Sixteen Stormy Days

Foundational to understanding why the Indian Republic functions the way it does today, is understanding the build up to the First Amendment. To give an example, I found this interesting nugget in the book ‘Sixteen Stormy Days'- Jawaharlal Nehru in his Letter to Chief Ministers on 18th December 1950, talking about Sikhs: “... they have repeatedly allowed themselves to be misled and unfortunately even past experience does not teach wisdom”



Fascinating how much continuity remains in the view from Delhi. ‘Sixteen Stormy Days' by Tripurdaman Singh is my 80th and final book of the year, highly recommend this brilliant new history of Nehru's original sin- The First Amendment to the Indian Constitution. The First Amendment in India, unlike its counterpart on America- meant the gutting of fundamental rights and individual liberty. How did the very same Nehru & Congress which had framed the Constitution, find it post-independence to be roadblock to their political vision? You will get the answers in this book.