THE CROOKED TIMBER OF NEW INDIA

‘It is close to nine years since the Narendra Modi-led BJP swept into power. A new era began in May 2014, or so we were told… But India is, in fact, facing a crisis. Our polity, society and economy are all broken. The signs are all around us.’ At a time when a compromised media and the ruling party’s digital army work 24/7 to overwhelm our public discourse with pro-establishment noise, Parakala Prabhakar is an unabashedly critical voice, determined to speak truth to power. In these essays written over almost three years—from 2020 to 2023—he looks closely at facts and data and analyses events and public statements to show why he fears for the future of our democracy, social harmony and economy. In the Prime Minister’s Independence-Day speeches from 2014 to 2022, and the speeches of the RSS