Hall Of The Infamous

Even so, Thakur is less than generous to Jawaharlal Nehru. The mistakes made by the "last Englishman" to rule India are no longer news: exemplified by his mishandling of Kashmir, the Himalayan humiliation in '62, ineffectual planning, laxity in countering corruption. But he was a man of vision, even if it sometimes lacked focus. More than to any other, we owe him the beacon lights of secularism, a free press, a neutral Election Commission, non-alignment, as guides to the future. This finds no mention in the book. None of Nehru's successors had the gift of vision; they were too busy with survival. In assessing him, Thakur also betrays double standards. He criticises Nehru for lacking ruthlessness but is upset when he's ruthless, as when he dislodged Purushottam Das Tandon from presidentship of the Congress and used the Mahatma to subordinate Sardar Patel. In both cases, Nehru's priority was to defend against what would currently be described as Hindutva influences in the party, a strategy supported by the Mahatma.

After the first two pms, intrigue and counter-intrigue dominate the scene. Thakur recalls details with flair, but occasionally over-embroiders. An early example was the presidential elections in '69 following the death of Zakir Hussain. Mrs Gandhi signed the nomination papers of the official Congress candidate, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, then worked for his defeat by an Independent, V.V. Giri. After this, there were no limits to political chicanery.

Sanjay Gandhi's rise is chronicled with accounts of servile cms and senior politicians fawning on the 'rising son', rushing to do his illegal bidding. With the media censored, surrounded by courtiers, Indira was sound-proofed against criticism. She ordered elections, sure she'd win and thus legitimise Sanjay. But democracy intervened. The chapter closes with a vignette of her first election meeting in Dasauti. The usual hoopla was there, but barely 300 villagers came. She asked N.D. Tewari (the UP cm known for his servility) to explain. "They seem to have gone for lunch," he fumbled.

As described by Thakur, politics in the Janata era was, if anything, more unsavoury than under the Congress. It was tragic, too, for Jayaprakash Narain had inspired great hopes. But he was no astute judge of men. And Morarji Desai achieves new heights of hypocrisy as pm. Numerous conspirators wait in the wings, daggers behind their backs. Like Brutus, George Fernandes defects after praising Desai, to give Charan Singh the chair.But as home minister, Charan Singh so bungles Indira's arrest, she regains public sympathy. Yet he has no qualms in securing her support to become pm. She has as little in toppling him.

If this reads like a chapter from medieval history, worse follows. The Sanjay brigade, his flying accident, his mother mysteriously searching for a bunch of keys in the wreckage, Maneka's expulsion, 'Rasputin' Dhirendra Brahmachari's exploits. Then the programmed building up of Rajiv Gandhi's image. The reader's appetite for details of intrigue, sycophancy and corruption begins to flag long before we come to V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Narasimha Rao, A.B Vajpayee (first round), Deve Gowda, I.K Gujral and Vajpayee (current round).

Dark as it is, Thakur paints the picture even darker. The reader can compensate by recalling splashes of light the author fails to notice, like the change in caste equations wrought by V.P. Singh and improved relations with Bangladesh and Nepal achieved by Gujral. But the conclusion that a nation that produces such leaders deserves its fate is hard to avoid.