In a powerful third part to his Kashmir trilogy, Sandeep Bamzai’s latest potboiler, The Gilded Cage, documents the contentious years that resulted in the making and unmaking of the ‘Kashmir issue’. From the emergence of Sheikh Abdullah in Kashmir’s politics up to his arrest to the disillusionment of the Kashmiri masses from their leadership, Kashmir turned into a caged match, a diabolical kill box where Pakistan’s attempts to mask the scent of the snare has and is creating consternation in the Valley. From Jinnah’s naked obsession for Kashmir to Sheikh Abdullah’s staunch hatred for Jinnah, from Jawaharlal Nehru’s comprehension of the Valley being a shop window for his brand of secular politics to Maharaja Hari Singh’s streak of remaining independent in the face of both India and Pakistan, this book covers the vital years that defined Kashmir’s accession to India. Accessing letters, files and documents never produced earlier in the public domain, Bamzai travels the duplicitous and often-tortuous path of history to bring to light the equally treacherous history of Kashmir. About the Author: Sandeep Bamzai is a news junkie, having worked across all major news platforms in positions of eminence for the last 40 years. He began his career as a cricket writer with The Statesman in Kolkata. The two decade has seen him on the news frontline as executive editor at TV Today, editor at Mail Today, editor-in-chief and COO at Financial Chronicle, and, currently, MD and editor-in-chief of the independent newswire IANS. He has also worked at The Indian Express, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Business India and Hindustan Times—a life he describes as a ‘fulfilling journey’. An alumnus of the prestigious St. Columba’s School in Delhi, Bamzai graduated in economics from the University of Calcutta. He has written five books, including Guts and Glory: The Bombay Cricket Story and Bonfire of Kashmiriyat: Deconstructing the Accession. His most recent book, Princestan: How Nehru, Patel and Mountbatten Made India, won the prestigious Kalinga Literary Award in 2020. He loves the space where politics and economics converge.