Shashi Tharoor’s latest book “The Battle of Belonging” was formally launched at the Prabha Khaitan Foundation’s signature event Kitab by Chief Guest Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India, Farooque Abdullah, David Davidar, Pavan K Varma, Makarand Paranjape. Author Shashi Tharoor shared details of his inspiration for writing “The Battle of Belonging”. The online event, organized by Prabha Khaitan Foundation in association with Aleph Book Company and moderated by journalist Karan Thapar.

The formal launch was followed by a stimulating discussion and critical appraisal of Shashi Tharoor’s 22nd book which delves into current social, political and cultural issues confronting India. Guests lauded Shashi Tharoor’s latest book but contested some of the core concepts like nationalism, patriotism, civic nationalism, the idea of India and others elaborated in the book.

Hamid Ansari said, “This is a passionate plea for an idea of India that was taken for granted and is now seemingly endangered by ideologies that seek to segment it on imagined criteria of us and them. I found the essays on identity and patriotism particularly enlightening. The book’s analysis is comprehensive, yet it stops short of suggesting a doable recipe for correcting the shortfalls.”

David Davidar of Aleph Book Company, publisher of the book, said, “This book falls in the rarest-of-rare Rs Indispensable’ category – books you cannot do without.”

Shashi Tharoor said, “This book is the culmination of a lifetime’s thoughts, readings and arguments on issues of nationalism and patriotism and intensely personal too. The book was prompted by the rise of a fundamental challenge to the very essence of Indian nationalism."