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India from Curzon to Nehru & after;
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 29, 2021
This book is India's political journey before partition till Indira's time through the lens of Indian journalist. It focuses more on Congress, Indian political and international affairs. This book doesn't do hero worshiping like India after Gandhi by Guha. This book try to be neutral and show us the reality. Even through journalist was closed to literally every major congress leaders back then. Read this book to understand how our nation was build, how many leaders were compromised, who had messiah complex. It shows various point of view, be it Jinnah, Muslim league, Britishers and non congress leaders. The seeds our leaders sowed before and after Independence will help you understand the complexities of present-day politics in India.
September 4, 2013
A masterpiece that gives a overarching account of Indian history and politics over fifty years - from Curzon right up to the second decade after independence - and contains enough anecdotes and personal insights to make it most readable... The author gives a record of many illustrious personages whose reputation has not persisted and in his own understated way, provides an explanation where the wrong path in the way was taken.... Dont know why this gem has not achieved the renown it rightly deserves
January 17, 2020
Good book to know political scenario of that time.
June 28, 2020
Shri Durga Das, in his work, explains his experiences as a journalist the happenings in Indian politics from pre independence days during the tenure of Lord Curzon as the Governor General of India to the days after independence, till Indira Gandhi captured the power in 1966.
By virtue of his position as renowned journalist, Shri Das had the opportunity to closely follow the dignitaries, both British and Indian. A close reading of this book shows that he was impartial in his views and is bold enough to vent his feelings about the mistakes by even Mahatma Gandhi, non the less, of Jawaharlal Nehru and lately his daughter Indira Gandhi.
It could be seen that Gandhi, on return from South Africa, waited patiently since the great leaders like Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were holding sway on the public opinion of the Indians. He was slowly building his own image as a semi god man thereby catching the attention of less educated masses who easily fall prey to mass appeal than to think logically.
In 1919, he started with an agitation against the Rowlette act. His emergence slowly side lined leaders like Tilak and he could manage that Indian National Congress turned to his ways. The presidents of the party were thrust by him. He favoured charismatic Motilal Nehru and then his son Jawaharlal to move to the helm of affairs in preference over the morr deserving leaders like Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad along with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
He betrayed the Hindus who regarded him as demi god and supported the Muslims. He dragged the country into Khilafat movement, which was in no way connected to India and thereby causing the moplahs rebellion which caused massive slaughter of Hindus by the Muslims.
His action proved dangerous to the country when Jawaharlal colluded with the British and Jinnah in agreeing to partition the country by creating Pakistan. When he tried to avert partition, it was too late.
Even during independence, he used his influence to persuade Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel to give up his claim for the Prime ministership in preference to Jawaharlal. The effect gripped India even after the assassination of Gandhi.
The author goes on to explain in detail, how Nehru dumped every attempt of Sardar in dealing with Pakistan, China and Kashmir and how it unfolded as misfortunes of India even till now. He explains how Nehru used Kamaraj to formulate a plan to oust leaders like Morarji Desai etc., whom he feared would topple him.
He groomed his daughter Indira to take over from him and the loyal and innocent Kamaraj did this also after Nehrus demise.
Sardar Patel's letter to Nehru presented as an appendix to this book reveals how pained he was at the I'll treatment meted out to him. That Jawahar did not attend the funeral of the Sardar, but he also tried to prevent the then President Dr.Radhakrishnan in attending the funeral shows the cruel mentality of a bad politician in him.
Well, this book provided a reading like a thriller and made me know the hitherto unknown faces of our nation builders.
By virtue of his position as renowned journalist, Shri Das had the opportunity to closely follow the dignitaries, both British and Indian. A close reading of this book shows that he was impartial in his views and is bold enough to vent his feelings about the mistakes by even Mahatma Gandhi, non the less, of Jawaharlal Nehru and lately his daughter Indira Gandhi.
It could be seen that Gandhi, on return from South Africa, waited patiently since the great leaders like Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were holding sway on the public opinion of the Indians. He was slowly building his own image as a semi god man thereby catching the attention of less educated masses who easily fall prey to mass appeal than to think logically.
In 1919, he started with an agitation against the Rowlette act. His emergence slowly side lined leaders like Tilak and he could manage that Indian National Congress turned to his ways. The presidents of the party were thrust by him. He favoured charismatic Motilal Nehru and then his son Jawaharlal to move to the helm of affairs in preference over the morr deserving leaders like Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad along with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
He betrayed the Hindus who regarded him as demi god and supported the Muslims. He dragged the country into Khilafat movement, which was in no way connected to India and thereby causing the moplahs rebellion which caused massive slaughter of Hindus by the Muslims.
