‘He was their Next Big Hope, after the first one had been dashed to the ground…’

When Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister in 1984 it was for him a baptism of fire. The tumultuous years that followed witnessed the beginnings of economic reform and the stemming of regional insurgency on the one hand, and the drama of the Shah Bano case and the Bofors scandal on the other – events that sent tremors through the country and its political establishment.

As a journalist covering politics from the time of Indira Gandhi’s reign, Ashwini Bhatnagar observed at close quarters the consequences of the transition from iron-handed rule to one of earnest naivety, the calculations of the country’s foremost political players, dramatic election campaigns and the unwieldy workings of dynastic politics.

In The Lotus Years, Ashwini draws from his field notes to weave a remarkable chronicle that brings together the life of a reluctant prime minister, the inner dynamics of his powerful family and the story of a maturing democratic nation, laying bare the intricacies and dissonances of political life in India.