Decision (September 2014) 41(3):355–356
DOI 10.1007/s40622-014-0054-0
BOOK REVIEW
Jaswant Singh, The Audacity of Opinion: Reflections,
Journeys, Musings, Amaryllis: An imprint of Manjul
Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, xvi + 676 pp,
Rs. 895, Hard, ISBN 9789381506189
Wallace Jacob
Published online: 1 July 2014
 Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 2014
What is the role of the government in the creation of a
just and civilised society? What happens when the
supreme power of a nation is reduced to an ex-post-
facto stamping organization? What could have hap-
pened if India had not sent IPKF to the that-time war-
ravaged island-country of Sri Lanka (1987–1990)?
Did we have a Prime Minister who suggested that
farmers should grow red chillies and not green chillies
(which actually become red when they ripen) as red
chillies fetch more money? What is/are the aim(s) of
terror campaigns? The Border Security Force (BSF) is
the brainchild of which visionary? The work under
review provides elaborate answers to the aforemen-
tioned confounding questions?
The book under review which the reader might like
because of its literary value has been effectively
divided into eight sections with each section focussing
on some highly significant aspect pertaining to the
nation and developmental issues/issues requiring
immediate attention. The book is a wonderful expo-
sition of the prevailing practices (and malpractices) in
several important sectors such as defence, judiciary,
legislature, social reforms. The book is a must-read
because it contains the portrait of spineless, subservi-
ent management teams, self-serving political masters
W. Jacob (&)
Tolani Maritime Institute, Induri, Talegaon-Chakan Road,
Talegaon Dabhade, 410507 Pune, India
e-mail: wallace_jacob@rediffmail.com
who would go to any extent with their irresponsible
behaviour. It sheds light on the endeavours of path
breakers, path makers, path destroyers, wealth makers
and wealth destroyers. It also explains how work has
been done, undone, not done or stalled by a team of
rivals. The book also exposes the traps and pitfalls of
bureaucracy, the side-effects of natural and man-made
calamities, the face of inefficient and insensitive
administration. The book is a kaleidoscope containing
images from the state of affairs in Punjab (Opeartion
Bluestar), Assam and the North-East, Uttar Pradesh
(where irreligious people have exploited the religious
sentiments of common people), Rajasthan (where
bribe is known by the euphemism suvidha shulk i.e.
convenience tax), several villages bereft of educa-
tional as well as medical facilities or other parts where
only rudimentary educational and medical facilities
exist. It paints a melancholic (but true) picture of the
villagers who would willingly accept death rather than
seeking medical intervention due to lack of monetary
security and transportation travails. The book also
dwells on the role of Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP),
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Indus-
trial Security Force (CISF) and the developments in
Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan.
The book is a treasure trove of startling facts. For
instance, on page 138 it is written: ‘‘Since 1983,
twenty-five acts have been passed, by the Parliament,
in respect of Punjab alone’’. On page 181, it is written
‘‘Rajasthan is almost a tenth of India in size, has
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around five percent of the country’s population, but it
has less than one percent of our total water resources’’.
On page 244 it is written ‘‘Lord Ismay, as a staff officer
of the last British viceroy, gave us the outlines of our
present defence organization. Essentially, that legacy
remains unchanged to this day’’. On page 248 there is
an interesting statement: ‘‘According to him (John
Keegan), modern science of strategy began around the
nineteenth century, when war became the business of a
new class of professionals, rather than of monarchs’’.
It would do the reader considerable good if he/she
apprises himself/herself with terms like ‘divide of the
orient from the Occident’, Israel-Pakistan phantom, as
these terms have been used in the book.
The author of the book under review has passed
judgments at several places which might appear
preposterous to some readers and need to be dissected.
For instance, on Page 13 the writer of the book says,
‘‘The Congress party then, as it is today, is an
institution of congealed vested interests, of status-
quoists, who wish to preserve their positions only
because with them go various attendant benefits of
office’’. On Page 15, the author says ‘‘He (Rajiv
Gandhi) was not a great parliamentarian’’. The readers
may like to know about the authority which/who
defines ‘a great parliamentarian’ and what are the traits
of a great parliamentarian? Are these traits scientifi-
cally proven and time-tested? Perhaps, that could be
one reason due to which the book has been given the
caption The Audacity of Opinion. On Page 111 the
writer says ‘‘The greatest contemporary work of
Indian fiction, freely available in a reasonably attrac-
tive format, is the timetable and schedule of flights of
Indian Airlines. The list of flight timings is filled with
so much optimism and fictional assertions that only
one other in the country can match them;…’’. This
appears to be a rather generic statement. The reader
would be more interested in looking at the actual
timetable (which of course is not provided) and the
actually operational flights of Indian Airlines and their
efficiency (which again are not provided). The readers
might also be interested in the specifics of the entity
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Decision (September 2014) 41(3):355–356
referred to by only one other. The readers of the book
are certainly in need of comprehensive information
and not merely assertions. It may be a little difficult for
a few readers, perhaps, to understand the first few
pages of the book and the readers may be inclined to
feel lost because it appears that there is a lack of
continuity plus there are several loose threads in the
first few pages. The reason is that certain sections of
the book have been reproduced from Mr. Jaswant
Singh’s earlier publications due to which the presen-
tations in the book moves through several timelines at
an irregular pace.
The book under review breaks new ground in
several ways and is a comprehensive and beautiful
study of the fundamental contradictions which have
been afflicting our country where several homeless
people are dying of starvation, sickness, etc., and some
of the people in fiefdoms of power are cooking their
food on the funeral pyre of human agony. At some
places the book is politically bold; and at some places
it is emotionally draining and unsettling but arresting.
In certain chapters Mr. Jaswant Singh lucidly brings
out the truth that there are several needy citizens of our
country who are being deprived of medical facilities,
and there are sundry cases wherein justice is being
delayed or even denied. The book contains articles that
speak (cry) aloud of the high-handedness and the
viciousness of the preservers of the law and the tactics
of delayed bureaucratic responses used by them. It
may not be an exaggeration to say that the book is a
treasure-house of real-life case studies on perception
versus reality; use, misuse and abuse of power;
politics; marketing; strategic management; power of
connections, social engineering, and the games people
play while in office or otherwise. A reading of the
book will help the reader in: forming a balanced
viewpoint, in understanding how corruption has crept
into the political system, understanding how a few
entities have eroded the economy of the nation and in
answering a very important question—why is the
agenda for growth an unfinished and incomplete one?