Review: Rajdeep Sardesai's "2014 : The Election that Changed India"

“A field of history dabbled with seeds of contemporary Indian polity, ploughed by years of experience in the field of journalism” is my one line description for Rajdeep’s “2014 The Election that Changed India”.  Interestingly, I was driven to reading this book not because of my passion for Politics, but because of a joke that went around that whatever question asked, Rajdeep would reply with “To know more, please read my book”.

“The quest for equality is a constant motivator for the have-nots” is how this book reasons why the poor vote more than the higher income groups; a logical statement in hindsight, but something that does not occur intuitively, at least did not to me. Likewise the book constantly comes up with fancy few liners from time to time, with relations drawn from author’s proximity to Hindi films and Cricket. Written in simple English, it has content for everyone. The key to this book is that it does very well at anticipating what the readers would expect to read about subsequently in the book.  With specific chapters dedicated to most important figureheads (Modi, Rahul, Kejriwal and the ‘never to be’ kingmakers) of the election and key occurring, Rajdeep has aimed to write on a subject that is probably most complex- Indian elections. Readers will find the narration of his own experiences captivating, almost giving one the pleasure of running through scenes of a fictional book. He has captured in great detail the specific nuances of such as handling of the media by Modi, errors committed by the Congress and the new force that emerged with Arvind Kejriwal and has not forgotten to introspect where media has been wrong. This book is honest. That taking over of Network 18 by the Reliance Group came in the way of objective journalism and author’s consequent resignation is well specified in the book. His dismay with kind of journalism that promotes sensationalism over sense is very clear where he references not-so-subtly to the style followed by one of his former colleagues who now runs a prime time news show for a different channel.

It has its share of shortcomings as well. For instance, Rajdeep goes way too much in depth on Modi’s campaign to an extent where it becomes repetitive. Mythology is always open to multiple readings, however, on page 285, while explaining Jairam Ramesh’s touting Modi as Bhasmasur, the author references Bhasmasur as a character “who had destroyed his creator”, not quite. The character was granted a wish to turn anyone into ashes by his mere touch, and he “attempted” to destroy the creator, not successfully.  On publishing front, on page 1 itself, the book says ‘By 9:30 a.m., it was certain that Narendra Modi would be India’s fourteenth Prime Minister”. It should be “fifteenth” instead; a fact corrected on a later page. A due apology is made by publisher for mentioning wrong year for the Agra summit. Use of American vs British English should have been debated first and that small inconsistency error could have been avoided.

The book is a great read overall. Coming from a seasoned journalist, this is a good account of insider's story that people interested in politics must read. 

Rajdeep signing my personal copy

Rajdeep and I