I finally finished reading a book called "The Insider" written by Late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Before I go into the book and its content, I want to thank Mr. V Rajeshwar Rao for getting me a copy of this book. And another candid revelation I would like to make here is that this book was lying in my bookcase unread largely influenced by someone’s opinion that it’s neither an autobiography nor memoir. Not even a real fiction or non-fiction. But it’s a novel that runs into 835 pages in a semi-autobiographical form that reflects contemporary India. Its a kind of a political novel that moves from Bhagat Singh to the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi.
The novel portrays the character of one Mr. Anand who is an alter ego of PV Ji himself. There are many similarities in PVji’s and Anand’s life and character. The novel projects a historical reality in contemporary India and it throws light on socio-political conditions that were prevailing at that time. After reading it, it’s not difficult to understand that Anand is an alter ego of PV Ji.
Amazing to note and find that he didn’t hesitate to criticise the contemporary politicians who work for their selfish ends forgetting about the common good for the country’s development. The part where the protagonist Anand feels that there has not been a good leader in India after Nehru completely resonated with me. The topics discussed in this book in detail are incidents such as Chinese Aggression, War with Pakistan, the problem of Bangladesh refugees in addition to major domestic issues like the states Reorganisation on linguistic basis, Kashmir issue, anti-Hindi Movement Of Madras, Nationalisation Of Banks and Land Reforms. He also condoned bad practices in various sectors like politics and journalism where he felt that reporting was replaced by sensationalism.
While Hyderabad is called Afrozabad, Anand is portrayed as a politician with ideals. The Insider depicts a man’s rise through the ranks of Indian politics mirroring the events of PVs own life, I believe.