3 Review(s)

‘The cautious, tentative India of March 1998 had, by May 2004, become a self-confident, resurgent India. Its voice was being heard again.’ A Call of Honour: In Service of Emergent India is an evocative account about a crucial period in India’s history. After the passing of the Nehruvian era of conservative socialism and non-alignment in international relations, India went on to redefine its character and goals in accordance with the demands of a world in the wake of the Cold War. As Union Minister of Defence, External Affairs and Finance in the BJP-led NDA Government, Jaswant Singh held many keys to the radical transformation in India’s foreign policy, defence policies and economic planning between 1998 and 2004. He traces India’s newly-acknowledged security needs and the challenges to India’s statecraft, the excitement around Pokhran in 1998, his role in the release of the 166 passengers aboard the hijacked IC-814, the Indo-Pak Summit in Agra, the Lahore bus journey and the Kargil war. The author also examines the period of Independence, the birth of Pakistan, and the turmoil and changes that followed thereafter. A fluent narrative that provides an in-depth look at the vital events that changed the way India was viewed by the rest of the world, A Call to Honour  traces our country’s journey through the eyes of one of her top politicians. About the Author Jaswant Singh has come a long way from his home in the desert districts of Rajasthan. Commissioned in the Indian Army when barely nineteen, he went through two wars whilst in service (1962 and 1965) before resigning his commission to pursue a political career. He has served seven terms in Parliament, and in the BJP-led governments of 1996 and 1998-2004, held charge of six ministries of the Government Finance Policy and national security, Jaswant Singh is among the most respected names in the country’s public life, and in the world of diplomacy. He is deservedly given credit for dexterously steering India out of the turbulent diplomatic seas encountered in the aftermath of the nuclear tests of May 1998. He is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of India’s Parliament. Jaswant Singh is a visiting Professor at Oxford University, an Honorary Professor at Warwick University and a Senior Fellow at Harvard University.