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The Idea of India Sunil Khilnani 9780143032465 Books

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The Idea of India Sunil Khilnani 9780143032465 Books

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I like Sunil Khilnani's philosophical and historical approach to the idea of India. His in-depth studies of the concept of "India" are thoughtfully done. Rather than judging one view as better or more complete than other, Khilnani simply lays the concepts on the table.

The ideas of both 19th century Indian and European historians, the politicians Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah, Bal Thackeray's followers, and others, plus the thoughts of modern Indians educated both at home and abroad, are there to think about and learn from.

Khilnani ends his book with a quote by Rabindranath Tagore: "A country is not territorial, but ideational," following it with a slogan from the tourism board's poster, "India is a state of mind."

I especially liked this book because it made me think bigger thoughts. As I read it occurred to me that studying the successes and failures of the nation of India would be a good lesson for the EU, which is also composed of many similar but disparate people striving to work together.

Some books are good to read in pairs. This one would be good to read immediately before reading "Imagining India" by Nilekani.The books were written ten years apart and, like Lego blocks,they neatly fit together.

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware


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The Idea of India Sunil Khilnani 9780143032465 Books Reviews

This is a very elegantly written book, the writing style is nice. Khilnani is right about one thing - that the architect of India is Nehru who helped build a western democracy with good values and who strove through over 15 years as prime minister to cement it. This foundation has been good for India allowed everyone to participate and everyone to interact. Today, India is one country and free speech and freedom is an essential part of the fabric and for that, we have to thank Nehru undoubtedly and the other western educated leaders at independence.

But the book misses the point on the modern India of the last two decades. Khilnani tries to find deeper meaning in things that have little meaning. Hindutva was an ideology sold by Advani to sway the masses, nothing more. The BJP is floundering today because it has failed to provide quality governance and is unappealing to many who like India's multi pluralism. The Congress on the other hand provides the same poor governance but is more inclusive. His take on the likes of Deva Gowda and Mulayam working for their own constituences is misplaced - that has been happening from politicians all the time. Then there are the errors in facts - Deva Gowda never brought projects to Karnataka during the time he was PM.

And then there is this supposed endless passionate talk about who is an Indian. In 35 + years of living in India, I have never encountered such a discussion. We are who we are and we dont fret about subjects like who is the true Indian? Only arm chair reviewers like Khilnani do.

And the book misses the whole issue of now what? What do we do about corruption, lack of education, increasing crime, pollution? Whats the solution for India? Its obvious the political class are failing us. How do we get out of this quagmire? Can private initiatives do everything? Can there be a new political movement that can take over? Can the current leadership re-invent themselves?
The author tries to encapsulate the idea of India in five chapters

Democracy (how this was possible in India, and in fact how democracy made India possible!);

Temples of the future (on growth after WW II);

Cities (and the role they play in changing India);

Who is an Indian (the most complicated of all chapters!)

The Garb of Modernity (on ongoing change)

A useful bibliographical essay completes this articulate book.

These are important aspects of what makes India, of course, but hardly the only ones and perhaps not the main ones. Most people in India still live in the countryside.

In my view the main drawback of the book is its excessive praise of Nehru. Yes he did keep India united after partition and preserved democracy but his autocratic economic planning delayed India's development, which really took off after the Nehru/Gandhi dynasty came to an end with Rajiv's resignation in 1989 and assassination in 1991.

In any case, there can hardly be any such thing as "the" idea of India. A better title might have been "One Idea of India".
Professor Khilnani balances scholarship, insight and flow of intellectual history. A real teacher concerned with the student- his fortunate reader. Mike Foster
Needed for school. Came quickly, great price. Would order from company again.
Sunil Khilnani's "The Idea of India" is simply out of date. It was written in 1996 and deals almost entirely with the period before the economic reforms of 1991 that launched the Indian economy on a higher growth trajectory. The only parts of the book that are still relevant are those dealing with the stability of Indian democracy and continuing impact of the British Raj. The rest of the book has simply been overtaken by subsequent events.
This book is a comprehensive analysis of India after its independence in 1947. Khilnani provides a persuasive overview of Indian politics, economic policy and identity formation (and reconstruction). This work is a solid introduction to some of the issues in contemporary India and how state leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi responded to them. The Khilnani's writing style is repetitive in some parts. In general an insightful book for students of Indian political landscape.
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I like Sunil Khilnani's philosophical and historical approach to the idea of India. His in-depth studies of the concept of "India" are thoughtfully done. Rather than judging one view as better or more complete than other, Khilnani simply lays the concepts on the table.

The ideas of both 19th century Indian and European historians, the politicians Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah, Bal Thackeray's followers, and others, plus the thoughts of modern Indians educated both at home and abroad, are there to think about and learn from.

Khilnani ends his book with a quote by Rabindranath Tagore "A country is not territorial, but ideational," following it with a slogan from the tourism board's poster, "India is a state of mind."

I especially liked this book because it made me think bigger thoughts. As I read it occurred to me that studying the successes and failures of the nation of India would be a good lesson for the EU, which is also composed of many similar but disparate people striving to work together.

Some books are good to read in pairs. This one would be good to read immediately before reading "Imagining India" by Nilekani.The books were written ten years apart and, like Lego blocks,they neatly fit together.

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware