2024: India in Free Fall by Sanjay Jha

HarperCollins

presents

2024

India in Free Fall

by Sanjay Jha

India awaits the next general elections, in a few months from now, with breathless anticipation. Under Narendra Modi’s decade-long tenure as Prime Minister, the country has made worldwide headlines for its democratic downslide, crackdown on press freedoms, and much more.

In this compelling and important new book—2024—former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha argues that India appears to be in a state of free fall. Jha investigates the questions that must urgently be asked before India goes to the polls, yet again.

Non-fiction | Politics | Paperback | 328 pp | Rs 599

Available wherever books are sold | Releasing 20^th Feb 2024

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‘Where so many debase themselves for the tawdry rewards of power, Sanjay Jha stands out as a reason for hope — incorruptible, intrepid, and indefatigable in his defence of our imperilled republic. This is a stirring cri de coeur by one of India’s most humane and independent insider outsiders.’

— Kapil Komireddi, author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India

 

Author, Sanjay Jha, says, ‘2024 is being called the year of the election; 64 countries go to the polls, with nearly 49% of the world’s population voting during the course of the year. India is among them. Every election is declared to be “a watershed” according to political pundits, but this could indeed be a defining one. While many seem to be dazzled by the lambent cornucopia of government propaganda and some visible manifestations of economic growth, India may have actually hollowed itself out, its core broken, if not vaporized altogether. The year 2024 thus becomes a battle for the soul of India, which as it stands, is under a crossfire. 77 Seventy-seven years after Independence, the tryst with destiny remains an unfinished journey.’

Associate Publisher, Swati Chopra, says, ‘In this urgent new book, Sanjay Jha in his inimitable style minces no words and takes no prisoners. The idea of a secular, democratic India as enshrined in the country’s Constitution is facing an unprecedented onslaught and must be protected at all costs. This is his uncompromising message, which he delivers with honesty, wit and a wealth of facts and data. As the clock ticks towards the next general elections, 2024 will be the perfect companion for all election watchers and voters.’

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About the Book

Under Narendra Modi’s decade-long tenure as Prime Minister of India, the country has made worldwide headlines for putting in place a majoritarian infrastructure that has seen a crackdown on press freedom, a ruthless evisceration of civil liberties, religious polarization, caste bigotry, institutional debilitation and demagoguery—and an overall democratic downslide. The world’s largest democracy, it would seem, is hurtling towards disarray and chaos. Is the political legitimacy accorded to authoritarian populists because of, ironically enough, their popular mandates, the biggest threat to democracy itself?

In 2024, former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha argues that India is in a state of free fall. With the country set to go to the polls once again, he raises urgent issues—from the othering of Muslim minorities and the bulldozing of citizens’ rights and even homes, to the surreptitious dismantling of the judiciary and the unfettered growth of crony capitalism and plutocracy that has aggravated income inequality. Compelling and important, this is a must-read for anyone concerned about the nation’s future and their own.

About the Author

Sanjay Jha is a former national spokesperson of the Indian National Congress party. A former banker and an internet entrepreneur, he began his political innings in 2004. He is the bestselling author of My Illegitimate Son: A True Story (2023), The Great Unravelling: India After 2014 (2020) and The Superstar Syndrome: The Making of a Champion (2013), where he was a co-author. A new edition of The Great Unravelling, titled 2014: The Great Unravelling, comes out in 2024.

As a former managing editor and co-founder of CricketNext.com, Jha was at the forefront of those who warned about the looming Indian Premier League scam. He has been a frequent contributor to mainstream media publications such as The Times of India, Deccan Herald and The Indian Express. He appears regularly on television panels as a political analyst.

Jha lives in Mumbai with his wife, two daughters and a few dogs.

 

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