Tavleen Singh needs no introduction. For the last four decades Singh carved out a place for herself by covering many tumultuous events in Indian subcontinent. Her latest book, ‘India’s Broken Tryst’ should be seen as a sequel of her earlier work, Durbar, which dealt with the betrayal of an experienced Indian ruling elite that hit the stands three years ago. Now, she revisits the same thesis but only until the BJP’s ascendency to power under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expects him to lift India out of the morass. India’s Broken Tryst refers to two trysts. The first is about how successive governments and leaders have broken the pledge in Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech; and the second is the author’s own tryst with Sonia Gandhi, which apparently (or allegedly) has transformed into personal animosity. The book is infused with eclectic mix of gossip, private conversations, reportage and analysis. The book brings out disconnect between the rulers and ruled. Interestingly she has interspersed on chapters on India’s political leaders by writing on underprivileged children of Mumbai. Considered a permanent fixture among India’s elite club of glitterati and chatterati, the author begins the book and continues with her pet subject of Soniabashing. But what needs to be appreciated is that she has not spared others as well, from Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajeev to Manmohan Singh. Also, she is equally disillusioned with former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajayee for failing the country as he failed to break through the trappings of dead Nehruvian legacy. Dropped out of the Rajiv-Sonia durbar in mid- 80s, Tavleen continues to attack Sonia in her columns and now in her books. The reason was/is an unflattering profile of Sonia Gandhi by Tavleen which was rewritten by her colleague Dilip Bobb, and which appeared in India Today magazine on December 15, 1986. The effect of that literal ‘sting’ on Sonia and her family still continues. At a reception hosted by PM Vajpayee in honour of visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tavleen writes that she tried her best to avoid Sonia. But Sonia, as claimed by Tavleen, spotted her and remarked, “You hate me more than anyone else.” In response, Tavleen retorted back, “I don’t hate you, I hate your politics.” Singling out the Nehru- Gandhi family and dynastic politics, Tavleen lays all the blame on Sonia for the failures of the United Progressive Alliance Government and for stalling ambitious projects such as Lavasa (promoted by the author’s partner Ajit Gulabchand) on environmental grounds. She explores this central theme of colonial mind-set, democratic feudalism and political apathy and indifference while discussing the dramatis personae of Indian politics and business on one hand and the millions of dispossessed Indians who suffer from The author begins the book with sonia-bashing and continues the bent further on lack of bare necessities. Besides chronicling encounters and phone conversations with politicians, India’s Broken Tryst also gives a glimpse into the lives of ordinary, poor and desolate – like Surekha, a jasmine garland seller, and her children who live on the pavements of Mumbai – and of young girls forced into prostitution, or of people like Ali, the idli-seller who has lost his livelihood to the “mooncipality”. Here too Sonia is blamed. In reference to the failure of the Integrated Child Development Scheme, Tavleen writes: “Expensive, cumbersome welfare programmes became the leitmotif of her government.” Eclipsed by her intense love of Sonia-bashing, Tavleen extends her acrimonious writing to describe members of the National Advisory Council who designed these welfare schemes. “There was not a single person among Sonia Gandhi’s advisors who had experienced a single day of poverty in their lives,” she writes. Having attended one of the prestigious public schools, having been a socialite who has India’s who’s who for friends, and a reputable sub-continental experience, Tavleen’s claims of others not having experienced poverty, and therefore, apparently, not being competent enough to plan well, can be taken with a pinch of salt. But when she makes repetitive accusations on singular individuals, one is bound to susl i t e r at u r e blinded by the intense hatred India’s Broken Tryst Tavleen Singh Harper Collins Edition: Hardcover ISBN: 9789351777571 Pages: 415 price: Rs 699 pect why a well known journalist like Tavleen would wish to document ‘broken trysts’ only now – and not when UPA was in power or when Lavasa still had chances to be approved by UPA. “They accidentally paved the way for such a man to become a PM who understood poverty because he had experienced it and knew that it was something that needed to be ended, not alleviated,” she writes. Here begins Tavleen Singh’s paeans to Narendra Modi first by demonising the Nehurivan legacy for India’s ills, followed by her exposition on Sonia. She also documents political gossip of how LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj were happy to sit in the opposition rather than have Modi as prime minister. In the end, Tavleen, like many of India’s journalists, hands out unsolicited advice and cautions the Prime Minister of falling into the RSS trap and on his failure to bring about the parivartan he promised. “If Modi allows his mandate to be stolen by his Hindutva friends and former travelling companions, then India could lose its first real chance to take a new road.” Readers have to wait and watch whether Tavleen Singh will be critical about the Modi regime too in the near future – in which case, she may well be considered a neutral writer. Else…
