My Life in Indian Politics: Mohsina Kidwai's memoir accounts vanishing tribe of Congressmen of Indira-Rajiv era

I read this book in three sittings. Mohsina Kidwai’s memoir– My Life in Indian Politics: Mohsina Kidwai – is not a chronological story of her life. It discussed ideas, importance of reasoning in public life and her dedication to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Her memoirs are as told to Rasheed Kidwai, an insider of Congress and irrepressible story-teller with a treasure trove of anecdotes on public figures across all political spectrum. For a lady whose brush with politics began immediately after her marriage when she went to see Nehru, who in turn requested her father-in-law to introduce her into politics. The memoirs of Mohsina Kidwai seems curiously incomplete. Memoirs are must read for any student of politics and from the larger perspective politicians penning their memoirs must be welcomed as their efforts help build institutional memory and reveal facts hitherto unknown. [caption id=“attachment_11790351” align=“alignnone” width=“187”] Book: My Life in Indian Politics by Rasheed Kidwai. Harper Collins Publication[/caption] Little known incidents make for interesting reading like her mentor was Chandra Bhanu Gupta the " Chankya " of Uttar Pradesh who never got along with Nehru. Her cold war with Bahuguna who along with Kamlapati Tripathi considered her as a threat in state politics. She politely refused Sanjay’s instruction to open a front against Kamlapati Tripathi in factional politics of UP. There are other anecdotes that enrich this account. Like she accompanying Indira (her first public appearance after 1977 defeat) to Agra in Taj Express in a function organised by Gulab Sehra the Dalit MLA of party, how she lost her footwear and fainted in the rally due to big crowd. She details how once close confidants of Sanjay viz: V.C.Shukla, Bansi Lal, Ambika Soni and D K Barooh were in double thoughts and stayed away from crucial CWC meetings between 1977-78, the vacuum filled by Buta Singh, Baudh Priya Maurya, M Chandrashekhar, A.P.Sharma. Her elder brother who moved to Pakistan and joined Duncan Brothers as GM in a tea estate in East Pakistan (in Surma valley) aws tragically killed by his assistant, a Bengali and a Mukti Bahini sympathiser. She has not so high opinion about Charan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and especially Late Jitendra Prasad whom she makes responsible for the condition of her party in UP today. And how Makhan Lal Fotedar tricked her to join Congress (Tiwari) and R K Dhawan adding his own biased story while conveying facts to Indira are interesting. The other interesting story is the presence of hapless Ashok Sen (a Senior Congress leader from Bengal and Law minister in Rajiv Cabinet) in the Lucknow-Delhi flight hijacked by Devendra and Bhola Pandey in 1978. One misses her views on the factionalism within the party under P V Narsimha Rao and why the minority vote went away from her party and what prevented the party to regain it, and how in 2010 she landed in Raipur at the last moment with party nomination for Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh vetoing the claim of Adivasi leader Jhumuk Lal Bhedia a Arjun Singh loyalist at the last moment. Wish she had detailed this. [caption id=“attachment_11790371” align=“alignnone” width=“300”] Author Rasheed Kidwai. Twitter/ @rasheedkidwa[/caption] The book is nicely edited with no overlapping of facts and flow is very neat, adding value to the content. A fairly detailed account of the vanishing tribe of Congressmen of the Indira-Rajiv era. Rasheed Kidwai deserves special mention for presenting gripping narrative and picking right words to convey her thoughts and feelings. He has also resisted the temptation to add journalistic flavour in events and episodes that unfolded before him. Just for records, it needs to be mentioned that Rasheed is not a close relative of Mohsina Kidwai. Ujjaval Shah is an ex-banker and an avid reader especially interested in Congress and its modern history he manages his export business from Vadodara (Gujarat). He tweets at - @UJJAVALSHAH2. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.