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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Five Decades in Politics is Sushilkumar Shinde’s co-authored, thematic memoir of a life shaped by caste and poverty, political work, and senior office in Maharashtra and the Union government. Published in India by HarperCollins in 2024, it moves between personal beginnings, political episodes, colleagues and reflections rather than following a simple chronology. Its accounts are Shinde and co-author Rasheed Kidwai’s recollections, not a detached political biography.
What is Five Decades in Politics about?
The publisher presents the book as a fifty-year political journey, from Shinde’s early work and entry into politics to senior roles, including Maharashtra chief minister and Union home minister. It also covers his vice-presidential candidacy and his perspective on prominent events during his time in office. That description conveys the memoir’s scope; it does not independently verify every account or interpretation in the book.
The memoir ranges beyond office-holding. Its contents include chapters on the Emergency, “Saffron Terror” and the vice-presidential bid, as well as portraits of Sharad Pawar, Y.B. Chavan, Balasaheb Thackeray and Sonia Gandhi. It also takes up foreign visits, mentors, veteran political years and personal reflections. Google Books’ catalog description summarizes the publisher’s account of the book.
How does the memoir approach Shinde’s life and caste background?
In his author’s note, Shinde recalls losing his father early, growing up in poverty and facing the consequences of being born into a caste he says was relegated to the lowest social ranks. He credits family members and professional mentors with helping him navigate exclusion. These are Shinde’s accounts of his life and identity, not claims independently established by the memoir’s publisher.
A review by Scroll.in, published on 23 November 2024, identifies Shinde’s caste as Dhor and reports early jobs that included roadside vending, work in a toffee factory and printing press, and work at Wadia Hospital. Those details are the reviewer’s reported biographical context.
Why is the book not chronological?
Shinde says he chose not to arrange the narrative as a sequence of offices and dates. In his account, he wanted to describe how he lived, with theatre, travel and reading forming part of his life alongside politics. The contents reflect that approach: sections move among government roles, origins, political entry, overseas visits, mentors and recollections.
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He also says in the author’s note that the memoir is not meant as a political act or an effort to provoke controversy. He describes it as an attempt to tell his life story and explore his sense of identity, and says it contains no sensational revelations, scandals or gossip. These statements explain his stated intention; readers should distinguish them from their own assessment of the book.
Who wrote it, and what edition should readers look for?
Shinde is the memoir’s subject and is credited as an author; journalist Rasheed Kidwai is credited as co-author and helped shape the work. Catalog records list the 2024 HarperCollins Publishers India edition at 240 pages. The print edition is identified by ISBN 978-93-6569-074-3 (9789365690743), while the e-book ISBN is 978-93-6213-749-4 (9789362137494). A bookseller lists the print ISBN edition as hardcover.
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Check the title and ISBN before choosing an edition: catalog listings also surface a later book titled Decades in Politics (2025), which is not interchangeable with this 2024 memoir. Availability and current price are not established here.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should readers assess its political recollections?
This is a first-person memoir shaped with a journalist co-author, not an independently researched biography. The publisher notice states that the views and opinions are those of the authors and that facts are as reported by them. That qualification matters most when the book recounts contested political episodes: Shinde’s perspective can be valuable evidence of how he remembers events, but it should not be treated as the sole account of what happened.
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