A tome that revives interest in Harideo Joshi era

The Harideo Joshi era that spanned more than four decades of Rajasthan's post-Independence politics, has come up for debate with the release of a biography of the three-times former Chief Minister of the State, freedom fighter and a journalist.

- SUNNY SEBASTIAN

The new book, "And quiet flows the Mahi: The life and times of Harideo Joshi", authored by me, can be claimed to be the first biography of any Rajasthan Chief Minister in English.

The book is available in Hindi as well.

The book was released the past weekend by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Dr. C.P. Joshi in the presence of senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash, family members of the late Joshi and Dr. D.R. Mehta, former IAS and two times Secretary to Joshi when he was the Chief Minister.

Retired civil servants, former Vice-Chancellors and senior journalists including Praveen Chandra Chhabra, Milap Chand Dandia, Om Thanvi and Sanjeev Srivastav joined the function.

The book is published by Jayesh Joshi of the Vasuman Associates.

There is a general view that Rajasthan or the former Rajputana, which boasts of oral tradition of history, lacks proper documentation of major socio-political developments in the state.