Thursday, April 21, 2011

The times and thoughts of C Subramaniam: Book Review

HAND OF DESTINY By C Subramaniam
Among the few post-1947 political memoirs was Congress stalwart Dwarka Prasad Mishra's Post-Nehru Era , which was not widely known despite its spicy anecdotes .Among the recent contributions to this class of literature ,Lal Krishna Advani's My Country, My Life and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji's Keeping the Faith :Memoirs of a Parliamentarian " caused a ripple, but no more.For the diligent researcher, however , all these works can yield details , enough to piece together chapters of political  history.
                                       The author begins by recalling his takeover as the President of the Tamilnadu Congress Committee after the party's electoral rout at the hands of the emerging Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in1957 . One of his first tasks was to prepare for the election to civic bodies . Kamaraj , according to him came in the way." Iappointed an election committee for identifying the candidates...As Kamraj was continuing as Congress President at that time, I thought it would not be proper to include him in the committee, over which I would naturally be presiding --but he made his exclusion a point of grievance"               

No comments: