'When a Tree Shook Delhi' documents the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi post Indira Gandhi's assassination - the title is from Rajiv Gandhi's speech justifying the riots ("When a big tree falls, the earth shakes," said Mr. Gandhi of the riots). A page-turning thriller on the lines of Mark Tully's 'Amritsar', the book exposes the police and political network attached to the Congress government of the day. The first half of the book is Mitta's journalistic account of the riots while the second half is an autobiographical account of the riots through Phoolka's eyes. Both are pacy thriller-like reads though I enjoyed Phoolka's half better.
This is the fifth book on the Gandhi family's excesses/ misdemeanors that I have read (Others, all of them good to excellent reads: Emergency Retold, The Sanjay Story, Accidental Prime Minister, Amritsar) and it did not disappoint.
Recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment