2024 – The Election That Surprised India
The Defence Colony (WA) Club and The Gracious Living Foundation hosted a book discussion—”2024″: The Election That Surprised India”—by author and renowned senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai with fellow journalist and discussant, Sarah Jacob.
Rajdeep has been covering elections since 1988, and this book is the third in the series written by him on the national elections. It not merely records the recent elections from a political point of view but documents an era of increasingly rapid changes over the past decade.
With just a little nudging from Sarah, Rajdeep expanded on the many layers of meaning woven into the term ‘fair and free’ elections. The clear insights backed by solid information made for very persuasive arguments. He shared anecdotes of money power at play, as when all hoardings along a 20-mile route from Nashik to Mumbai were booked four months in advance so that only one message was displayed; of a 31-year-old tribal who campaigned only on a bicycle and won from his constituency; of how much a monthly stipend of Rs. 1500/- meant to a woman and her children orphaned by the suicide of the only earning member of the family because he could not repay a one lakh rupee farmer’s loan … Rajdeep concluded his talk with the statement, ‘India cannot go forward if it is divided.’
The animated Q&A session that followed was ably conducted by the emcee, Romella Dhavan, of the DC(WA) Club. The event was a hearty reaffirmation of the democratic principles that are alive and thriving in this ancient, yet very young, nation.
