Maverick Unchanged, Unrepentant

Ram Jethmalani, respected and feared for his candour in matters political, remains an enigma to many. As a public figure-a politician always in demand, the highest rated criminal lawyer in the country and an international legal authority-he is held in high esteem. In over fifty years of being an active politician, he has never allowed political allegiance to compromise his values. Controversy therefore neither leaves him, nor intimidates him. This volume is a compilation of the author's insights into the state of Indian politics today, expressed with clarity and frankness, laying bare the cover-ups and deception that have come to plague India's body politic. Jethmalani's arguments are incisive, often explosive, but above all, they cannot be set aside. Some of the burning issues discussed in this book are black money, governance, corruption, Kashmir, China and Pakistan, fundamentalism and the rise of terror. Maverick Unchanged, Unrepentant is a searing critique of the disease inherent in government.

Ram Jethmalani was born in the town of Shikarpur, Sind in undivided India. He qualified to be a lawyer even before turning eighteen, and had to get a special dispensation to practice law before the required age of twenty-one. In a few years, his abilities were recognized and soon he was perceived as one of the leading lawyers of the time, both civil and criminal, rising up to become Chairman of the Bar Council of India.

During this time, his public criticism of the Emergency earned the wrath of Mrs Gandhi and he was forced to leave the country to avoid arrest. He secured political asylum in the United States where he taught law for a living.

He returned to India and contested the Lok Sabha elections of 1977. Since then, he has remained, for most of the time, a Member of Parliament. He has also been responsible for many landmark judgements, most importantly, in the Hindutva and the Mandal cases, and more recently the infamous Black Money Case.