The republic in words

BOOK REVIEW

- ADITI PHADNIS

Adisclaimer:Smita Guptahas beena respected colleague, always thorough, thoughtful and incisive in her critique of society and politics.

She brings to bear the same qualities to this anthology of parliamentary oratory.

Ms Gupta covered Parliament for over three decades. Anyone who has reported from the press gallery even fora day knows how challenging itis, not just to summarise some truly brilliant speeches that are frequently made in the two Houses but also to sit through interminable, boring and often repetitive discourses (although, it must be said, lately this has become easier because disruption and adjournment for the day have become commonplace)! So, Ms Gupta deserves applause because she has painstakingly ploughed through decades of parliamentary speeches, determined which ones should be included and which dropped, and organised them in a way that brings history alive.

The anthology has 12 sections — covering social spheres (from gender to politics), contemporary issues (economic liberalisation, the India-US nuclear deal), and concerns that continue tobe debated in the country (civic space, religious fault lines). Every speech is prefaced with a short foreword that places the speech and the speakerin their historical and political context.