AUTHOR, INVESTOR AND former journalist Ruchir Sharma's latest book, Democracy on the Road: A 25Year Journey through India (Penguin, 0699), is the outcome of a political quest that made him meet a number of leading politicians in India.
Sharma discusses the likes of Narendra Modi and Priyanka Gandhi, and what he thinks would happen in the 2019 polls. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
After two books on the economy, why the shift to politics?
My first book, Breakout Nations, was an economic travelogue of the world. This (the new book) is a political travelogue of India. I cannot write a political travelogue of any other country—because to know the politics of a country, you have to grow up in it. It almost has to have seeped into your bones. You have to be very focused on it. So I would say that is the issue here. This is the core subject and something you have grown up with. I have tried to bring out in this book how India feels like, what India tastes like.
Is this book written for a western audience?
It is taking the readers to different parts of India, where they have not been to. I was shocked that many of my friends did not know how life was in, say, Betula in Bihar. Like the politics of Tamil Nadu is so different from the politics of Madhya Pradesh. The idea is to catch this tapestry of what India is all about through the political lens and hopefully write it in a way that people enjoy reading it. It is very much for India and not for an American audience. For example, The New York Times carried an extract from my book and they got back to me saying, could you please explain the caste system in a para. My book would be totally out of context there.
Who is the most charismatic chief minister you met during your 25year poll season journey through India?
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 10, 2019-Ausgabe von THE WEEK.
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