BOOKS OF THE WEEK - SATURDAY, 15TH AUGUST, 2020

Who Killed Shastri?: The Tashkent Files

By - Vivek Agnihotri 

About the Book :

ISBN : 9789388630597
Rs. 699.00

It was the time of the Cold War. After defeating Pakistan in the second biggest armed conflict since the Second World War, Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri arrived in Tashkent, former USSR, to sign a peace accord. After days of extended negotiations, the peace agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in the presence of Alexei Kosygin, the USSR Premier.

Hours later, at 1.32 AM, Shastri died in his dacha. Abruptly. Mysteriously.

Soon after, his official Russian butler and the Indian cook attached to the Indian ambassador were arrested by the Ninth Directorate of the KGB under the suspicion of poisoning Shastri.

No post-mortem was done. No confession was achieved. There was no judicial enquiry ever. It's been 50 years since his death, and we still don't know the truth.

Was it really a heart attack?

Was he poisoned?

Did the CIA kill him?

Was it the KGB?

Was it a state-sponsored murder?

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri along with his motley team of inexperienced assistants turned whistle-blowers investigate the mystery behind Shastri's death and find themselves in a mirror-world where all and everybody is suspect. But they cannot remain distant, for the painful story of India touches their own lives as they discover how the country was put up for sale.

About the Author :

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is an award-winning filmmaker, bestselling author and a free thinker. A former advertising man, he is a popular public speaker on sociopolitical issues, creative thinking and innovation at top global institutes. Vivek is an 'Indic Civilisation' crusader.

His prophetic cult film, Buddha in a Traffic Jam, dealt with the theme of Urban Naxalism and exposed the sinister nexus between the Naxals, media, NGOs and academia. Vivek's latest film, The Tashkent Files, based on the mysterious death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri has been critically acclaimed.

Vivek's debut book Urban Naxals became the fastest-selling #1 bestseller. The term 'Urban Naxals' is now used as a legit term and is accepted as a political reality by political analysts, media and the Government of India.

He is married to National Award-winning actor Pallavi Joshi and has two children. Along with Pallavi, he runs an NGO-I Am Buddha Foundation-which mentors and trains disadvantaged youth in creative thinking. Vivek has been the recipient of several national and international awards.

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BOOKS OF THE WEEK - 04 FEBRUARY 2017

Dragon on Our Doorstep: 

Managing China Through Military Power

By - Pravin Sawhney 

About the Book : 

India might not admit it, but should it find itself involved in a border war with China it will lose. Apart from superior military power, close coordination between the political leadership and the military and the ability to take quick decisions, China has potent anti-satellite and cyber warfare capabilities. Even more shockingly, regardless of popular opinion, India today is not even in a position to win a war against Pakistan. This has nothing to do with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. It is because while India has been focused on building military force (troops and materiel needed to wage war) Pakistan has built military power (learning how to optimally utilize its military force). In this lies the difference between losing and winning. Far from being the strong Asian power of its perception, India could find itself extremely vulnerable to the hostility of its powerful neighbors. In Dragon On Our Doorstep, Pravin Sawhney and Ghazala Wahab analyse the geopolitics of the region and the military strategies of the three Asian countries to tell us exactly why India is in this precarious position and how it can transform itself through deft strategy into a leading power.

The most populous countries and fastest growing economies in the world—India and China—have cultural and economic relations that date back to the second century bc. But over the years, despite the many treaties and agreements between the two nations, border clashes (including the disastrous 1962 war) and disagreements over Tibet and Jammu and Kashmir have complicated the relationship. For decades China kept a low profile. However, since 2008, when it was recognized as an economic power, China has become assertive. Today, this Himalayan balancing act of power is clearly tilted towards China, in whose view there is room for only one power in Asia. In this rise, Pakistan has emerged as China’s most trusted and crucial partner. The partnership between China and Pakistan, whether in terms of military interoperability (ability to operate as one in combat), or geostrategic design (which is unfolding through the wide-sweeping One Belt One Road project), has serious implications for India. The best that India can do is try and manage the relationship so that the dragon’s rise is not at the cost of India.

About the Author : 

Pravin Sawhney has been editor of FORCE (a magazine on national security and defence) since 2003. The author of two books—The Defence Makeover: 10 Myths That Shape India’s Image and Operation Parakram: The War Unfinished—he has been visiting fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, United Kingdom and visiting scholar at the Cooperative Monitoring Center, United States. After thirteen years of commissioned service in the Indian Army, he became a journalist and has worked with the Times of India, Indian Express and the UK-based Jane’s International Defence Review. Ghazala Wahab is executive editor, FORCE, where she writes on homeland security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, left-wing extremism and religious extremism and contributes a column, First Person. She contributed a chapter on the changing profile of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir in the book Operation Parakram: The War Unfinished. A career journalist, Ghazala has worked with The Telegraph and Asian Age.

ISBN : 978-9382277262       Price : Rs. 799.00

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