A political novel for the times

With Indo-Pak cricket's festive season on, and the cross-border bonhomie taking hold it is time for that old question : What if there had been no partition of India?

What if Nehru, as some people suggest, had given up the Prime Minister's post in favour of Jinnah? Would the history of the subcontinent have turned out any different?

If not, could there have been any way to prevent the ghettoisation of the majority of Muslims in India? And the most important of all, what would the Indian cricket team have looked like?

This book is an old-fashioned "good read", ideal for the Delhi-Trivandrum Rajdhani journey. Since real life politics in India is stranger than what most fiction writers can turn up, it does not even stretch one's credulity much, except when it shows two of India's top ministers doing "normal things" like enjoying a meal together in Old Delhi without getting lynched. Imagine Shivraj Patil and Pranab Mukherjee without their convoy and security and you'll know what I mean.

The story, a political novel, is about three friends, all students of Modern School, hence "people like us" who turn out to be men who shape the politics of the country. There is Azim Khan, a corporate honcho who gets into politics disturbed by the Mumbai riots and the serial blasts; then there is Karan Nehru, a very distant relative of the "original" who is brought into politics by his father-in-law and even wins from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, Nehru's constituency.

Lastly, there is Raj Mehra, who goes abroad after school only to return as the top anchor for a news channel (Rajdeep Sardesai should stake a claim for copyright).

Most of the action centres around UP politics, the assumption being that "he who rules UP rules India"""quite an erroneous impression considering neither of the two big UP parties, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, has stake in the new UPA government.

Between Khan and Nehru, the two go through grinding years as backbenchers in the Lok Sabha, marry suitable brides, and Nehru in fact manages to escape an India TV type sting operation as well.

They abandon the two poles of Indian politics, the Congress and the BJP, to form their own parties, with Nehru forming the Congress (N) (Sanjay Nirupam, please note).

Along with a regional satrap from Andhra Pradesh called Naidu (quite obviously modelled on P V Narasimha Rao), the three manage to sideline the Congress and BJP to minor players, and form the government with Naidu as a Machiavellian PM.

In between there are chapters on what it means to be secular in India, whether India is truly ready for a Muslim Prime Minister, and a spectacular attempt to control communal riots in a western Uttar Pradesh town by the home minister in front of a live TV audience (Indian Idol beware).

The author, according to the book jacket, is all of 28 years, does not forget the great war of his generation, Kargil. Only this time an audacious defence minister ferments dissent in the tribal regions of Pakistan, threatens nuclear holocaust, stares down a belligerent Chinese army into not helping the enemy and, wonder of wonders, manages to retake the entire territory of Pak-Occupied Kashmir.

Now why didn't Jaswant Singh think of this in 1999? An ineffective Pakistani General Aziz (Musharraf, without the cunning) is left frothing at the mouth and deposed in a coup that follows. As wish fulfilment goes, this 28-year-old really knows how to pack it in.

The book ends with Azim Khan becoming prime minister of India, after Naidu is sidelined, and conveniently cops it after a civilised heart attack. Giving the book a contemporary touch is the fact that Karan Nehru gives up his claim a la Sonia Gandhi, preferring the halo to the chair.

It is touted as the fulfilment of the Nehruvian dream, yet cannot shake off the aura of tokenism. In comparison, one can say it is more Jeffrey Archer than Christopher Jaffrelot.

What is heartening is the fact that someone hailing from a generation often derided for being "dangerously apolitical" has managed to write a political novel, perhaps one of the first in the country, and tackled the subject of secularism, looking at our prejudices without any frills. Do not look for meaning, just enjoy the ride.

---

THE ROAD TO RAISINA

K P Singh
HarperCollins
Pages: 348; Price: Rs 295