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Literary Review
BOOK WATCH
Multi-dimensional struggle
BY ANITA JOSHUA
Multi-dimensional struggle
The Akali Movement, Mohinder Singh, National Book Trust, Rs. 35
At a time when the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal are locked in a fierce battle for the ballot in Punjab, Mohinder Singh’s book on the Akali Movement comes as a quick reminder of how once the two bitter rivals complemented each other̵
7;s efforts during the freedom struggle.
In fact, Mahatma Gandhi hailed the Keys’ Affair — after which the keys to the Toshakhana of the Golden Temple were handed over by the government-appointed manager to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee in early 1922 during the gurdwara reform movement — as the “first decisive victory of the forces of nationalism”.
Three decades after it was first published as a doctoral thesis — coinciding almost as if planned with the start of the most recent incarnate of Akali agitation in 1978 — the National Book Trust has come out with a revised edition of Singh’s work. It details the first successful demonstration of passive resistance organised by the Sikhs between 1920 and 1925 to break the stranglehold of Mahants, priests and other vested interests, on Sikh shrines.
Of particular note are the linkages that Singh draws between the national movement and the Akali Movement, and how the latter brought about political awakening among the Sikh masses; especially the peasantry. The book is also testimony to the fact that factionalism has been inherent to Akali politics from the very start.
* * *
Old wine, new bottle
Piercing the Heart: Unheard Voices of 26/11, Simran Sodhi, Rupa, Rs. 95.
The hope of something new held out by the stark photograph on the jacket and the sub-title “Unheard Voices of 26/11” for journalist Simran Sodhi’s book Piercing the Heart fades rather fast as it turns out to be ju
st more of the kind of stuff media was overflowing with in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack.
Though Sodhi goes to Mumbai and Chandigarh to speak to eyewitnesses and those who lost families in the attack, the focus is on that class of people who could access the high-end hotels that were under siege; the lone exceptions being a waiter at Leopold Café and Vishnu Dattaram Zende, the railway announcer at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
An easy and quick read — all told, the book runs into about 90 pages — the “unheard voices of 26/11” ring familiar as they echo in greater detail the angry and sometimes shrill sound bytes which dominated not just television discourse but also the print medium post the Mumbai terror attack. If only an attempt had been made to track the truly “unheard voices” of those who probably lost lone bread-earners at the CST, then Sodhi could have rightfully claimed the sub-title that adorns her first book.
Having lived in the U.S. through 9/11 and being a diplomatic correspondent, Sodhi also seeks to compare the response of the two countries and suggests that a benevolent dictator like Musharraf might be better news for peace and stability in the region than democratically elected but inefficient leaders!
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Under siege
26/11: The Attack on Mumbai, Hindustan Times, Penguin, Rs. 225.
Hindustan Times seeks to “put the reader right in the middle of the action” of the Mumbai terror attack with this venture which is primarily a recall of the “three days that shook India” as reported and analysed in the pages of the broadsheet.
Also thrown in for good measure are essays and opinion pieces on the issue by leading lights including Amitav Ghosh, Brajesh Mishra, Harsh Mander, Mahesh Bhatt, Mohammed Hanif, Mukul Kesavan, Prem Shankar Jha and Shashi Tharoor. Barring the essays by Bhatt and Tharoor, all the others made a first appearance in the pages of the daily in the aftermath of the attack.
Given the exhaustive coverage the Mumbai terror attack got, this collection — apparently a publisher-driven enterprise — does not claim to tell anything new. The only purpose it seeks to serve is to provide a ready-reckoner on part of the debate and discourse the attacks generated.
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