Half of our good reads list this year are by former spymasters. The remaining are on neighbours, China and Pakistan which make some forceful political statements by the concerned area experts.

This so-called Asian century is an era of global upheavals and entails greater expectations from India; but can India really become a global power by 2030? No harm trying though, says S Jayshankar, in his book, The India Way: Strategies for An Uncertain World. Jaishankar is India’s Minister of External Affairs. The transformation of the world order has seen ‘the very nature of international relations and its rules changing before our eyes.

For India, this means optimal relationships with all the major powers to best advance its goals. It also requires a bolder and non-reciprocal approach to the immediate and extended neighbourhood’, he argues. The author is very convincing when he adds, ‘As India rises in the world order, it should not only visualise its interests with great clarity but also communicate them effectively… so, rather than allow events to come upon us, these are better anticipated and analysed’.

Pakistan always raises interest in Indian readers. In May 2018, a book called the The Spy Chronicles set off a storm in intelligence circles. What made it unusual was that the two authors were India’s former RAW chief, AS Dulat and Lt Gen Asad Durrani, a former ISI chief co-writing with journalist Aditya Sinha. Asad Duranni’s new book Honour Among Spies maybe a fictionalised account, but woven into the novel is a throwback to the raid on Osama bin Laden.

In his new book, The Khalistan Conspiracy, another former RAW official, GBS Sidhu wants to ‘unravel the truth behind the developments leading to Operation Blue Star and its aftermath’. The plot revolves around a two-phased, top-secret operation, initiated and managed by some senior leaders working from the prime minister’s residence at New Delhi. Normally, no records are kept of such operations, and everything is decided verbally. However, as that operation had some external ramifications, the R&AW became involved and it is Sidhu’s ‘personal experiences and insights related to the operation that form the core of this book….’

Little has been written about the Princely States which acceded to Pakistan. In Bahawalpur: The Kingdom that Vanished, Anabel Loyd provides a view of the macrocosm of Pakistan and queries the future route of the Islamic state through her conversations with Salahuddin Abbasi, grandson of the last ruler of Bahawalpur.

In a biography, author RNP Singh asks, Durand Line: Did India Fail Frontier Gandhi? Arguing that a new generation of readers need to give Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan his due place in history, the author reminds us, ‘You have thrown us to the wolves!’ these words by the Frontier Gandhi will continue to haunt the nation for decades to come. In the story of India’s freedom struggle, he was one of the bravest. A martyr. ‘Yet he and his Pakhtun brothers were betrayed without a second thought. His dream of an undivided India was crushed when the Partition plan was accepted without even consulting him.’ This is a stark account of political chicanery at its worst.

China is of greater interest and Powershift: India China relations in a Multipolar World by Zorawar Daulet Singh is a new book that goes back to seventy years ago to draw a parallel with now. The author says, the equation of the two countries is once again poised to influence the future course of Asia. The emerging multipolar world has brought the neighbour’s relationship ‘at a crossroad where today’s choices will set in course events that will profoundly impact India’s economy, security and the regional order’. It is, therefore, critical that India’s leaders get their China policy right, the book says.

A second book on China is India’s China Challenge by journalist Ananth Krishnan who attempts to unpack India’s China challenge, which is four-fold: the political challenge of dealing with a one-party state that is looking to increasingly shape global institutions; the military challenge of managing an unresolved border; the economic challenge of both learning from China’s remarkable and unique growth story and building a closer relationship; and the conceptual challenge of changing how we think about and engage with our most important neighbour.

In Fateful Triangle, author Tanvi Madan argues that China’s influence on the US-India relationship is not a recent phenomenon. Rather, US and Indian perceptions of and policy towards China significantly shaped US India relations in three crucial decades, from 1949 to 1979. It provides historical context for the interactions among the three countries.

China watcher Rana Mitter’s book China’s Good War argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home. No doubt, India, Pakistan, China are remaining on the global stage for a long time and the books relating to them will continue to generate interest amongst our readers. (IPA Service)