The Crooked Timber of New India Essays on a Republic in Crisis

'It is close to nine years since the Narendra Modi-led BJP swept into power. A new era beganin May 2014, or so we were told... But India is, in fact, facing a crisis. Our polity, societyand economy are all broken. The signs are all around us.'At a time when a compromised media and the ruling party's digital armywork 24/7 to overwhelm our public discourse with pro-establishment noise,Parakala Prabhakar is an unabashedly critical voice, determined to speaktruth to power. In these essays written over almost three years-from 2020to 2023-he looks closely at facts and data and analyses events and publicstatements to show why he fears for the future of our democracy, socialharmony and economy.In the Prime Minister's Independence-Day speeches from 2014 to 2022,and the speeches of the RSS chief; in the unemployment and inequalitystatistics that the government supresses; in the partisan role of investigativeagencies and the income tax department; in the new BJP's'tiraskar' or clearrejection of India's Muslims as citizens and voters; in the mishandling of theCOVID-19 pandemic-in these and many more developments, ParakalaPrabhakar finds unmistakable evidence of religious majoritarianism, a creepingauthoritarianism and serious economic mismanagement.And he shows us whysilence and complacency are no longer an option for any citizen invested inthe future of our Republic.This no-holds-barred, urgent book helps us connect the dots and see the truepicture of the'New India' being fashioned before our eyes.