Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India

After decades of imperfect secularism, presided over by an often corrupt Congress establishment, Nehru’s diverse republic has yielded to Hindu nationalism. India, the first major democracy to fall to demagogic populism in the twenty-first century, is racing to a point of no return. Since 2014, the ruling BJP has unleashed forces that are irreversibly transforming the country. Indian democracy, honed over decades, is now the chief enabler of Hindu extremism. Bigotry has been ennobled as a healthy form of self-assertion. Anti Muslim vitriol has deluged the mainstream. Religious minorities live in terror of a vengeful majority. Congress now mimics Modi; other parties pray for a miracle. In this highly acclaimed critique of post-Independence India from Nehru to Narendra Modi, revised and expanded with a new chapter, K.S. Komireddi charts the dismaying course of the world’s largest democracy. He argues that the missteps of the nation’s founders, the mistakes of Nehru, the betrayals of his daughter and her sons, the anti-democratic fetish for technocracy carried to extremes by Manmohan Singh—all of them prepared the way for Modi’s march to absolute power. If secularists fail to wrest the republic from Hindu supremacists, Komireddi argues, India may go the way of Yugoslavia and collapse under the burden of sinister ethno-religious nationalism. A gripping short history of modern India, Malevolent Republic is also a passionate plea for India’s reclamation.

''Kapil Komireddi explores the unhealthy symbiosis that brought [India] to this point. . . The charges [he] lays at the prime minister''s door are damning.''

‘A blistering analysis of Indian politics.’

''A timely intervention at a dangerous moment. … both the times and the subject demand anger, argument and urgency. Malevolent Republic supplies all three and is all the better for it.''

''Written with passion and savagery, this is a polemical and highly readable short history of modern India from Indira Gandhi to Narendra Modi.''

‘Komireddi [is] a mordant critic of Indian politics.’

''[E]loquent on the subject of religious tolerance, communal harmony and human decency, all of which appear to be in harrowingly short supply among the acolytes who surround Modi.''

''In precise and sharp language Malevolent Republic takes readers on a terrifying and yet illuminating journey through the rapidly transforming political, social and religious landscape of Modi''s India.''

''[A] searing portrait of the rise of Hindu nationalism in India.''

‘[O]ne might just conclude that KS Komireddi is the VS Naipaul of his generation … arresting, essential, devastating.’

‘Nothing escapes Komireddi’s wrath … a timely intervention at a dangerous moment … both the times and the subject demand anger, argument and urgency. Malevolent Republic supplies all three and is all the better for it.’

‘The book is well-documented and highly readable. All discerning Indians and their well-wishers should read it, reflect on the issues raised in it, and if possible act on them.’

''Kapil Komireddi ranks high among the wisest, most astute, and most humane observers of modern India.''

''A blistering invective against India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)… Malevolent Republic isn’t just a troubling history, it’s a dire warning.''

''Kapil Komireddi is a writer of flair, originality, and, above all, an absolute independence of mind ... his ability to see through posturing and prejudice makes his work both distinctive and compelling. This book deserves to be widely read within India and beyond.''

''Komireddi is one of the most thoughtful and thorough journalists writing today. His range of interests is impressive in its breadth and cosmopolitanism; his is a rare voice that can comment on global affairs from a truly comparative perspective.''

‘Here lies an important trick of the book: its language, twinned with detail. Komireddi is master of pithy sentences. For someone like this reviewer who has lived through almost the entire time period covered in this book, I was struck by how it was able to keep me engaged.’

‘The diagnosis is clinical and in prose that is hard to put down … written in a style that makes it one of the most fascinating nonfiction books I have read.’ ‘[I]ntensely readable … a robust primer of the political history of modern India.’ ‘It’s difficult to accommodate more than 70 years of a country’s history in 200 pages. The challenge is even more difficult when the work in question attempts to create a genealogy of how India turned into a “malevolent republic” … But for anyone trying to understand the transformation, KS Komireddi’s book is a must read.’

‘Kapil Komireddi is a writer of flair, originality and, above all, an absolute independence of mind . . . His ability to see through posturing and prejudice makes his work both distinctive and compelling. This book deserves to be widely read within India and beyond.’

‘What makes Komireddi’s narrative interesting, and more importantly fair, is the care he’s taken to look at all leaders from Nehru to Modi in equal light … The book … merits a wider audience. Here, for a change, is a critic of the present order who is fair-handed even if he is a bit harsh in his anger at the political evolution of independent India.’

After decades of imperfect secularism, presided over by an often corrupt Congress establishment, Nehru’s diverse republic has yielded to Hindu nationalism. India, the first major democracy to fall to demagogic populism in the twenty-first century, is racing to a point of no return.

Since 2014, the ruling BJP has unleashed forces that are irreversibly transforming the country. Indian democracy, honed over decades, is now the chief enabler of Hindu extremism. Bigotry has been ennobled as a healthy form of self-assertion. Anti Muslim vitriol has deluged the mainstream. Religious minorities live in terror of a vengeful majority. Congress now mimics Modi; other parties pray for a miracle.

In this highly acclaimed critique of post-Independence India from Nehru to Narendra Modi, revised and expanded with a new chapter, K.S. Komireddi charts the dismaying course of the world’s largest democracy. He argues that the missteps of the nation’s founders, the mistakes of Nehru, the betrayals of his daughter and her sons, the anti-democratic fetish for technocracy carried to extremes by Manmohan Singh—all of them prepared the way for Modi’s march to absolute power. If secularists fail to wrest the republic from Hindu supremacists, Komireddi argues, India may go the way of Yugoslavia and collapse under the burden of sinister ethno-religious nationalism. A gripping short history of modern India, Malevolent Republic is also a passionate plea for India’s reclamation.

• | Author: K. S. Komireddi
• | Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• | Publication Date: Mar 21, 2024
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781911723288
• | ISBN-10: 1911723286