``Far from being a wise and balanced saint, Gandhi was an emotionally troubled social activist and a ruthlessly sharp political negotiator,'' says author Patrick French in Liberty or death -- India's journey to independence and division.

He quotes India's Transport Minister in 1947, Dr John Mathai, as saying ``The final failure to reach a satisfactory settlement with the Muslim League stemmed in part from the `Gujarati mentality' of the Congress leadership - i.e. that of a trader driving a hard bargain.''

On the other hand, 32-year-old French describes Jinnah as ``the forgotten player in the story of India's independence and division''.

``The truth about Jinnah is that hispolitical ideology developed and matured in a gradual and complex way over 50 years, and that the founder of the homeland for Indian Muslims remained a secularist of sorts to the end,'' says French, who has been awarded the `Sunday Times young writer of the year award' for the book.

Liberty or death systematically goes on to squarely put the blame on the Congress leadership for forcing Jinnah to take the hardline stand on partition which ``altered India's history by cracking the edges off the diamond and creating what was then the fifth largest sovereign state in the world''.

``The writing of history should be a dynamic process. Political leaders -- even Mahatmas, Pandits, Sardars and Netajis -- are fallible. They have prejudices and they make mistakes, just like the rest of us, although usually with more destructive consequences since their influence and power is so much greater,'' concludes the author.