Srinivasaraju's The Conscience Network archives young Indians in US during '70s
NEW DELHI: At a time when the American visa, its acceptance and possible denial, may scotch the 'American Dream' of aspiring Indians, journalist and The New Indian Express columnist Sugata Srinivasaraju's new book, The Conscience Network (Penguin), shows what some young Indians did with their time on American soil and its link with the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in the '70s.
PhD students Ravi Chopra and Anand Kumar, and S R Hiremath, a Kannadiga who had become a top-notch corporate in the US, was part of a network that was activating the diaspora , at a time when it was just beginning to be influential, in order to save democracy. This they did through an organisation they founded: Indians for Democracy (IFD). The three were present at the book launch at the IIC on Wednesday.
Marching, campaigning, pamphleteering – these young men who had grown up in the first decade of Independence were spreading the word about the dark days at home among US Congressmen and the US media at a time when many Indians back home were silent, defending the Emergency or currying favour with the government.
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