Democracy on the road

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Name : Democracy on the road
Author : Ruchir Sharma
Year of Publication : 2019
Genre : Non-Fiction, Elections, Indian Politics
Rating : *** (3 stars out of 5)

Reading this book helps in setting the mood for the upcoming 2019 polls. The author,along with many other "limousine liberals" have covered elections across India (or many parts of it) for the past 20 years. This has been turned into highly readable reportage over 350 odd pages. The author makes some very relevant observations as to how an Indian Lok Sabha election is the sum total of local issues, how the broken state is more to blame for problems than corrupt politicians,why the wait for a popular leader with the hunger for meaningful economic reform will be perpetual ,among others.

The scholarly inputs can be found elsewhere too (Think Milan Vaishnav or Ram Guha) but what gives that extra edge to this book is the personal touch in interactions with leading politicians. My favourite of all is when Ruchir calls Manmohan Singh to congratulate him on his ascent as PM and the humble MMS tells : "Ruchir,please pray for me".

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