The author of this book was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009. A former journalist and son of veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh, he lost the election in 2009. He had previously failed in his maiden attempt at electoral politics, in 1999. He contested all three elections from Barmer, the desert constituency on the edge of India that borders Pakistan through the Thar desert. The seat includes the iconic town of Jaisalmer, besides huge rural and inhospitable tracts.
There was a sense of excitement at picking up the book for review. Since it has been written by a former journalist - and an accomplished one at that - one was guaranteed a good read. Beyond that, the book also appeared promising because it was probably the only one of its kind, at least in India: in which a candidate in a parliamentary poll maintains a diary and thereafter makes it available in book form. What would the book contain? Would there be candid disclosures about the games that are played during elections - within parties, and between candidates and potential supporters?
Clearly, the author was in pole position in politics, and he is honest about admitting at the outset that being born into a "political household gives one an early and prolonged exposure" to what politics and elections actually entail. Almost a decade before his failed bid to become a member of Parliament, Manvendra Singh was offered nomination for the Rajasthan Assembly election by the BJP leader, and later India's vice president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Mr Singh has explained that he did not accept that offer because of his father's wish that the young man "needed to get a life first". This book, however, is not an account of the first decade of Mr Singh's life in politics after he distinguished himself as a journalist. It was in his first decade in politics - from 1999 to 2009 - that he first lost an election and then won the seat in 2004 with the highest-ever margin in Rajasthan. His opponent in both elections was a veteran Congress leader. Mr Singh was successful in securing the seat for the BJP for the first time.
Part of the reason was that Mr Singh virtually made Barmer his home and nurtured the constituency. It also helped that, in 2004, Rajasthan was governed by his party, which had regained power in the state in November 2003. The manner in which Mr Singh went about mounting his successful 2004 campaign would also have made for riveting reading. He, however, provides a "personal record of the Great Indian Election Circus - the gruelling pace of an election campaign, the chaos and colour, the rumours and intrigues, the rivalries and infighting, the human relationships and the political strategies". The raison d'être of this book is that readers would get a "glimpse of how democracy works from the grassroots upwards".
The book is a daily chronicle of how Mr Singh spent his days from March 7 to May 16, 2009. The first day was when his candidature was announced by the BJP and the last entry was on the day of denouement, when Mr Singh lost the election - from a victory margin of 230,000 in 2004, he was humbled by almost 120,000 votes. Ideally, one would have liked to understand from the vanquished why he thought he was routed. This is especially true as another poll looms ahead, though it is not known if the candidate is interested in entering the fray again or whether his party would be keen to field him.
The book contains remarkable details of Mr Singh's campaign, the culture and political ethos of the constituency and the interpersonal ties. It also offers insights into the course of the campaign that indicate the verdict probably did not come as a complete surprise to Mr Singh. A month into the campaign, he wrote that he was "already beginning to feel the difference from last time. This time around there is a lack of energy that is so palpable... Change of power in the state government at Jaipur makes so much difference, I suppose." He must have realised, too, that even the change of power in Delhi contributed to the constituency becoming a quagmire for him.
It may, however, be recalled that Mr Singh's candidature created "problems" for the party in the constituency since veterans felt that although Barmer was Mr Singh's "home", he remained an outsider - someone who was para-dropped into the constituency thanks to his connections with the central leadership. In the initial part of the book, Mr Singh writes that delimitation made his task in 2009 difficult because of demographic changes that resulted. But, barring an instance or two, he is not very forthcoming about the "internal factors" that led to his defeat.
Had this aspect been tackled in a point-blank manner, the book would have enabled readers to understand the kind of games factions play against one another within the same party. A book that had tremendous potential unfortunately restricts itself - one can almost sense the restraint with which the book is written. It, thus, remains a detailed chronicle of an election campaign, not an analysis of a verdict overturned.
CAMPAIGN DIARY
Chronicle of an Election Fought and Lost
Manvendra Singh
Penguin/Viking; 180 pages; Rs 499
There was a sense of excitement at picking up the book for review. Since it has been written by a former journalist - and an accomplished one at that - one was guaranteed a good read. Beyond that, the book also appeared promising because it was probably the only one of its kind, at least in India: in which a candidate in a parliamentary poll maintains a diary and thereafter makes it available in book form. What would the book contain? Would there be candid disclosures about the games that are played during elections - within parties, and between candidates and potential supporters?
Clearly, the author was in pole position in politics, and he is honest about admitting at the outset that being born into a "political household gives one an early and prolonged exposure" to what politics and elections actually entail. Almost a decade before his failed bid to become a member of Parliament, Manvendra Singh was offered nomination for the Rajasthan Assembly election by the BJP leader, and later India's vice president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Mr Singh has explained that he did not accept that offer because of his father's wish that the young man "needed to get a life first". This book, however, is not an account of the first decade of Mr Singh's life in politics after he distinguished himself as a journalist. It was in his first decade in politics - from 1999 to 2009 - that he first lost an election and then won the seat in 2004 with the highest-ever margin in Rajasthan. His opponent in both elections was a veteran Congress leader. Mr Singh was successful in securing the seat for the BJP for the first time.
Part of the reason was that Mr Singh virtually made Barmer his home and nurtured the constituency. It also helped that, in 2004, Rajasthan was governed by his party, which had regained power in the state in November 2003. The manner in which Mr Singh went about mounting his successful 2004 campaign would also have made for riveting reading. He, however, provides a "personal record of the Great Indian Election Circus - the gruelling pace of an election campaign, the chaos and colour, the rumours and intrigues, the rivalries and infighting, the human relationships and the political strategies". The raison d'être of this book is that readers would get a "glimpse of how democracy works from the grassroots upwards".
The book is a daily chronicle of how Mr Singh spent his days from March 7 to May 16, 2009. The first day was when his candidature was announced by the BJP and the last entry was on the day of denouement, when Mr Singh lost the election - from a victory margin of 230,000 in 2004, he was humbled by almost 120,000 votes. Ideally, one would have liked to understand from the vanquished why he thought he was routed. This is especially true as another poll looms ahead, though it is not known if the candidate is interested in entering the fray again or whether his party would be keen to field him.
The book contains remarkable details of Mr Singh's campaign, the culture and political ethos of the constituency and the interpersonal ties. It also offers insights into the course of the campaign that indicate the verdict probably did not come as a complete surprise to Mr Singh. A month into the campaign, he wrote that he was "already beginning to feel the difference from last time. This time around there is a lack of energy that is so palpable... Change of power in the state government at Jaipur makes so much difference, I suppose." He must have realised, too, that even the change of power in Delhi contributed to the constituency becoming a quagmire for him.
It may, however, be recalled that Mr Singh's candidature created "problems" for the party in the constituency since veterans felt that although Barmer was Mr Singh's "home", he remained an outsider - someone who was para-dropped into the constituency thanks to his connections with the central leadership. In the initial part of the book, Mr Singh writes that delimitation made his task in 2009 difficult because of demographic changes that resulted. But, barring an instance or two, he is not very forthcoming about the "internal factors" that led to his defeat.
Had this aspect been tackled in a point-blank manner, the book would have enabled readers to understand the kind of games factions play against one another within the same party. A book that had tremendous potential unfortunately restricts itself - one can almost sense the restraint with which the book is written. It, thus, remains a detailed chronicle of an election campaign, not an analysis of a verdict overturned.
The reviewer is the author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times
nilanjan.mukhopadhyay@gmail.com
nilanjan.mukhopadhyay@gmail.com
CAMPAIGN DIARY
Chronicle of an Election Fought and Lost
Manvendra Singh
Penguin/Viking; 180 pages; Rs 499