His action proved dangerous to the country when Jawaharlal colluded with the British and Jinnah in agreeing to partition the country by creating Pakistan. When he tried to avert partition, it was too late.
Even during independence, he used his influence to persuade Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel to give up his claim for the Prime ministership in preference to Jawaharlal. The effect gripped India even after the assassination of Gandhi.
The author goes on to explain in detail, how Nehru dumped every attempt of Sardar in dealing with Pakistan, China and Kashmir and how it unfolded as misfortunes of India even till now. He explains how Nehru used Kamaraj to formulate a plan to oust leaders like Morarji Desai etc., whom he feared would topple him.
He groomed his daughter Indira to take over from him and the loyal and innocent Kamaraj did this also after Nehrus demise.
Sardar Patel's letter to Nehru presented as an appendix to this book reveals how pained he was at the I'll treatment meted out to him. That Jawahar did not attend the funeral of the Sardar, but he also tried to prevent the then President Dr.Radhakrishnan in attending the funeral shows the cruel mentality of a bad politician in him.
Well, this book provided a reading like a thriller and made me know the hitherto unknown faces of our nation builders.
February 2, 2020
India from Curzon to Nehru and after (Paperback) by Durga Das- The Book is brief history of India under the British from the eyes of the author who is a reputed journalist. The book has five chapters - First 1900 to 1921 political awakening, Second 1921 to 1939 Gandhian revolution, Three 1939-1947- independence dawns, Four- 1947 to 1964 Nehru era, Fifth 1964 to 1969 After Nehru who? In the appndix to the book, three maps of india- first during British regime, second on the day of partition of india 15 Augut 1946, third in 1969 so as to explain the narrative. I have made an effort to read the contents of the book by confirming events from the following autobiographies which I have read. 1- Jawahar Lal Nehru- Discovery of India, An Autobiography, Letters from father to daughtetr, 2- We Nehrus and with no regrets- an autobiography by Krishna Hathi Singh, 3- My experiments with truth- Mahatama Gandhi, 4- My country my life - L k Advani, 5- One life is not enough - K Natwar Singh, 6- Autobiography Dr Karan Singh, 7-Nice guys finish second- B K Nehru, 8- A brush with life an autobiograSatish Gujral, 9- Roses in December M C Chagla, 10- The autobiography of a Princess- autobiography of Maharani Suniti Devee 11- Jinnah of Pakistan by Hector Blohito, 12- Zulfi my friend by Piloo Mody, 13- Matters of discretion an autobiography by inder Kumar Gujral, 14- Autobiography E M S Nabooradipad, 15- Autobiography of an unknown Indian- Nirad C Choudhari, 16- Biography Dr Zakir Hussain, 17- Memoirs of my working life M Vishwesharaiya, 18- The memoirs of Aga Khan World enough and time- Aga khan, 19 Recollections and reflections- memoirs of Chimanlal Setalwad, 20- Autobiography Khawaja Abdul Hamied, 21- Books by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 22- Freedom at midnight- Larry Collins and Dominique Lappierre, 23- Remissness of Nehru Age M O Mathai, 24- the course of my life- Chintaman D Deshmukh, 25- Jinnah of Pakistan - Stanley Wolpert, 26- Indian summer- the secret history of the end of empire- by Tunzelmann Alex von.
The pen-portraits of contemporary Indian leaders bind the reader to the narrative. It is an important book on the history of India and many lesson can be taken to all from the book. it is worth reading and is a good read for all.
The pen-portraits of contemporary Indian leaders bind the reader to the narrative. It is an important book on the history of India and many lesson can be taken to all from the book. it is worth reading and is a good read for all.
July 31, 2019
Good one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2019
A non partial analysis into the freedom struggle from the eyes of a journalist, a great learning experience and eye opener.
May 29, 2020
Best book
March 22, 2024
3.5/5 An interesting read for many reasons:-
A) The author was a veteran journalist with access to the top political leaders of India.
B) The writing is lucid and free-flowing without a set agenda. Try finding that in today’s “liberal” or RW journalists.
C) It was published in 1969 and prominently covers the period of 25-30 yrs before independence and 20 yrs after it. So, unlike most books which deal with either the independence struggle or post-independence India, it shows the transition too. And it doesnt have the benefit of being retrospectively wise like today’s books on the period.
D) It is frank in its portrayal and assessment of leaders and their shortcomings without being irreverent / harsh. More of matter-of-fact than judgemental.
