Page 97 - EducationWorld May 2021

Abdullah’s lack of faith in ideological commitment of enables one to set aside commitment to constitu-
the Indian state and his its members and it seems the popular images of tionalism, rule of law and
disappointment with the to cut across elite and some politicians, heav- citizenship rights.
institutional and proce- non-elite backgrounds, ily influenced by their Besides providing
dural injustice meted out with Poonam Mahajan, portrayal in the media. useful insights into the
to Jammu and Kashmir by Madhukeshwar Desai and The cases of Rahul Gan- hearts, ideas and minds
reneging on their state- Smriti Irani all stressing dhi, Varun Gandhi and of some of India’s more
hood, emerges clearly this point. This is also Asaduddin Owaisi stand famous young politicians,
from the interview. important since one of the out in this respect. It is this book also provides
Similarly, Priyanka main problems of most indeed interesting to see pointers to new and
Gandhi’s answers reveal political parties in India, Rahul Gandhi’s clarity on interesting exploratory
a lot about her lack of a especially the regional many matters of economic research in the field of
normal childhood for both ones, is that they are tight- and social policies. Simi- party politics by looking
her and her brother, which ly-controlled family enter- larly, the popular media at party organisation
have left a deep impact on prises, operating more like portrayal of Varun Gandhi structures and leadership
their personalities. family firms than political and Owaisi as funda- questions, as studies of
It is also not surpris- parties. Many talented mentalist leaders prone Indian politics so far
ing to see that many politicians with aspira- to use verbose rhetoric have gravitated towards
politicians in the Bharatiya tions of political success and divisive narratives is quantitative analyses of
Janata Party firmly believe do not find these parties completely falsified when electoral politics. This
that by being in the party, attractive because they one reads Varun Gan- book brings the leadership
they have a chance or op- know they will never get to dhi’s economic ideas and question back into
portunity to rise through reach leadership positions concepts which he uses primacy as a much needed
the ranks to reach the top which are reserved for first in his books as well as in future theme of research
position at some point family members. public addresses in Indian in Indian politics.
in future. This optimism Reading these detailed universities, or when one SARTHAK BAGCHI (The
is second only to the and elaborate interviews reads about Owaisi’s Book Review)

MAY 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 97