About the Book

When he made inquiries why his farm labourers had not turned up for work, Prem Singh discovered that a young boy of his own family had stopped them from coming to work. The boy wanted the labourers’ daily wages doubled and was trying to unite them against ‘grave injustice’. Hamare hi khilaph chup chap mazdooron ki hadtal karwa dali thi usne. The boy was scolded and put under ‘house arrest’. The young ‘leader’ was Shivraj Singh Chouhan (just ten years old then) who registered a hat trick in December 2013 by becoming chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for the third time in a row.

The son of a small farmer from Jait, 50km off Bhopal is credited with plucking off the deplorable BIMARU tag attached to the State and putting it on the path of development. Considering his modest background and humble profile, not many had expected before 2005 that young and dynamic Shivraj Singh could lead MP to a historic success — politically and socially.

Shy and reticent, particularly in interacting with the media, Shivraj Singh, however, comes across as a person with innate warmth. He is the hero of the state’s agro-growth that brought MP into the national reckoning for the second consecutive year. He has concentrated on social welfare as also on infrastructure development and wealth creation across the State. His first ever biography in English, woven with the contemporary political history of his state, is a compelling read for a discerning reader who wishes to see India take giant development strides, the way MP has over the last few years with its unique experiments in governance.

About the Book

Sonia Gandhi: Trails of Triumph traces the life of the political genius who pulled the sinking ship of the Congress out from the troubled waters and restored the party its glory. This book depicts her journey from the warm lanes of Italy to becoming the daughter-in-law of the first family of India (Nehru-Gandhi) and her emergence as a powerful figure in the Indian polity and one of the most influential persons on the Globe. Unlike the conventional biographies that take the shape of history, this book charts the metamorphosis of the shy Sonia into a charismatic leader of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition at the Centre. It is rather an evolution of the mind and the personality.

The book takes stock of the various factors that led to the ‘making’ of Sonia Gandhi. It includes the young lady’s fairy-tale marriage to the charismatic Rajiv Gandhi, her relationship with her in-laws; the tragedy which she had to bear in the tragic killing of Rajiv Gandhi, the party’s subsequent search for a leader that ultimately made PV Narasimha Rao the Prime Minister and the various pulls and pressures of intra-party dynamics that orchestrated the crumbling of the Congress giant.

Much to her chagrin, the political and social milieu of India persuaded Sonia Gandhi to enter politics. The call of duty to keep the Congress strong and the country united prevailed over Sonia and she took the plunge. Her elaborate efforts to revive the battered Congress and bring it back to power and her humble ‘no’ to the post of the Prime Minister of India, when it was hers as a matter of right, has been well documented in the various chapters. The book also covers the initial exultation in the Congress office when Sonia took charge, her attempts to alter the party system according to her vision, the stinging defeat in 1999 elections and the gradual rise of Congress to political heights. The book is up-to-date and includes the leadership role played by Congress after the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, and the thumping win that Congress secured for itself in the recent Assembly Elections in six states including the most free and fair polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

Professor Sood, the author, was fascinated by Rajiv’s remark to her mother Indira Gandhi about Sonia, “I think this girl is special”. Sood has tried to bring to light all those facets of Sonia’s personality and life that indeed make her special and true to her name, which in Russian means ‘Wisdom’.