Former Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh’s book, One Life is Not Enough, has touched off a storm. It promises to unpack the black boxes of the Congress and UPA. The daily dribble of disclosures is fascinating by itself. But things could get more exciting. The kerfuffle over the book and its claims appears to have punctured Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s stoic silence. She has promised to respond with her own version of events. In a country starved for in-the-know, behind-the-scenes accounts at the highest echelons of politics and government, Gandhi’s counter is eagerly awaited.
This could be the chance for one of India’s most intriguing leaders to tell the people about the daily routines and significant milestones in her dramatic journey. The prime minister’s widow who became the president of India’s oldest political party. The reluctant politician who immersed herself in the political cut and thrust in the country she made her own, yet refused to be PM. Was it, indeed, her “inner voice” or Rahul Gandhi’s, that guided her in 2004? What was the division of labour, really, between 10 Janpath and PMO?
