More makers of modern India
11.13.2010 · Posted in Public Policy
Rajadhyaksha's review of Guha's book
Niranjan Rajadhyaksha has a fine review of Ramachandra Guha's "Makers
of Modern India" in Mint.
Reading through the selections of the 19 makers of modern India, one
is struck by the sheer diversity of concerns that gripped their
minds—the gradual reformism of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the militant
populism of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the enlightened globalism of
Rabindranath Tagore, the attacks on caste by E.V. Ramaswami, the
feminism of Shinde, the nation-building of Nehru, the futile quest for
alternatives to parliamentary democracy by Jayaprakash Narayan, the
fight for a free market economy by C. Rajagopalachari, the sharp
investigations into caste as a central fact of Indian life by Ram
Manohar Lohia and the insights into tribal life by Elwin.
These and other leaders have continued relevance. The splendid
economic boom that India is in the middle of will inevitably be
socially disruptive as well. It is a well-documented fact that the
social strain of such disruption often leads to rebellion or hyper
nationalism, to anarchy or oligarchic rule. We see early signs of all
these in India, in tribal rage harvested by the Naxalites and the flag
waving encouraged by the mainstream political parties. It is critical
at such as juncture that India remains in touch with the enlightened
political thought that emerged in response to colonial rule and later
gave us a liberal republic.
A sound understanding of Indian political traditions would also help
us understand the importance of Ambedkar's perceptive warning on 25
November 1949. [Read the whole thing at Mint]
That Ambedkar's Grammar of Anarchy speech should make it into the book
is appropriate. Contemporary India must read and reflect on perhaps
the most prescient set of warnings that the republic's founding
fathers left behind. Ambedkar is well-known, even if his actual ideas
are now forgotten, but Mr Guha has done well to commemorate lesser
known, not no less brilliant thinkers too. (The book has Gandhi,
Nehru, Tagore, Ambedkar, Periyar, Raja Rammohan Roy, Syed Ahmad Khan,
Jotirao Phule, Gokhale, Tilak, Tarabai Shinde, Jinnah, Kamaladevi
Chattopadhyay, Golwalkar and Lohia)
Mr Rajadhyaksha rightly points out that Mr Guha's work will be
contentious because of who it leaves out. I personally think Goparaju
Ramachandra Rao, or "Gora", should be more than a footnote in modern
India's intellectual history. There are many more.
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