Last week I read the most important book about India’s political culture that I have read in a long time. It is called ‘Boforsgate’ and has been written by Chitra Subramaniam without whose outstanding investigative journalism the truth about the bribes that Bofors paid to sell their howitzers to the Indian army may never have come out. Chitra risked her life, her marriage and her sanity in pursuit of the truth. But this is not just her story. It is the story of the ugly underworld below the surface of politics in Delhi. An underworld where criminals, corrupt politicians and compliant officials thrive.

My journey as a political columnist began when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, so I remember well the events and cast of characters that Chitra describes in her book. Immediately after Swedish state radio announced in April 1987 that Bofors had bribed Indian politicians and high officials to win Sweden’s biggest arms export deal the sordid plot to erase the money trail began. In the circles in which I moved everyone knew that Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife, Maria, were the best friends of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi.

Everyone knew that when Indira Gandhi was prime minister this fertiliser salesman had an extraordinary ability to win contracts for Snamprogetti where he then worked. We also knew that Sonia’s parents stayed in the Quattrocchi family home when........

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