Category: <span>BOOK REVIEW</span>

The point Mazumdar repeatedly makes in his book is that the Muslim leaders were extremely clear on what they wanted. The Hindu leaders remained clouded and romantic, dreaming of a unity not simply existing in the minds and hearts of their Islamic counterparts.
The central idea of all the proposed alternatives was that the treatment of Muslims should not be as a minority community in Hindu India but as a separate nation with a distinct culture.
During this great metamorphosis of Muslim politics in India, neither the Congress nor the Hindu public men gave it the serious attention it deserved. They angrily opposed the idea of vivisection of India in any form and took their stand on the twin ideas of Indian nationality and Indian unity—the ideas that the Muslims rejected in almost one voice.
The Hindu leadership never belonged to the Hindus, and the Muslim leadership was devoted to nothing except Muslims and Islam.

Dr Pingali Gopal explores the goings on that led to the birth of R.C. Mazumdar's book "History of the Freedom Movement in India" as the author tries to bring to light the truth behind India's independence and tries to redefine what "foreign occupation" means.
The rest of this series is a summary and paraphrasing of the works of RC Mazumdar. The essays are directly from the book, without indication as such in all cases. The first-person component of the essays also belongs to Mazumdar. There are no extra elements or comments added to the text of Mazumdar except for some editing and slight additions to give clarity to the background context and to give a smoother flow to the topic under discussion. The aim is to give an overview of the freedom struggle from a different perspective.p