Our political parties suck at governance but excel at narratives, as that's what wins them elections. Shivam Shankar Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his experiences at the heart of different political machines. Also check out: 1. How to Win an Indian Election -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 2. The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities -- Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan. 3. LAMP Fellowships. 4. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites. 5. Why I Am Resigning From the BJP -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 6. Is Parliament’s questions system broken? — Here’s how to fix it! -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 7. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on China, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 8. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha. 9. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 11. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 12. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled -- Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 14. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 15. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 17. Hamsini Hariharan's tweet on 'Indic'. 18. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 19. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 20. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 21. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 22. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's poker columns for the Economic Times. 23. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma 24. Power and Prosperity -- Mancur Olson. 25. When Crime Pays — Milan Vaishnav. 26. Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav). 27. Politics -- A limerick by Amit Varma. 28. Government's End -- Jonathan Rauch. 29. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 30. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt). 31. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 32. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 33. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine -- Prashant Jha. 34. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 35. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma. 36. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 37. The Dictator's Handbook -- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. 38. The Psychology of Money -- Morgan Housel. 39. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph. 40. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 41. Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.