Top 5 Must-Read Books on Indian Politics

India is home to more than a billion people and several hundred languages. Any list of books attempting to describe this vast nation is always going to be incomplete, but the ones chosen here touch on some of the dominant themes in contemporary India: caste, propaganda, political prisoners, state machinery in action, listless youth, and a nostalgia for gentler times. These books provide valuable insights into the country’s multifaceted nature. Some are recent and aided the author in writing “The New India,” while others are older but stand out for their language and craftsmanship. All of them are worth your time.

Jaffrelot’s remarkable book delves into Narendra Modi’s centralized governance style back when he was not yet the Prime Minister. Written in 2013, a year before Modi’s national victory, it was considered too “high-risk” to publish for almost a decade. Fast forward ten years, the book almost reads like a chronicle of Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister. It meticulously explores how he outmaneuvered rivals, thwarted investigations, minimized his reliance on the RSS—the organization that nurtured him—and took his message directly to the people.

Jaffrelot elaborates on Modi’s strategy of tinkering with political systems and bureaucratic processes to make them serve his ends. The book illustrates how these maneuvers provide cover to Hindu nationalists, allowing them to dig deeper into the social fabric, making their removal increasingly difficult.

In 2018, a commemorative event marking a 200-year-old Dalit victory against an upper caste army ended in deadly violence. The ensuing police investigation ensnared not the instigators but 16 human rights activists, journalists, and poets dedicated to Dalit solidarity. Shah uses these real events to narrate the story of a nation grappling with its identity. The narrative unfolds slowly, drawing readers in with the backstories of the arrested individuals and their ambitions, alongside those of the alleged perpetrators and their links to Hindu right-wing factions.

Shah places significant emphasis on the electronic evidence found on confiscated devices, including letters filled with unbelievable plots and conspiracies. Fittingly, the book was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for political nonfiction this year. Despite worrying for the republic, she reminds us that “the seeds of democracy are preserved within fascism.”

Journalist and author Peer aspires to be an observer, not a voyeur, in his lamentation for Kashmir. Narratives of people’s experiences blend with the landscape of walnut trees, willow groves, and frost-covered fields. Through these tales of Indian army checkpoints, forced disappearances, and a yearning for freedom, Peer serves as a hungry witness. He not only excavates his subjects’ memories but also his own, providing a poignant narrative of what Kashmir was, what it is, and what it could potentially become.

Komireddi’s book stands out as one of the angriest works on India in recent years, resonating with a primal scream of frustration. His rollicking, reported polemic is a fierce critique of modern India and the various missteps and disingenuous acts that have led the country to the brink of disaster. He spares no one—neither Modi, nor the Gandhi family, nor the broader Indian society.

“A Free Man” by Aman Sethi brings forth the political nature of employment and labor in India. With the vast majority of India’s labor force in the informal sector, Sethi’s study of itinerant laborers, published in the early 2010s, is deeply political. He immerses himself in their lives, smoking and drinking with them, accompanying them as they buy tools, find work, fall ill, and sometimes die. He documents their dreams, their disillusionments, and the scars they bear from a lifetime of uncertainty. It is a work of incredible beauty.

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