Rahul Roushan's autography is creating a lot of buzz on social media
There was a time when there was hardly any social media crawler who wouldn't have come across Rahul Roushan's humorous and satirical takes on Indian politics and society. His news satire website, Faking News, was the most popular among its genre in India.
But around the early years of the last decade, he was branded a bigot and bhakt. Many identified him as a vocal supporter of Narendra Modi and the Hindutva politics.
Now, the former journalist turned media entrepreneur has chronicled his transformation over the years in an autobiography titled Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha.
Roushan's autography is creating a lot of buzz on social media.
He insists that his book goes beyond the realm of his transformation. Instead, it dwells upon an 'ecosystem' that he claims is the real 'establishment' ruling the country, irrespective of which political party has been in power.
Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha narrates how people like him were, at one point in time, happy to be 'Congressi Hindus' who were oblivious to the 'ecosystem' that was hostile to Hindu culture and religion evolving around them.
For the uninitiated, Sanghi is the term used to describe members of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The autobiography takes the reader on a journey that depicts his childhood days, his college life, his brief stint as a journalist, his days at IIM Ahmedabad, and then the Faking News and OpIndia days.
The narration is interspersed with socio-political commentary and questions the intolerance of liberals, especially since the emergence of the Narendra Modi phenomenon in Indian politics and the rise of Hindu nationalism.
Peppered with anecdotes from his lifetime, Roushan narrates his evolution from being someone who was happy being a 'Congressi Hindu' and later a libertarian and finally a Sanghi.
Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha, published by Rupa Publications, was hit the book stands on March 10, 2021.
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