FOR A BIG CROWD at a book launch in late August last year, Amit Shah was the proverbial elephant in the room. The home minister was invited to be the chief guest of the high-security event, held at the NCUI Auditorium in Delhi. The occasion was the launch of The New Delhi Conspiracy—a political thriller, co-authored by the Bharatiya Janata Party MP and national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, about a plot to kill a beloved prime minister named Raghav Mohan, known to the people as RaMo. While the audience waited, there were fillers to keep them entertained, including refrains of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and a poetry recitation about Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A massive flex with Amit Shah’s face was on the stage. In some of the photos subsequently shared on social media, his chin towers over Lekhi and other discussants. When, eventually, it seemed clear that Shah was not showing up, JP Nadda, the BJP’s national president, released the book.
Eight months later, the launch of Narendra Modi: Harbinger of Prosperity & Apostle of World Peace—to celebrate six years of the Modi government—promised another high-profile chief guest. News articles claimed that the US president, Donald Trump, was meant to inaugurate the “world’s largest biography-release,” before COVID-19 put an end to such grand plans. The organisers had to make do with the former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan, a judge whose reputation is tainted with numerous allegations of corruption.
Denne historien er fra July 2020-utgaven av The Caravan.
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Denne historien er fra July 2020-utgaven av The Caravan.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Mob Mentality
How the Modi government fuels a dangerous vigilantism
RIP TIDES
Shahidul Alam’s exploration of Bangladeshi photography and activism
Trickle-down Effect
Nepal–India tensions have advanced from the diplomatic level to the public sphere
Editor's Pick
ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1950, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, seen here addressing the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first black Nobel laureate, Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in ending the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Shades of The Grey
A Pune bakery rejects the rigid binaries of everyday life / Gender
Scorched Hearths
A photographer-nurse recalls the Delhi violence
Licence to Kill
A photojournalist’s account of documenting the Delhi violence
CRIME AND PREJUDICE
The BJP and Delhi Police’s hand in the Delhi violence
Bled Dry
How India exploits health workers
The Bookshelf: The Man Who Learnt To Fly But Could Not Land
This 2013 novel, newly translated, follows the trajectory of its protagonist, KTN Kottoor.