Bombing The Headquarter

To those who know Yashwant Sinha well, his conversation at Algebra was not a surprise.

To those who don’t, it was a revelation.

“I am infamous for speaking my mind,” said the former Union Finance Minister and Union Foreign Minister – and then proceeded to live up to his reputation.

Mr Sinha, whose new book The Future of Indian Economy, releases this week, took on overarching issues of governance and economy, Kashmir and identity politics, and was vocal in his defence of democracy, consensus and public will. He quoted British political philosopher Thomas Hill Green: “will, not force, is the basis of the state,” and said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the greatest democrat he had come across in his entire public career.

Asked by Shoma whether he saw that “hallowed gene” in the party today, he remarked, pointedly, “that the genes of a tribe or a race are not determined by the aberrations.”

It was a riveting hour, and encompassed a host of subjects, from mob justice to GST and more. This is a unique insight into the mind of a man who has been at the heart of it all, and doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge the good, the bad, the ugly.