Over five years after his death, prolific journalist and writer Khushwant Singh is back in the news. And it's because of one of his most contentious books, the provocative The End of India. First published in 2003, a year after the Gujarat riots, the book has been described by its publisher Penguin Books as a "wake-up call for every citizen concerned about his or her own future".
Since the agitation over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act started a week ago, social media users have shared excerpts from it, including a particular portion referring to the nature of "Fascist" regimes. The daughter of BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly shared the excerpt on Wednesday (and deleted it). Now, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is the latest to share this excerpt from The End of India.
In a tweet, with an image of the excerpt, Imran wrote, "Prophetic words of Khushwant Singh who foresaw where India was headed with its racial supremacist ideology”. Ever since the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Imran has tweeted about the Narendra Modi government having traits of “Nazi” ideology and warned about the threat of nuclear war.
“Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonize in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there. A movement built on hate can only sustain itself by continually creating fear and strife... No one is safe. We must realize this if we hope to keep India alive,” reads the excerpt from The End of India.
Given the emotive nature of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, several social media users have shared the aforementioned excerpt to present a sense of gloom.
When it was written, The End of India had evoked outrage among sections of people for its provocative nature. The book was published during the tenure of the BJP-led government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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In its overview of the book, Penguin Books notes The End of India was written in the backdrop of various acts of communal unrest. Penguin Books notes, “Analysing the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002; the anti-Sikh riots of 1984; the burning of Graham Staines and his children; the targeted killings by terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir; Khushwant Singh forces us to confront the absolute corruption of religion that has made us among the most brutal people on earth.”