Ansari launches book 'Resurgent India: Glimpses of Rajiv Gandhi Vision of India'(Re-issue)

'Resurgent India

The book was launched in the presence of Petroleum and Environment Minister Veerappa Moily.

It endeavors to discover the true significance of the contributions of Rajiv Gandhi in different areas of national life.

Speaking about the book, 'Resurgent India's author and former Lok Sabha Secretary General P.D.T Acharya said on Wednesday: "Rajiv Gandhi is perhaps one of the most misunderstood prime ministers in Indian history. It is important to understand the heart and mind of one of the nation's most influential leaders to understand his ambitious policies in their entirety."

He further said: "Rajiv was clearly a man ahead of his time. While we are still living in a time period of 5 year plans, his policies envisioned two decades. I hope I have been able to capture the essence of his futuristic vision and provide a balanced perspective of the media trial that he underwent during his tenure."

This book objectively evaluates the contributions made by Rajiv Gandhi in many areas of national life during his prime ministership. It contains chapters and a Prologue and an Epilogue. The prologue takes us through the major context and phases in India's history and highlights the continuity of its cultural and political traditions beginning from the Indus Valley civilization to the later part of the 20th century.

The epilogue besides narrating the post 1989 political developments characterized by instability caused by the coming and going of the governments in quick succession and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, provides a perspective on his personality and his performance as also the implications of his death for the political future of India.

The main theme of 'Resurgent India' is an objective evaluation of Rajiv Gandhi's contributions to the nation. The various accords he brought about on Punjab, Assam, Sri Lanka etc are some of his major achievements in finding solution to those intractable problems.

The author traces the history and the genesis of these problems and highlights in an unbiased manner facts and situations which have not yet come to the public attention in any striking way.

He analyses Rajiv Gandhi's involvement in the difficult and complex process of bringing about these agreements.

The genuineness of intentions and the absolute sincerity displayed by Rajiv Gandhi in making these agreements have been very convincingly highlighted in the book.

Rajiv Gandhi's role in ushering in the computer age to enable the country to make a giant leap in information technology, taking telephones to the farthest corners of the country, formulating the strategy to expand the frontiers of scientific research and redefining the role of universities to achieve this object, liberating India's education from the curse of mediocrity, formulating legislations for the protection of environment is magnificent.

He established a new equilibrium in India's relationship with the super powers and corrected the asymmetry in the overall foreign policy. He conducted the foreign policy with great confidence and panache.

Rajiv Gandhi's political style had a certain refinement which was a reflection of his own personality free from ideological dispositions; he forced the country men to sit up and gaze at the fast changing world with all its wonderful achievements and internalize the radical changes taking place in all fields of human endeavor.

He made them dream of the 21st century and a strong and vibrant India. This was the essence of his politics. The book captures this and presents a positive picture of his ideas, approaches, thoughts and achievements.

Achary has spent 40 years with the Indian Parliament and is today considered a constitutional and parliamentary expert. He has authored two authoritative books on his insights on Indian jurisprudence and the parliament - 'Law of Elections' and 'Offices of Profit, a book on landmark rulings of Lok Sabha speakers, and edited the renowned parliamentary treatise 'Practice and Procedure of Parliament'.

Achary is a recognized thinker and newspaper columnist on constitutional, parliamentary and political issues.