Shashi Tharoor's latest book released in Kolkata

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.

Tharoor shared details of his inspiration for writing the book. The online event was organised 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.

On the occasion, 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."

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. India's own anti-colonial nationalism converted itself into a 'civic nationalism' encoded in a democratic Constitution and then the conflict over contemporary attempts to convert that into a religious-cultural nationalism. That is the battle of belonging to India and having India belong to you. Those are the principal themes in the book."