My Years with Rajiv: Triumph and Tragedy - Wajahat Habibullah

An unparalleled, front-row seat to the modern shaping of India. Discover a candid, deeply personal, and administratively illuminating memoir of Rajiv Gandhi’s prime ministerial years, penned by one of the country's most distinguished civil servants.

On May 21, 1991, an RDX explosion in Sriperumbudur abruptly ended the life of Rajiv Gandhi, India’s sixth prime minister. For Wajahat Habibullah—then serving as the Commissioner of Kashmir—the news was a devastating personal and professional blow. In My Years with Rajiv: Triumph and Tragedy, Habibullah recounts the enduring friendship that transformed into a vital administrative partnership, offering readers an acute, intimate insight into Rajiv Gandhi's political vision, personal character, and leadership style.

Walking through his illustrious years in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), particularly his tenure inside the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Habibullah masterfully charts the tumultuous final three decades of the twentieth century—a period that stands as one of the most formative and volatile eras in modern Indian history. A natural raconteur, he writes with an inimitably candid, balanced, and self-effacing style, successfully demystifying the complex inner workings of the Indian government and its sweeping bureaucracy.

This lucid memoir meticulously addresses the landmark events and structural shifts of the era, including: