Political ideologies, like most artefacts of human minds, can be complex, nuanced and composed of many colours and shades. The Indian Right, in the minds of most observers though, is nothing but bright saffron. This Religio-political colour is so dominant that right of centre conservative ideas – comprising individual liberty, economic freedom and a strong rootedness in cultural heritage – rarely find voice. This book is a firm step in remedying that gap.

Spread over five chapters, the book starts with an Introduction explicating some terms and ideas that are often conflated. Particularly striking is the observation that the antonym of “secular” in as much as it applies to a State or society is not “communal” as has been the common usage in India for 70 years past, but “theocratic”. Most salient is the cardinal thesis of this book – the idea that India today is a nation-state that encapsulates a unique and ancient civilization whose forged cultural identity is much older than the Republic it constituted itself into on 26th January 1950.

The next chapters try to explore the coalescence of Indian civilization into a Nation. How the post-independence political dispensations saw this as an act of balance orchestrated by the State to ensure power-sharing between identitarian groups; but how in the process the State ended up entrenching and aggravating identitarian fault-lines in India’s incredible diversity. This political power broking effectively reversed the centuries old process of civilizational synthesis and syncretism that has been the hallmark of Indic civilization for millennia. These fault-lines however afforded electoral advantages to the then dominant political dispensation which ended up creating a spiral of crony socialism – political patronage doled out to identitarian groups (religious minorities, caste groups, etc) in a stagnant economy creating a cycle of co-dependency. The chapter proposes the politically unpalatable antidote of shifting from identity based to need based welfare schemes and State support.

The third chapter is the boldest jumping head-long into the highly controversial topics of secularism, “minority appeasement”, the distortions and outright injustices consequent upon the State emphasizing group rights over individual rights.

The fourth chapter explores the ideologies of political economy, and how Statist welfarism is a direct outcome of crony socialism which empowers the State to pick winners and losers based on group identities, resulting in decades of stifling of economic freedoms. Particularly interesting is the section exploring how amoral competitive markets actually promote egalitarian outcomes. The chapter however departs decisively from free market ideology batting in favour of protectionist mercantilism.

The fifth and final chapter plunges into the problems of State capacity and misdirected priorities stating succinctly that “India’s problem is having ‘State flab’ in the wrong places and no muscle in areas that matter”. This results in a bloated ponderous state that wants to run banks, airlines and review film dialogues, but which struggles to provide law and order, speedy justice, even potable water, to all its citizens. The chapter makes an impassioned case for the need of the Indian State to focus its priorities on the critical essentials and leave the rest to private players to produce, sell and buy! Chapter five also takes a critical look at judicial over-reach coupled with the massive backlog of cases (over 300 million by some The conestimates) and the need for rapid expansion of capacity in this domain.

The final chapter ends with the concluding prognsis - rapid economic growth powered by individual rights and expansive economic freedom is the best guarantor of domestic peace and international prestige.

All in all, a superb, no holds barred book. The only reason I considered giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is the unabashed support and praise it lavishes on the present ruling dispensation. While the authors have every right to espouse their political convictions, doing so openly in the pages of such a book brings objectivity into question. On the other hand, it is in keeping with the spirit of full disclosure - a known bias is better than a concealed one!

It’s election time and EVERY Indian should read it earnestly if possible. The book is a quick read, both the authors are extremely knowledgeable, careful and passionate in their writing about India and her delicate future.

Covers a lot of ground on the issues of politics, (national) identity, caste, development and education.

Negatives: lot of focus and criticism on non NDA political parties( rightly so) but doesn’t discuss much about failures of NDA governance in various states with equal force and emphasis. It is a blind spot in the book.

Second, there’s a comprehensive account of knowledge and wisdom in indigenous Indian systems, India’s soft powers, good discussions on the optimal developmental model(s) for India for the decades to come, but absolutely no discussions on climate change and what India has to offer in terms of ecological sustainability, resource management and such. Unrestrained economic industrial growth is a recipe for disaster. They needed to touch upon that aspect which is completely missing. Otherwise it is a solid read. Still a five starter book. Hope the authors keep up the good work.

This book brings forth with a lot of clarity and reasoning, the current policy changes and the civilisational roots of India. Its an eye opener for common Indians, who have grown up on books that extolled Gandhi, Nehru and Mughals only, as if India is defined by them. However, Bharat or India existed millenniums of years before they were even born. A lot is being done and a lot needs to be done to revive our glorious culture which is all embracing and highly tolerant. This books is a commendable effort in that direction.

This is a book of books; a cogent analysis of everything that has come to be in our country and a compelling prognosis of what lies ahead. I have been ruminating about the ideas in this book for a while now and have had the privilege of discussing the book with the authors and other eminent personalities on the Bharatvaarta podcast.

The fundamental schism we contend with in matters, topical and philosophical, today in India is the idea of Bharat, a civilization of tens of thousands of years, and India, a nation state of seven decades. This book unravels that fundamental difference in many spheres - social, economic, and political, and presents skillfully crafted arguments for how we should resolve this and why that is necessary.

It's clear the authors have invested meticulous efforts in compiling and editing the book as is evidenced by the over 60 pages of notes and the numerous quotes and factoids the book contains. As I mentioned in the headline, it's a "book of books" - it is bound to send readers down a rabbit hole of rabbit holes in exploration of important ideas.

I hope the book reaches every conscious person, invested in the progress of our nation. That, they will be indelibly impacted by the book's ideas and it will translate to good, is of no doubt to me. So, read the most important book of the following decade...

To sum it up - This is a book which shouldn't be missed by those who want to know how our country could have become better since independence and where can we go from today.

For the first time, this book made me ask a fundamental question - Why India look at its citizens through the lenses of identity rather than the lenses of individuality? Have we normalised the discrimination in India in the name of Identity-based policies and actions?

