Word: gandhis
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...Gandhi's Last Lament...
Near the start of his new book, India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, the historian Ramachandra Guha writes that one of his goals is to solve "the puzzle that has for so long confronted scholar and citizen, foreigner as well as native-namely, why is there an India at all?" India's colorful history spans millenniums, but arguably its most vivid era began in 1947, when the newly independent nation embarked on the unprecedented experiment of democracy. Its survival as a unified country, and as a democracy, against immense odds-crushing poverty, hostile neighbors, secessionist...
...Smart money was against India in 1947. Independence celebrations were quickly marred by communal violence, fierce territorial disputes with new neighbor Pakistan over the control of Kashmir, and the death of the country's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, in January 1948. But, as Guha points out, the fledgling state was blessed with a generation of gifted leaders who had fought with Gandhi against the British, believed in his liberal values, and were determined to keep his nation in one piece. Some of these early leaders, like Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister, became world celebrities, but readers will discover other...
...From the first generation of statesmen, Guha moves on to the next, more ambiguous lot, led by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi. Militarily astute, she led India to a thumping victory over archrival Pakistan in a 1971 war. But she also weakened the state by appointing sycophants to high positions, and by displaying an authoritarian streak that culminated in 1975, when democracy was suspended and a state of emergency declared. The ensuing period of authoritarian rule, and resistance to it, led by figures like Narayan, is the crux of Guha's book. In 1977 new elections were called, Gandhi...
...columnist for the Harvard Independent, described how difficult this battle can be in an article this spring: “Few and far between are the men who can understand a reference to Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo or get pumped about spending a Saturday evening plowing through Gandhi...