If you are a person with a keen interest in political business then these books might fill your belly with a lot of interesting anecdotes. The world of politics not lying far away from business and eventually flowing into the world cronyism. James Crabree’s book, ‘ The Billionaire Raj,’ and Milan Vaishnav’s book, ‘When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics’ go absolutely hand in hand widely illustrating the political conditions of the country. Ashutosh Varshney, in conversation with them,, helped us know the book better.
Indian politics can’t be considered without the tinch of corruption and crime. The new arena of Crony capitalsim is blooming in the state. The political parties across ideologies seek candidates from criminal background to speed up their political momentum.
Milan rightly said in his book that those who have one serious case of crime against them, have thrice the probability of winning the election against a candidate with a clean record.
The role of business men in politics is also considerably increasing. James in his book ‘ The Billionaire Raj ‘ has a huge chunk of content for Bengalurians. The billionaire hero Mallya who is currently invisible to us has a role to play in his book. The book can also be easily relatable to the people in the state as it also narrates the story of the Iron ore scandal with Reddy brothers.
Being the financial Bureau Chief in Mumbai for Times, James must have had enough ideas for his book. The book is all about the swift rise of India’s super-wealthy elite society. From the year 2000 until last summer the wealth concentration has increased in the hands of few. He ironically relates the increasing number of billionaires in the country with that of Modi coming to power. The book also features a relative connection between politics and business. It elaborates the renaissance of Crony Capitalism, especially in southern India.
Milan in his book tries to explain that the art of politics is no different from that of the market. The supply and demand chain in the political arena is not much different from that of the real market scene. Voters knowingly and unknowingly increase the demand of the candidates by voting for them and political parties push these candidates into mainstream business. Money speaks louder in politics than in business. Everything is a costly affair, be it elections or the election campaign.
With much more interesting facts and figures, these books can definitely find a place in your library.
About the Author: Aishwarya A Rajpurohit is a student journalist at National School of Journalism, Bangalore. She presently writes for Bookstalkist.