E) And finally, despite having read a few dozen books on the subject, there was some new information and some fresh insights - particularly on Nehru since the spotlight naturally was on him in the second half of the book. And add my 2 cents - It is as if Rahul Gandhi was PM in his earlier birth !!
I commented a few yrs earlier on the charisma and Bhakti of Nehru - in the public,party and Govt - being similar to our current PM and the book affirmed that.
PS:- I would have liked more discussion on the Bengal famine and framing of the Constitution.
A) The author was a veteran journalist with access to the top political leaders of India.
B) The writing is lucid and free-flowing without a set agenda. Try finding that in today’s “liberal” or RW journalists.
C) It was published in 1969 and prominently covers the period of 25-30 yrs before independence and 20 yrs after it. So, unlike most books which deal with either the independence struggle or post-independence India, it shows the transition too. And it doesnt have the benefit of being retrospectively wise like today’s books on the period.
D) It is frank in its portrayal and assessment of leaders and their shortcomings without being irreverent / harsh. More of matter-of-fact than judgemental.
E) And finally, despite having read a few dozen books on the subject, there was some new information and some fresh insights - particularly on Nehru since the spotlight naturally was on him in the second half of the book. And add my 2 cents - It is as if Rahul Gandhi was PM in his earlier birth !!
I commented a few yrs earlier on the charisma and Bhakti of Nehru - in the public,party and Govt - being similar to our current PM and the book affirmed that.
PS:- I would have liked more discussion on the Bengal famine and framing of the Constitution.
June 9, 2019
Full of idiotics
January 19, 2023
I would rate this as the best book to understand India’s freedom struggle and to understand the role played by its heroes like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, NetaJi and many others in throwing off the yoke of British empire. The book covers the history of Indian freedom struggle starting from Curzon and Tilak moving on to the phase where Gandhi came to the scene and led from the front to get India its independence and finally covering the Nehru era post independence. The author does not do any hero worship but provides an unbiased opinion of these heroes based on the facts and actual events covered by him as the leading journalist of that time.
The book covers in detail what led to the avoidable partition of India and role played by Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah in carving out an Islamic state which later failed spectacularly and finally metamorphosed into a terrorist state. The book also documents how this division of India was supported by British government and the role played by British leaders like Churchill who allegedly offered Pakistan on the platter to Jinnah. According to the author there were mistakes, omissions, ego clashes which led to the formation of an Islamic state within Indian subcontinent. Gandhi was against it but ultimately had to accept the fact that a section of Muslim population was not ready to live under Hindu rule. Gandhi correctly forecasted that state of Pakistan will remain in continuous conflict with India and the armies of the two nations will be fighting the endless and futile battles. The book also overs the dark side of Gandhi how he betrayed the nation by failing to stop Bhagat Singh’s execution as part of Gandhi-Irwin pact, his puerile fights against the likes of Subhash Chandra Bose, Kriplani, CR to maintain his hegemony over Congress.
The author also provided clues on how Jawahar Lal Nehru was preferred by Gandhi over other much deserving candidates first for the post of Congress President and then for the Prime Ministership of India. The socialist outlook of Nehru led to the state controlled economy in post independent India condemning multiple generations of Indians to poverty and deprivation off basic amenities. The author was well travelled and was in position to compare the policies in India with other states like Japan and Germany and came to the conclusion that approach of Indian government to focus more on heavy industries at expense of agriculture and private enterprise led to the chaos in economic sphere. The author met a number of world leaders as part of his journalistic duties and most had the common view that Nehru had no understanding of economics and made India a beggar nation dependent on outside aid.
The author also covered the 1962 debacle where Indian forces were routed by Chinese Red Army. The book has in the appendix, a letter written by Patel to Nehru forewarning him about the menace of China and how it needs to be tackled. Even after Patel’s passing, Nehru was warned repeatedly by Army Generals and opposition leaders but did not heed to their advice not taking any steps to control the situation and finally made himself and Indian state a laughing stock among the polity of nations.
The books also documents how the egoistic Nehru would take the fight with his political opponents to the extremes like when he tried to scuttle the second term for President Rajendra Prasad and how he decided not to even attend the cremation of first President of India. And how Nehru's ego came in between to antagonize number of countries in India’s neighbourhood like Vietnam, Burma, Nepal. Nehru wanted to be treated like a world statesman but failed to understand that for that he first needed to make India economically advanced. A leader of a beggar nation cannot expect to be treated as an equal by developed countries. The author also covers the grooming of Indira Gandhi by Nehru and how the stage was set for her to take his legacy forward to the determent of India’s progress. This nepotism did not go well with senior Congress leaders and led to the breakup of Congress and set the rot in party organisation where rulers started exploiting the masses and led to the widespread corruption in all spheres across India.
