Raj Narain is known as the guy who caused Indira Gandhi's downfall. He challenged her election from Rae Bareli - the loss of that case led to Indira declaring emergency and when Indira called for elections in 1977 he was the guy who defeated her. This is fairly well known. What is not so well known was that Indira then used the same Raj Narain to break up the Janta Party govt. Or how similar was Congress's use of Chandrashekhar to break up the Janta Dal govt almost a decade later.
Such interesting episodes with all the back story and gossip associated with them make for great reading.
The book covers episodes from the tenures of six Prime Minsters of India. These include emergency and how Indira won back power after her post emergency defeat. The journey of the reluctant Prime Minister that was Rajeev Gandhi, VP Singh's implementation of the Mandal report, Vajpayee's quirky personal life and how he green lit the nuclear tests for India and finally how the mild mannered Man Mohan Singh staked his prime ministership to secure the Indo-US nuclear deal.
At one level it is a good rough guide to 30 odd years of contemporary Indian history but more importantly, as the title suggests, it is a behind the scenes view of all the deal making and real politic that goes in decision making at the highest level. The racy style of the book keeps the reader engaged throughout.
Obviously, since the book relies on private conversations and a lot of hearsay the details have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The author could have her own sympathies or the people who told her things could have exaggerated or bent the truth. Even accounting for these its a recommended read for a sense of how India was ( and maybe still is ) run.
