Dr Pingali Gopal uses R. C. Mazumdar's book "History of the Freedom Movement in India" as reference to evoke interest in the truth behind the popularised version of the history of India's independence.
The last part of the series deals with the Quit India Movement, Subhash Chandra Bose's contribution to the cause, the partition of India and final moments of dotting the i's and crossing the t's before the transfer of power.
Dr Pingali Gopal uses R. C. Mazumdar's book "History of the Freedom Movement in India" as reference to evoke interest in the truth behind the popularised version of the history of India's independence.
Part 4 deals with the naked reality of the Raj in India - the avarice, the ruthlessness, and the cunning of the British in bleeding India dry; and ultimately their reluctance to exit or even to contain the spread of the wildfire that was religious hatred and crimes that ensued.
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
Dr Pingali Gopal uses R. C. Mazumdar's book "History of the Freedom Movement in India" as reference to evoke interest in the truth behind the popularised version of the history of India's independence.
This article is a summary and paraphrasing of three of the important essays by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy on the English education of those times (Education in India; Memory in Education; and Music and Education in India).
These three brilliant essays appear in the book Essays in National Idealism. He wrote on an overwhelming variety of topics, which perhaps would require a lifetime of study for any individual.
The aim of this article is to stimulate readers to undertake a serious journey to the writings of Coomaraswamy, a person whose rediscovery means a lot to present India, confused by a mass of rhetoric eulogising the notions of "modernity" and progress.
The reality of a hundred years ago, that he highlights in these essays, is unambiguously still relevant to India, with its acceptance of both the English language as the major medium of instruction and secularism as the guiding principle of our curricula.
A look at how history textbooks in India were shaped to suit the political narrative of those in power.