India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

by Ramachandra Guha

Bhakti in religion may be the road to the salvation of a soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.

BR Ambedkar

The first law of decency is to preserve the liberty of others. FRIEDRICH SCHILLER

In the rich history of Indian satyagrahas, this must surely be counted as the most bizarre: a chief minister fasting against his own government’s failure to keep the peace.

‘the submission of an independent judiciary to an absolutist government is virtually the last step in the destruction of a democratic society’.

In India the choice could never be between chaos and stability, but between manageable and unmanageable chaos, between humane and inhuman anarchy, and between tolerable and intolerable disorder.

‘a party that can’t argue its case against a retired army truck driver whose only strength really is a kind of stolid integrity and a talent for skipping meals doesn’t deserve to be in power’.