BENGALURU: While many political science classrooms still rely on textbooks written decades ago, and reward rote learning over reflection, the release of Decoding Indian Politics by PS Jayaramu is an example of what happens when an academic brings lived scholarship into public discourse. The book was launched at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan before a gathering of academicians, former civil servants and journalists.
The volume is rooted in decades of teaching and engagement. Having studied at JNU, Prof. Jayaramu carried that culture of debate into his own classrooms over a 45-year teaching career. Colleagues recall how he urged students to question received wisdom and treat politics as a living process rather than a static subject.
He said Indian politics resists any single “grand theory” because of its layered realities. He expressed concern over the persistent influence of caste equations, money power and dynastic trends in elections, though he acknowledged that some leaders from political families have established credibility through governance.
The essays explore Parliamentary and Assembly polls, candidate selection based on social arithmetic and winnability, role of campaign finance and increasing reliance on welfare-driven populism in party manifestos.
Political analyst Sandeep Shastri observed that book invites readers to rethink how citizens imagine India -- not merely as a constitutional structure but as an evolving democratic experience shaped by debate.