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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 7. April 9 1979

The Trains an on Time — T New India i Mehta guin

The Trains [unclear: an] on Time

[unclear: T] New India [unclear: i] Mehta [unclear: guin]

Why don't Indians work a lot harder, [unclear: less] children and solve their problems?" [unclear: re's] no simple answer to this or any [unclear: ques- on] India Ved Mehdta makes this clear in [unclear: atest] of a series of varied books. The New a is the India of Indira Gandhi's rise and Her rule culminating in 'Emergency' is [unclear: ribed] in a critical, yet involving way.

[unclear: When] one begins the book it all sounds personal. New Delhi in 1974-1975 is [unclear: setting] and the upper middle-class of [unclear: h] Mehta is part, are the actors. The [unclear: or] does not stay with this limitation. [unclear: ugh] statistics, apt quotation, and [unclear: ex-les] of every Jay life, he includes the [unclear: ses] 75% of whom are unemployed, this less well defined mass, the villagers urban poor, that are the backdrop to Madams' rise and part of her fall.

[unclear: Irs] Gandhi's role is described in detail, not an historical treatise from Nehru [unclear: ly] background to her loss at the March [unclear: 7] elections. Mehta interweaves political [unclear: il], history (from the Vedas on), [unclear: philo-] (even Aristotle), economics and some [unclear: ip] like details to show the growth of [unclear: itorship]. Many gaps in Western coverage [unclear: illed] with viewpoint from Marxists, [unclear: Wes-] economists, the pro-Emengency cabal those apposed to the growth of fascism, fascism hade its seeds in manipulating the [unclear: ocratic]' structure. The hook clearly shows growth of dictatorship through [unclear: mani-ition] of so called democratic means. It a lot to teach us in a very readable man-

The mass reaction to Indira Ghandhi is less clearly described. It would be nice to have a simple answer with the people saying they had just enough suffering and electing the Janata Party was the answer. The writer is aware that this is part of the reaction. There are no simple deductions and the preceding parts of the book make us aware of the complexity of the enormous sub-continent. None of the other post-Indira books that flooded Indian bookships could explain the election clearly and Mehta also does not give a formulae. He does however weave a detailed matrix of factors contributing to Mrs Gandhis rise and fall. He is hopeful that the reaction against the dictatorship has the seeds of panchayat government; village based democracy. One is left with this positive thought amid a wealth of involving detail, and knowledge of Indian problems.

The detail is narrated in many different ways. One could label The New India as a current affairs account, a valid recent history, a study of dictatorship in a developing country or a "searching compassionate" book. One label would simplify the presentation of India that Mehta knows well and using one tag is like saying that Indira Gandhi was a fine leader because the trains ran on time.

Stephen Hall