Politicians like Farooq Abdullah, Sitaram Yechury and Jairam Ramesh shared their views about Gowda amid a discerning audience.

The Prabha Khaitan Foundation, which is organising a five-day book festival from December 13 to 17 at India International Centre surrounding the launching of books named Kitaab Festival, started the first day with the launch of a book named- 'Furrows in a Field.'

The book is published by Penguin Random House India on the former Prime Minister of India H D Deve Gowda by Sugata Srinivasaraju and launched in the presence of Gowda.  

Politicians like Farooq Abdullah, Sitaram Yechury and Jairam Ramesh shared their views about Gowda amid a discerning audience.   

“Mr Gowda decided to visit Kashmir during some very difficult times. He wanted to make a new beginning and find a way forward. He asked me, “Will you take part in the elections? And so we stared to bring closer and not to push them away further," said Farooq Abdullah. 

"When I started working on this book, in early 2019, people scoffed at me. They asked does Mr. Gowda deserve a Penguin biography? What has he really done? Is there enough to fill up the pages? Now at the end of 2021, when they hold a 600 page book, they say this is a 'rehabilitation' of his legacy. I am glad that they now realise that he has a legacy, but I have to often correct them by saying that this book project is not about 'rehabilitating' anybody but about restoring balance,” said Author Sugata Srinivasaraju. 

He further added, Gowda's democratic engagement was stellar and deep. This should have been celebrated in our democracy, but we did not seem to care. And our moment of introspection stares at us now, in 2021, when the din of our democracy being threatened has reached a crescendo. We sometime ignore certain people, certain moments and context in history at our own peril. 

"There’s very little to add to what all has already been said about Mr. Gowda, but none of us were aware of his caste. He also praised the writer for his deep insight into political discussions that took pave when with the approval of the Congress and CPI(M), the sitting Chief Minister of Karnataka, H. D. Deve Gowda, was asked to head the coalition as Prime Minister after V. P. Singh and Jyoti Basu declined. He had not even completed 3 years of his chief ministership. But he told Mr Basu, “We need to save India together," said Sitaram Yechury. 

"Gowda as ‘Politics Jeevi for his engagement with politics for 60 years. Generally, biographies are judgmental – they are either hagiographies or full of criticism. But very few of them are Prashthis or charitas in the truest sense of the term. It’s a narrative biography.” 

The book release was followed by a conversation with Author Sugata Srinivasaraju,  Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage, Penguin Random House India  and the session was moderated by Praneet Bubber- Ehsaas women of Amritsar," said Jairam Ramesh.