Read an excerpt from Devesh Verma's The Politician, a fast-paced novel about ambition, power and politics
The Politician's protagonist Ram Mohan is an intrepid and ambitious young man in newly independent India, who refuses to be held down by his humble origins.
Devesh Verma
February 16, 2021 11:15:57 IST
Devesh Verma's The Politician
(Penguin Random House) is a fast-paced, electrifying political saga based in Uttar Pradesh. Having grown up there, Devesh writes candidly about the lawlessness and allure of power and politics that exist in the state.
The Politician's
protagonist Ram Mohan is an intrepid and ambitious young man in newly independent India, who refuses to be held down by his humble origins. Spurred on by his diehard optimism, he aims for things usually inaccessible to people of his extraction. However, he soon realizes that without political or bureaucratic power, the idea of a respectable life in India is nothing but pretence, and when Gulab Singh rescues him from being insulted by a thug, Ram Mohan becomes persuaded of the efficacy of violence in certain situations.