From 1987, when Tavleen Singh began writing her column in the Indian Express, to now, twenty years later, has been a long journey. That was, in retrospect, the age of innocence, as Rajiv Gandhi took the first tentative steps towards opening up the economy, and people began to experience the novelty of being able to make a telephone call anywhere without having to wait. Some years later, the move towards liberalization, driven by a foreign exchange crisis, became a desperate embrace, and later still, a more mature process as India’s economy began to grow at a rapid pace in the new century. Political and Incorrect : The Real India, Warts and All is history as first draft, written not in hindsight but as events unfolded against the backdrop of a nation’s transformation. It captures the country’s mood and its politics over these two decades, and highlights the things that don’t change. Such as politicians and bureaucrats, and their self-serving ways. There is, besides, her take on subjects as different as freedom runs by Gucci Gandhians, durbar intrigues at the centre of power and the religious divide in Gujarat. It is a record too of missed opportunities and misplaced priorities, so that some of the old eternals–healthcare, education, poverty–remain pretty much as they were, or are in worse shape. Political columns used to be a matter of pompous comment. Tavleen Singh made her column a direct dialogue with the reader, one that could make the politician seem as familiar as the man next door, and the issues at stake accessible and clear. In doing so she makes these two decades and the people who feature come alive even to one who is not familiar with either. And reminds us that, for all the progress on many fronts, the real battle remains ahead. Making Political and Incorrect both reverting history and a primer on the future.
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