A Mirror to Power: Notes on Fractured Decade by M. J. Akbar is an in-depth and razor-edged criticism on the history of corruption, state terrorism, justice delayed and justice abused. The rights denied and governance betrayed during the period of the last three decades by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is unveiled in his lucid, but concise writing. He has exposed the world, outside politics, and the facade of economic excellence in India mercilessly.
Akbar has challenged the Indian claim of its “Rise” by commencing his narrative that “Poverty is only one of the lines dividing Indians.” He, like Khushwant Singh, Arundhati Roy, and Amartya Sen, insists that India’s claims on power, whether as an economic, political or religious, are extraneous, as long as half of its population sleeps with half full stomach. He maintains that wealth is far easier to recognize as compared to poverty, since it lies outside the origins of government, and the interests of individuals who ‘fuel the engines of modern life.’
