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IN SPI

TE OF

TH E

GO DS

THE STRA NGE

RISE OF

MODE RN INDIA

EDWA RD LUCE
LITTLE, B

ROWN

Preface vii

CONTENT S
Introduction
11

Global and Medieval: India's schizophrenic economy 25 2 TheBurraSahibs:

The long tentacles of India's state 64 3 Battles of the Righteous:

The rise of India's lower castes

1

06 4 TheImaginaryHorse: The continuing

threat of Hindu nationalism

1

44 5 LongLivethe Sycophants!:

The Congress Party's continuing love affair with the Nehru Gandhi dynasty
1

82 6 ManyCrescents: South Asia's divided Muslims 221 7

ATriangularDance: Why India's relations with the United States and China will shape the world in the

wenty-first century 2618 New India, Old India:

The manylayered character of Indian modernity 300 Conclusion Notes

Glossary Index

334 363 375 379

LITTLE,BROWN

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Little, Brown

Copyright Edward Luce 2006 The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior

permission in writing of the publisher, nor beotherwise circulated in any form of binding or

cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition

including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 9780-316-729819ISBN-10: 0316-729817Typeset in Goudy by M Rules

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Clays Ltd, St Ives plcLittle,

Brown Book Group Brettenham House Lancaster Place

London WC2E 7EN A member of the Hachette Livre Group of Companies

www.littlebro wn.co.uk

PREFAC E
This book is not about a

love affair with the culture and antiquities of India. I have read

too many paeans to India by foreigners to have any thoughts of

adding to that extensive list. It is about the

changing political economy and society of a country whose future

will increasingly affect the rest of the world. When reporting on

India for the

Financial Times

I usually adhered to

the detached and impersonal style that journalists follow. But a

book is different and much of what follows is in the first person.

Some of what is contained in these pages is of a critical

nature, occasionall y very critical. It is hard to observe and

chronicle the workings of India's political, economic and legal

systems without sometimes feeling outrage at the

squandering of life opportunities for the hundreds of

millions of Indians who still live in poverty. Their

opportunitie s are improving, albeit not rapidly

enough but improving nevertheless. It is hard, too, not to feel

frustration with the large

numbers of foreigners and Indians who are still

wont to see India through a purely spiritual lens. A lot is

written about American and French exceptionali sm (neither

of which sanctifies poverty, it should be added). A lot more

could still be written on the Indian

variety. Yet without my deep affection for

 and fascination by India

I would never have written this

book. Over the years and in the

mostunexpected ways,Indiahas taughtmeasmuch about

humanity in general as it has about itself. Although occasionally

mystifying, India has always opened its doors to me and other

viii IN SPITE OF THE GODS

inquiring outsiders. With

amazingly few exceptions, Indians have been unreservedl

y kind, open, hospitable and tolerant of the

interrogation s of an intrusive foreigner. Quite

without meaning to do so, India has also taught me how

inhospitable we in the west and especially in Britain

can often be. I hope the reader will recognise that there is no

contradictio n between criticism and affection. That way

the reader will more easily chime with the book's anticipation

of India's rise to a much more significant global role in the first

few decades of the twenty-first century. In five years of travelling

around India, observing events and interviewing people

four years as bureau chief for the Financial Times

and one for this book I can think of only a handful of

occasions when I was denied access to somebody or to some

information that I was seeking. Since I have interviewed many

hundreds of Indians, some of them on many

occasions, it would take a chapter simply to list them. So

I will confine mention to a few people who have been

consistently helpful, many of whom have become firm friends.

With a few exceptions, I have omitted the names of politicians and

businessmen , since availability to journalists is a normal

part of their professional lives. I would like to express my

profound thanks to: Shankar Acharya, Swami

Agnivesh, Montek and Isher Ahluwalia, Mani

Shankar Aiyar,
M. J. Akbar, Sohail Akbar (and his delightful parents in

Allahabad), Anil Ambani, Kanti Bajpai,

Sanjaya Baru, Surjit

Bhalla,Kiran BhattyandAslam Khan(`Karenand Islam'),

Jagdish Bhagwati, Uday Bhaskar, Rahul Bedi,

Farhan Bokhari,
MichaelandJenny Carter,Ram Chandra(`Golu'), Vikram

Chandra,Vijay Chautiawale, AshokChowgule, StephenP.Cohen, TarnDas,Nikhil Dey,JeanDreze, GordonDuguid,

Verghese George, Sagarika Ghosh, Omkar

Goswami, Dipankar and Mala Gupta, Shekhar Gupta,

Swapan Das Gupta, David Housego, Tony Jesudasan,

Prem Shankar Jha, Vijay Kelkar, Sunil

Khilnani, Sudheendra

Kulkarni, Hanif Lakdawala, Ram Madhav,Moni Malhoutra,Kamal M,HarshMander, Ashok

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In Spite of the Gods - The Strange Rise of Modern India

Edward Luce's style is clear and concise, producing a readable and informative book based on his personal experience of living in India and working as a journalist for the FT. H... (More) Download or Print 9,526 Reads

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