PIC had the honour of hosting Mr. Shakti Sinha, Honorary Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research & International Studies, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda for a discussion on his book, “Vajpayee: The Years That Changed India” on 13th February.
The event was chaired by Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Vice President, PIC. Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Mr. Kumar Ketkar, both Members of Parliament, Rajya Sabha were discussants. Mr. Sinha began by outlining the fact that the prime motivating factor for him to write this book was the need to provide a larger, more detailed picture of who Shri Vajpayee was, both as a politician and a person.
It was, as Mr. Sinha described it, an attempt at contemporary historiography. While discussing the book, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe mentioned that the book focused more on Shri Vajpayee’s official role as Mr. Sinha worked with the former Prime Minister very closely. Mr. Ketkar noted that the book is a truly perceptive and reasonably objective presentation of the period that Mr. Sinha covered in his writing. The book, he said, was a fact-based political thriller. Dr. Kelkar shared his concluding remarks.
The talk was followed by a lively Q & A session with the author and the panellists.