This book not only looks at our policies from the administrative PoV but also critically judges our economic, military, judiciary, executive and religious actions over the decades.

I can assure the readers that at many points of this book you will be simply shocked to learn some facts, which have played an enormous role in our nation's fate but have been hidden from us to prevent any review of them.

I don't guarantee that you will agree with the various conclusions drawn in this book. Nor it is the intent of the authors. But you will certainly expand your horizon of perspectives and will learn to see things in a different, yet more nuanced way for India.

The comportment of one of our Honourable Members of Parliament, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, is augural of an elitist contempt for the post-2014 cultural resurgence in the country. It is quite true that much cacophony is concomitant with it. He fails to appreciate, however, that the said resurgence is yet in its nascence, and it shall, over a period of time, accrue its intellectual sophistication and general wisdom. Harsh Madhusudan and Rajeev Mantri, I am glad to say, are amongst those who guide the nascent resurgence through the fire of prudence that their book is. I would say that anyone desirous of understanding contemporary India, that is rediscovering itself, would do well to read this book. Reality everywhere, and indeed that of India, is much more nuanced than the depictions thereof rendered by international media and the old elite alike. The authors do not claim that theirs is the only idea of India; the book is conspicuously titled "A New Idea of India"; they are open to debate, and perspicacious as they are, I for one am certain of their triumph. A must read!

At the heart of the book lies a dispassionate attempt to distinguish nation-State, State-society, and Hindutva-Hinduism. This is important as India is at a turning point and post-Covid starting 2021 could be its make-or-break time to reposition itself in the geopolitical order. The book thus is timely with its thought-provoking question: What is the idea of India? Should religious groups have special rights over and above individual rights that all citizens enjoy in a free, democratic India?

In the early nineties, India started a gradual withdrawal from this path. But it was only in 2019, with Narendra Modi’s second successive win in the general elections, that this philosophy is finally being replaced by a worldview that acknowledges India as an ancient civilisation, even if a young republic, and that sees citizens as equal for developmental and other purposes. A New Idea of India constructs and expounds on a new framework beyond the rough and tumble of partisan politics.

Well I bought this book seeing the foreword writer Sanjeev Sanyal and also the list of luminaries showering praise on the book. However the book doesn't seem to offer any new thought or way out of the current political narrative. As a common man, this book does not throw or show any insight, which they are not already aware of. While most problems faced by India in Judiciary, executive and political are highlighted, there are no concrete steps towards the solution shown. The book goes on and on about the failures and fault lines of UPA 2, which everyone are aware of. I personally felt this book would help to set the narrative for the right India that we can aspire within the existing systems and policies or by creating new one's, which I think is not completely met. Somehow I feel the book didn't give me any 'Aha' moment or enlightenment.

India being a complex country, no single Idea of India should hold monopoly forever, and must be open to make amends from certain tenets with changing times. But for decades, a certain Idea of India, mostly shaped by the Nehruvian brand of thinking has dominated views on Secularism, National identity, Foreign policy and Economics. It was pushed as "The idea of India.

This book challenges this notion and presents a refreshing counternarrative, on lines of India being a Civilizational State, and makes a strong case for greater individual right, liberal values and pro-free market. The authors provides very interesting commentary on Indian politics, Judiciary, Economics and Society, and suggests to relook into our institutions. Upgrade our policy doctrines.

They have brutally taken down on Indian establishment's obsession with Socialism, and presents a really strong argument in favor of free-market economics, while not dissing welfare. They have also provided some hard hitting critique of the Indian judiciary, beyond talking about their inefficiency, but also exposes other aspects like nepotism in higher courts and on how courts have gifted powers to themselves beyond what was intended in our Constitution.

Cons: This book does has its negatives though, they are mostly praising and hardly critical of the current govt. Mostly ignored faults of this govt's policy implementation and poor economic performance. Would have been better if they had spoken more about it.

Having said, it is definitely a refreshing read, with a right of center perspective. I genuinely root for the policy suggestions made here and am personally in sync with their views mostly. Good read.

A very good read indeed. For a long time, the narrative on/of India has been dominated by the colonial authors who have viewed India from a western perspective. This book is a refreshing take on India's problems and solutions while emancipating ourselves from the western constructs.

It dives into the issues India is facing in the 21st century, its genesis, and possible solutions - mainly in the areas of civilizational identity, polytheism, multi-culturalism, economy, education, judiciary, and so on.

I did feel that the book is less coherent in the initial chapters with topics being jumped a bit randomly but the latter half has been amazingly articulated. The forward by Sanjeev Sanyal gave a very good backdrop on the need for this book. We definitely need more of such literature.

Overall, it's a very good read.

Wonderfully authored. Very informative with a huge repository of references...

Impossible to read, but I am glad to have bought the book, and will read as much as I can, surely the part that talks about liberal democracy. Cant wait!

Good thing that my last book on India was by Aarkar Patel, which provided another perspective.

Towards the end of the book there is page titled About This Book. It contains three sentences. The first sentence calmy trashes the first 70 years of post independence India. The second sentence asserts that real change started after 2019 with the birth of the idea of new India anchored in its ancient civilisation heritage. The third sentence is self congratulatory. After reading this description of the book, one has to wonder if this is a balanced account of India. There is much that is important, relevant and missing.

For far too long, the Indian left has enjoyed supremacy in the intellectual discourse of India. A handful of elites deciding what India was and what India should be whereas the fact is there can never be "the" Idea of India given its diversity. This book provides an alternate idea but does not imply in any way that it is the only idea. With two consecutive mammoth victories, the BJP today is poised to take further away from the failed Nehruvian idea yet keeping it close to its civilizatioal ethos. Years down the line, this book will act as an anchor for the Indian non left. A must must read!