India’s tumultuous political history, revealing backroom stories, humorous anecdotes and invaluable life lessons come together in Azaad, Ghulam Nabi Azad’s frank, unflinching autobiography about his life and career alongside some of the most powerful leaders from India and the world. As Ghulam Nabi charts his political odyssey, he showcases the grand arc of the great India story through the most dramatic political transformations of the last five decades.

The heart of this autobiography is devoted to his half a century-old association with the Congress party. He offers candid, captivating accounts of his relationship with the members of the Gandhi Parivar—former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay, Maneka, Sonia Gandhi and her children, Rahul and Priyanka. From devising a strategy with Indira Gandhi to bring Rajiv into politics and convincing Sonia to become the party chief to his mediation efforts in the tussle between Rahul Gandhi and Himanta Biswa Sarma—Ghulam Nabi explores the challenges of leadership and the consequences of daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape.

He also offers a personal perspective of working in government and in Opposition. He does not pull his punches, offering his unvarnished opinions on leading politicians from across the political divide—from his confrontation and comradeship with former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, political tricks played by N.D. Tiwari and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to his personal equation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Insightful, intimate and utterly entertaining, Azaad is Ghulam Nabi’s own journey, in his own words.

It is a book that belongs on the list of every political aficionado.