Volume one of Narasimha Rao’s novel hits the stands next month
FOR close to a year now, Narasimha Rao has been living like a recluse. Nopress conferences. No interviews. No public meetings. The former prime ministerhas been devoting much of every working day in an intellectual exercise that,his friends point out, gives him greater pleasure than the petty politics of theCongress. Rao has been giving the final touches to the first volume of thetwo-part novel that he is writing for Penguin Books.
And the result of the former prime minister’s extendedsabbatical from politics will be out on the stands by January 15. The Insider isvolume one of the novel. Rao’s tome is believed to be voluminous—runninginto 500-plus pages—and unravels an India from pre-Independence days to the’70s through his eyes. Though being touted as a work of fiction, The Insideris indeed autobiographical and for all practical purposes is the life and timesof its author.
The story traces the trials and tribulations of an inspiredyouth who opts for a career in politics; and then also records how he climbs hisway up from a mere party worker to an MLA and to a national level leader. Sincethe story does not go beyond 1970, there are only references to leaders likeJawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and does not touch upon present daypoliticians at all.
With part one out of his way, Rao, it is reliably learnt, isworking frantically on volume two. This covers the turbulent and controversialperiod from the ’70s right through to the ’90s. It is in this book that Raowill record his experiences of five years as prime minister and also furnish hisviews on Rajiv Gandhi. The former prime minister is likely to touch upon theJain Commission and his interaction with tantriks and godmen.
Like The Insider, the second part will also run into severalhundreds of pages and the former prime minister, according to friends, iswriting and then rewriting the controversial and sensitive sections of thenovel. Incidentally, the novel has been reworked quite a bit and now varies fromthe excerpts this magazine had published two years ago. At that stage, the bookwas tentatively titled The Other Half and Rao had been working on it for wellover 10 years.
With writing his primary preoccupation, the Rao faction of theCongress has been sans an active leader. The pulls and pressures of realpolitikhave forced some of his supporters to seek greener pastures. According to aCongress leader close to Rao, the former prime minister will not be queueing upfor a ticket for the forthcoming elections. But his camp followers are hopefulthat their leader will be invited to contest nevertheless since he is a sittingMP. The unwritten law in the AICC is that those members who won the previouselections should be given first preference when it comes to distributingtickets.
But Rao-critics within the party would rather he be denied anopportunity to contest. Hounded by court cases and allegations of corruption,the former prime minister, who was also the Congress president till he wasousted in September last year, has obviously decided to keep away from thefiring line. But has he? According to his friends, he is pouring his angst intohis novel.
When The Insider hits the stands, it will be a widely read novelin political circles. And even casual readers will definitely try to readbetween the lines.