Feroze Varun Gandhi is the third-time Lok Sabha MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. He is not only a politician but also a poet and author of four books, including his latest release "The Indian Metropolis" today. He holds a BSc (Hons) Economics from the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London University, UK. The Nehru-Gandhi scion is the son of former Union minister Manek Gandhi and late Sanjay Gandhi and grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While his cousin Rahul Gandhi is at the helm of the opposition Congress party, Varun and his mother are in the ruling BJP. Born on March 13, 1980, he was the youngest Lok Sabha MP when he was elected for the first time in 2009 at the age of 29. He has been donating his salary as an MP since 2009 to the families of farmers who have committed suicide. Despite being a BJP MP, he advocates issues relating to the farmers, unemployment and poverty. In an exclusive interview to Kumar Shakti Shekhar, he speaks about his new book. Excerpts:
Please throw some light on the salient features of your new book ‘The Indian Metropolis’.
Ideally, India, with its well-established cities during independence, most of which hark back to the classical age, and with its well-documented historical urban tradition, should have led the world in building and maintaining historic cities, with job creation and a good life. And yet, increasingly, all our cities, across geographies, are increasingly unliveable. And with climate change approaching, ever so quickly, the writing is on the wall.
Solving such challenges, all at the same time, while pursuing sustainability and circularity, will require us to rethink our urban systems from the bottom-up. Something has to give in our statist mindset to foster a change. A few questions need to be probed on – what is our urbanisation model going forward? How do we re-equip our cities to solve challenges faced by ordinary Indians living in them? How do we improve the quality of water and sanitation, while ensuring the nearby streams and rivers remain pristine? How can we enable a walkable city, with affordable public transportation, while reversing the burgeoning car culture that has emerged? How do we generate jobs in our urban landscape, from the public and private sectors, while encouraging businesses? Finally, how can we make our cities more sustainable, by radically reshaping our urban planning processes? We need a national conversation on our urbanisation journey. This book hopes, through a series of vignettes, to elucidate answers to such queries, with their constraints and potential solutions.
Why do you say it took you three “tumultuous” years to write the book?
As the past few years have gone by, the challenges we face living in cities with decrepit infrastructure have gotten worse (most dramatically during the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic). As I spoke at select colleges, universities, panels and even in mohallas, the state of our cities was not easy to close one’s eyes – the sheer tumult faced by urban migrants during the lockdown was a seminal moment in understanding the lack of humanity and inclusiveness in our urban model.
Indians still migrate to cities, but face limited income, irregular work, and are challenged by crime, lack of sanitation and limited options for housing. Their aspirations have been dulled by the effort to move up the social ladder. Understanding this pain and aspirations was a tumultuous experience.
What groundwork did you have to cover before you started writing it?
In writing this heartfelt and admittedly exploratory pamphlet on urban India, I had to rely on India’s rich tradition of urban policymakers, historians, urban development experts and journalists (especially those on the city beat), whose contribution and debt is recognised in footnotes scattered across this document’s pages. I had to travel far and wide, across a multitude of Indian towns and cities, listening to the ordinary urban Indian’s everyday stories, and admiring the dignity with which they face the daily struggle.
From meeting a set of labourers looking for work in Guwahati, to listening to a watchman in Patna, to having discussions with sanitary workers in Kota, to learning from an entrepreneurial housewife in Meerut, to walking with locals as they rescue those stuck in flooded neighborhoods in Haldwani, I have been humbled by the interconnected relationships that help keep our cities ticking. I have been humbled by the interconnected relationships that help keep our cities ticking. Hope remains – one I hope that our policymakers will respect and fulfil.
Your previous book ‘A Rural Manifesto’ was on the rural areas and the new one is on the urban areas. How much will both of them help the dispensation to formulate policy for Indian villages and metro cities?
After spending almost half a decade understanding and discussing the travails of rural India, the idea of writing a dense synthesis of facts and personal anecdotes on how Indians live in urban India was always a tall order. We need more empathy for the bedeviled urban Indian and the marginal farmer, helping to shape policy choices that improve their lives and alleviate hardships, while setting up the infrastructure to further growth and build climate resilience.
This book hopes, through a series of vignettes, to elucidate answers to such queries, with their constraints and potential solutions. It hopes to highlight experiences from my decades long public life, serving as an MP and a stakeholder for mostly rural and urban constituencies, while drawing lessons from sociological experts and development policy.
With your writings, you have established yourself in a different league of politicians. Do you think you have been duly rewarded for your exceptional leadership qualities?
Imbibing this tome’s themes has left me with a greater appreciation for the challenges that our municipal administrators, urban policymakers and leaders face, as they seek to shape our cities. I have travelled far and wide, across a multitude of Indian towns and cities, listening to the ordinary urban Indian’s everyday stories, and admiring the dignity with which they face the daily struggle. Pushing to solve their daily pain points is far greater aspiration for me than any personal reward.
Don’t you think Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have included you in his Council of Ministers so that his government would have gained out of your knowledge and experience?
India has a rich tradition of urban policy specialists and has thousands of reporters on the city beat, who are helping to highlight the very same issues that I have raised here. I’m humbled and enriched by their contribution and insights. Any government of the day should seek to tap into their expertise – the case of Joshimath is a stark example of what happens when a tone-deaf development policy overrides recommendations of scientists and policy experts.
You represent the rural and less developed areas of Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha but your family background and educational qualifications are among the best not just in India but also in the world. How much did the two different spectrums help you in writing the book?
Beyond formal education, being an MP means that one has to have an ear to the ground, along with empathy to understand the travails of the ordinary Indian urban commuter, who is simply looking to live life and save on a day to day basis. Being open to hearing the pain and aspirations of others, along with the wisdom of experts, is required for anyone delving into this topic.
