Book on former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar to release in April

A book on the life and times of bureaucrat-turned-politician Manohar Parrikar, who served as the defence minister and Goa chief minister, will hit the stands in April, announced publishing house Penguin Random House India on Monday. The book titled "An Extraordinary Life: A biography of Manohar Parrikar" is written by veteran journalists Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar. Tuesday marks the first death anniversary of Parrikar who died after battling pancreatic cancer for over a year. He was 63.

A "nuanced and sensitive narration", the book claims to be an "insightful and captivating read, complete with the informed voices of his relatives, friends, foes, bureaucrats and IIT contemporaries". "Manohar Parrikar was a towering personality, who defined an era in Goa's politics, after the turbulent 1990s which produced 13 chief ministers in a decade. A four-time chief minister and defence minister, he had the talent, intellect and the drive to achieve, perhaps even more," said co-author Sadguru Patil. Parrikar was among the few from Goa who made it to the national level. He held the defence portfolio in the Modi government from 2014 till 2017 before returning to his first love, Goa, to take over the chief minister's post.

The biography, according to Nagvenkar, is "a lively scrapbook of his Tom Sawyer-like childhood and youth", as well as a "no-holds-barred report card of his subsequent political journey, through the voices of people who knew him, many of them intimately". The authors, Patil and Nagvenkar, interviewed the politician many times over the course of their careers, closely followed his rise in politics and witnessed the many battles he had to undergo in his life.

An admitted workaholic who insisted on leading a simple life, Parrikar, a metallurgist by training, enjoyed acceptance from all sections of the BJP and beyond. He played a key role in making the BJP a force to reckon with in Goa, which for the longest time was a Congress bastion. "Manohar Parrikar was a popular, astute and grassroots leader of the BJP who served as the chief minister of Goa for multiple terms, as well as the defence minister of India. "An indefatigable and spirted politician, he chose to work until his last days, and left a mark wherever he went. 'An Extraordinary Life' by Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar chronicles the life and impact of Manohar Parrikar in Indian politics," said Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing, Penguin Random House India.

The book is now available for pre-order on e-commerce websites..

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