues at Derek OBrien & Associates for being rock-solid for twenty-five years. Pabitra Ghosh, Nayan Chaudhury, Kalyanmoy Hazra, Sunil Shah, Andrew Scolt, Amit Ghosh, Mahua Basu, Heena Ade, Shane Baptiste, Boris Antony, Ayashman Dey, Ammar Hamid, Arup Chakraborty, Agnivo Niyogi, Chetna Kumar, Kavitha K.K. and every member of the team.

All my former colleagues, too, for their sparkle and commitment.

Dilip Chatterjee for trusting a twenty-seven-year-old with the marquee All India North Star Quiz in 1988.

Jaspal Bajwa, Ajay Banga, K.K. Mohinta, D.P. Mukherjee and the entire team at Nestl, who gave me the opportunity to host the Maggi quizzes.

Gautam Sengupta and Sukanya Kripalu for giving me my break on television with the Bournvita Quiz Contest on Zee TV.

The late Amala Thomas, Arindam Roy Choudhury, Prabuddha Chatterjee and Tess Joseph for their significant contributions.

The late Gautam Basu for introducing me to the Trinamool family in 2003.

All my colleagues in the Trinamool family.

My colleagues in Parliament from different political parties. Many of them do not share my ideology and beliefs but participate in the true spirit of parliamentary democracy. Thank you.

Journalists who are generous both with their bouquets and their brickbats.

Suparna Singh for encouraging me to write regularly. This got me back into the groove.

NDTV.com and The Week, where some of these essays were first published.

Ananth Padmanabhan, the captain at HarperCollins India. Amrita Mukerji, Rahul Dixit, Shabnam Srivastava, Gokul Kumar and every member of the super-talented and passionate team.

Diya Kar, for being the engine room and publisher for HarperCollins on this book.

My family is the essential support system within which I live, exist, work and grow. My late father Neil OBrien has remained a big intellectual influence on my life. He didnt live to see this book and he almost always strongly disagreed with my political views. But he was a great believer in the sanctity of Parliament and of legislative debate. He would have read the book carefully.

My mother Joyce OBrien is the ethical and emotional bedrock of our family. If I could carry even half her clarity and sense of right and wrong into my political life, I would achieve a lot.

My daughter Aanya is a thoughtful, new-generation young woman. She keeps me contemporary; she keeps me grounded. She keeps reminding me that young people want to be heard by politicians and not simply be spoken to by them.

Finally, my wife Tonuca. From running a medical practice and keeping a home in New York to being a politicians wife in Bengal and Delhi, she has her hands full. I often run thoughts and countless drafts by her for feedback, or, as I call it, a medical-check. Her contributionand her sacrificehas been the greatest. I can never thank her enough. Never.

DEREK OBRIEN is a twice-serving member of the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, representing the Trinamool Congress. He is the leader of the Trinamool Congresss parliamentary party in the Upper House and also its chief national spokesperson. He is chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, while serving on several other key parliamentary committees. OBrien has spoken at, among others, Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities in the US, and several IIMs, IITs and other premier educational institutions in India. He addressed the United Nations General Assembly as a member of the Indian parliamentary delegation in 2012.

Derek OBrien began his career as a journalist, moved to advertising and then went on to become Indias most popular quizmaster. He has written over fifty bestselling reference, quiz and text books.

Derek OBrien dominated Indian television as the countrys most well-known quizmaster for over two decades, asking questions to millions across India. Now he plays a key role in the Rajya Sabha, raising difficult questions from the front row in the Upper House. One of the most candid, courageous voices of the Opposition, OBrien is articulate, incisive and provocativequalities that are apparent in his writing.

In this book, comprising his best political essays, Derek OBrien reflects on the state of the nation, offering insights from a unique vantage pointinside Parliament. Never afraid of controversy or contention, he covers topics ranging from the Constitution, the effects of a hasty GST roll-out and demonetization to the media, the lessons he has learnt as an MP and the 2019 elections.

Thought-provoking and captivating at once, Inside Parliament is required reading for all interested in understanding todays India and all who care about its future.

Celebrating 25 Years of Great Publishing

HarperCollins India celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Twenty-five years of publishing Indias finest writers and most memorable books.

Through the years, we have published writers from the Indian subcontinent and across the globe, including Aravind Adiga, Kiran Nagarkar, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Manu Joseph, Anuja Chauhan, Upamanyu Chatterjee, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Shekhar Gupta, M.J. Akbar, Satyajit Ray, Gulzar, Surender Mohan Pathak and Anita Nair, with around 200 new books every year and an active print and digital catalogue of more than 1,000 titles across ten imprints. We publish across genres including literary fiction, commercial fiction, poetry reportage, business, self-help, mind body spirit, cinema and biographies all with attention to quality, of both the manuscript and the finished product. We have won every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, the Sahitya Akademi Award, the DSC Prize, the Hindu Literary Prize, the MAMI Award for Best Writing on Cinema, the National Award for Best Book on Cinema, the Crossword Book Award, and the Publisher of the Year, twice, at Publishing Next Goa, and Tata Literature Live!, Mumbai.