1905 saw a change in the direction of India’s nationalist struggle and deepened a communal divide that would haunt India for decades to come. The reason: Lord Curzon, the imperial ... Read more
1905 saw a change in the direction of India’s nationalist struggle and deepened a communal divide that would haunt India for decades to come. The reason: Lord Curzon, the imperial Viceroy decided it was time to divide British India’s largest province, the Bengal Presidency. The Partition of Bengal was an attempt to divide the Hindu-majority west and the Muslim-dominated east. A year later, the British encouraged the formation of the All-Indian Muslim League. And in 1909, the Raj introduced separate electorates — a move that would cement a separate Muslim political identity, and eventually, Muslim separatist politics. But the Partition of Bengal also galvanized Indian nationalists, furious at the British divide and rule strategy. New forms of protest, from calls for a boycott to the advocacy of swadeshi, emerged. The differences between extremists and moderates sharpened, but Indian nationalist political opinion was united — the Partition was wrong. In 1911, the British reversed the decision, but they had sown the seeds of the eventual partition in the east, four decades later. In this episode, Bhaswati Mukherjee, a former Indian Foreign Service officer and author of the book on the Partition of Bengal, takes us through the roots of that fateful decision and its impact. Read more
It had been three decades since the mutiny. It was a period of gloom, as the Crown consolidated its rule, caring little for the well-being of Indians. But a set of early Indian nat ... Read more
It had been three decades since the mutiny. It was a period of gloom, as the Crown consolidated its rule, caring little for the well-being of Indians. But a set of early Indian nationalists and a somewhat unusual British reformer came together in Bombay in 1885 to set up what was to become the primary vehicle of India’s political aspirations — the Indian National Congress. In the early years, Congress sought reforms and increased political voice for Indians, within the British Empire. Its leaders, especially the remarkable Dadabhai Nauroji, exposed Britain’s great drain of wealth from India through economic exploitation. But as British repression continued, and Indian nationalist tempo increased, the party slowly saw a division between moderates and extremists, with the latter arguing that it was time to assert and confront the Raj. In this episode, Dinyar Patel, a Harvard-trained historian and an accomplished biographer of Nauroji, brings alive the early years of Indian nationalism and the birth of one of the world’s premier political organizations — the Indian National Congress. Read more
India’s freedom struggle is a story of evolution and revolution. It is a story of elite leadership and mass movements. It is a story of the most remarkable and successful non-viole ... Read more
India’s freedom struggle is a story of evolution and revolution. It is a story of elite leadership and mass movements. It is a story of the most remarkable and successful non-violent struggle in global history wearing down the most powerful Empire the world has seen through the power of truth. It is a story of repression and revolt. It is a story of failures and successes. It is a story of unity and fragmentation. But fundamentally, it is a story of an ancient civilization and a new republic finding its voice. To mark India@75, HT’s new special podcast series takes you through 12 key moments of the freedom struggle, spread over 90 years, from the Mutiny of 1857 to the Naval Mutiny of 1946. Join some of India’s most distinguished historians and writers, in conversation with HT senior editor Prashant Jha, as they look back at the era of early nationalism, the British strategies of divide and rule and repression, the rise of the Mahatma and his mass movements, and help answer that fundamental question: How did India gain Azadi from the brutal and repressive colonial empire? Listen in as we introduce our series. Read more