The book can act as a great antidote to the propaganda machinary of Congress party and should be preferred over books by Congress acolytes like Ram Chandra Guha who are prone to hero worship. This book is a treasure trove of information on Indian politics and is a must read for anyone who wish to get a fair perspective on the Indian Independence struggle, the resulting partition of India and why contemporary India still lags behind other comparable nations like China, Japan, Germany etc. in both the quality of life of its citizens and robustness of its democratic institutions.
The book covers in detail what led to the avoidable partition of India and role played by Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah in carving out an Islamic state which later failed spectacularly and finally metamorphosed into a terrorist state. The book also documents how this division of India was supported by British government and the role played by British leaders like Churchill who allegedly offered Pakistan on the platter to Jinnah. According to the author there were mistakes, omissions, ego clashes which led to the formation of an Islamic state within Indian subcontinent. Gandhi was against it but ultimately had to accept the fact that a section of Muslim population was not ready to live under Hindu rule. Gandhi correctly forecasted that state of Pakistan will remain in continuous conflict with India and the armies of the two nations will be fighting the endless and futile battles. The book also overs the dark side of Gandhi how he betrayed the nation by failing to stop Bhagat Singh’s execution as part of Gandhi-Irwin pact, his puerile fights against the likes of Subhash Chandra Bose, Kriplani, CR to maintain his hegemony over Congress.
The author also provided clues on how Jawahar Lal Nehru was preferred by Gandhi over other much deserving candidates first for the post of Congress President and then for the Prime Ministership of India. The socialist outlook of Nehru led to the state controlled economy in post independent India condemning multiple generations of Indians to poverty and deprivation off basic amenities. The author was well travelled and was in position to compare the policies in India with other states like Japan and Germany and came to the conclusion that approach of Indian government to focus more on heavy industries at expense of agriculture and private enterprise led to the chaos in economic sphere. The author met a number of world leaders as part of his journalistic duties and most had the common view that Nehru had no understanding of economics and made India a beggar nation dependent on outside aid.
The author also covered the 1962 debacle where Indian forces were routed by Chinese Red Army. The book has in the appendix, a letter written by Patel to Nehru forewarning him about the menace of China and how it needs to be tackled. Even after Patel’s passing, Nehru was warned repeatedly by Army Generals and opposition leaders but did not heed to their advice not taking any steps to control the situation and finally made himself and Indian state a laughing stock among the polity of nations.
The books also documents how the egoistic Nehru would take the fight with his political opponents to the extremes like when he tried to scuttle the second term for President Rajendra Prasad and how he decided not to even attend the cremation of first President of India. And how Nehru's ego came in between to antagonize number of countries in India’s neighbourhood like Vietnam, Burma, Nepal. Nehru wanted to be treated like a world statesman but failed to understand that for that he first needed to make India economically advanced. A leader of a beggar nation cannot expect to be treated as an equal by developed countries. The author also covers the grooming of Indira Gandhi by Nehru and how the stage was set for her to take his legacy forward to the determent of India’s progress. This nepotism did not go well with senior Congress leaders and led to the breakup of Congress and set the rot in party organisation where rulers started exploiting the masses and led to the widespread corruption in all spheres across India.
The book can act as a great antidote to the propaganda machinary of Congress party and should be preferred over books by Congress acolytes like Ram Chandra Guha who are prone to hero worship. This book is a treasure trove of information on Indian politics and is a must read for anyone who wish to get a fair perspective on the Indian Independence struggle, the resulting partition of India and why contemporary India still lags behind other comparable nations like China, Japan, Germany etc. in both the quality of life of its citizens and robustness of its democratic institutions.
August 13, 2015
A page turner in the beginning , but soon it become a political gossip book. Don't expect to gain much knowledge on political history of india, you will have political gossip and character description of leading personalities of that era.
August 26, 2019
GOODREAD IS A WORST APP. NOT FOR STUDY ONLY FOR RATING
October 14, 2019
I could not finish the book! It gets slower and more irrelevant over the course of the book.
April 30, 2020
Very exciting book
Currently reading
May 17, 2020Goodreads is rubbish plateform
June 16, 2020
efdshvisdvhcsd
September 30, 2023
great book
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews