From nationalism to name-calling and from the insignificant to the intricate, this season of electioneering brought out the best and the worst of Indian politics
Away from the humdrum of noisy electioneering, on three edges of the country—Kashmir, the Assam border and the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh—democracy faces different varieties of disenchantment that are hard to undo
TCA Raghavan is a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore. His first book, Attendant Lords: Abdur Rahim and Bairam Khan: Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, was awarded the Mohammad Habib Prize by the Indian History Congress. He is also the author of The People Next Door: The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan and History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G S Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and Their Quest for India’s Past. His latest book is Circles of Freedom: Love, Friendship and Loyalty in the Indian National Struggle