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The dramatic true story of the betrayal of hundreds of Indian princely states by both the departing British and the new Congress government. In July 1947, India's last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, stood before New Delhi's Chamber of Princes to deliver the most important speech of his career. He had just three weeks to convince over 550 sovereign princely states--some tiny, some the size of Britain--to become part of a free India. Once Britain's most faithful allies, the princes could choose between joining India or Pakistan, or declaring independence. This is a saga of intrigue, brinkmanship and broken promises, wrought by Mountbatten and two of independent India's founding fathers: the country's most senior civil servant, V.P. Menon, and Congress strongman Vallabhbhai Patel. What India's architects described as a 'bloodless revolution' was anything but, as violence engulfed Kashmir and Indian troops crushed Hyderabad's dreams of independence. Most princes accepted the inevitable, exchanging their power for guarantees of privileges and titles in perpetuity. But these dynasties were still led to extinction--not by the sword, but by political expediency--leaving them with little more than fading memories of a glorified past.
This book outlines Patel's crucial role in the integration of princely states into India, in saving the Kashmir valley from Pakistani raiders, and his perceptive and farsighted approach with respect to China, Tibet and Nepal. The book reproduces rare and unpublished correspondence from distinguished persons including Lord Mountbatten and K. P. S. Menon, among others. India's Bismarck explores the courageous and pivotal role of Sardar Patel in the creation of One India.
L.K. Advani’s blogs cut across generations: for his contemporaries, they have a recall value. For the young Indian, restless to do his bit in shaping the future of his country, Advani’s blogs provide a rare insight into history. They take him through the turmoil and toil of leaders like Sardar Patel and their distinctive contribution in shaping today’s India. Advani’s blogs have a dual purpose: they mirror an era gone by and yet link its relevance to an India, raring to take on the world. The blogs, therefore, successfully merge two eras: one to which Advani himself belongs with another which sees him as a mentor. That Advani has been a consequential politician is a given. As a protagonist in the political playfield spanning decades, he along with Atal Behari Vajpayee, not only formed the Bharatiya Janata Party but transformed it dramatically. If the BJP is nationally in the reckoning today, it is because of the Atal-Advani vision of bringing it centre-stage from the margins. It is through this journey that he redefined secularism. During his historic yatras including the Ramjanambhoomi and Somnath to Ayodhya, the country was compelled to redefine secularism and distinguish it from the pseudo secularism being handed down by adversaries. But that is only one part. The other and more significant is Advani’s contribution in setting and elevating standards in public life and hammering that they be followed. That he has led from the front is well known. The strength of Advani’s blogs, like his persona, is that they are direct, candid and forthright. There is no soft-pedaling issues or minimizing the blow as it were. He has stated facts as they are and made no attempt to either underplay or exaggerate any sequence. His writings are as clear as his mind. The blogs offer a wide range: history, politics, books and all else. To those who have a stake in India’s political future, Advani’s blogs are an effective guide; for others an interesting read.
This collection includes an appreciation of Wolpert s life and writings, and three of his previously unpublished essays. In addition it considers such subjects as premodern cities in South Asia, the Bene Israel in the Konkan, propaganda and the Raj in World War II, and linguistic nationalism and regional identity in Orissa.
Delhi, one of the world's largest cities, has faced momentous challenges—mass migration, competing governing authorities, controversies over citizenship, and communal violence. To understand the contemporary plight of India's capital city, this book revisits one of the most dramatic episodes in its history, telling the story of how the city was remade by the twin events of partition and independence. Treating decolonization as a process that unfolded from the late 1930s into the mid-1950, Rotem Geva traces how India and Pakistan became increasingly territorialized in the imagination and practice of the city's residents, how violence and displacement were central to this process, and how tensions over belonging and citizenship lingered in the city and the nation. She also chronicles the struggle, after 1947, between the urge to democratize political life in the new republic and the authoritarian legacy of colonial rule, augmented by the imperative to maintain law and order in the face of the partition crisis. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Geva reveals the period from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s as a twilight time, combining features of imperial framework and independent republic. Geva places this liminality within the broader global context of the dissolution of multiethnic and multireligious empires into nation-states and argues for an understanding of state formation as a contest between various lines of power, charting the links between different levels of political struggle and mobilization during the churning early years of independence in Delhi.
The definitive biography of free India's first Head of State Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878-1972), popularly called C.R. or Rajaji, is usually remembered as free India's Governor-General, or the first Indian Head of State. At one time considered Gandhi's heir, this brilliant lawyer from Salem was regarded in pre-independence years as one of the top five leaders of the Congress along with Nehru, Prasad, Patel and Azad. This biography written by Rajaji's grandson, the noted historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, highlights Rajaji's role in the events preceding Partition. A statesman and conciliator of conflicts between stalwarts, he was perhaps the sole Congress leader in the forties to admit to the likelihood of Partition. He prophesied even then that Pakistan might break up in twenty-five years! Later, C.R. became a strident critic of Nehru and the Congress. As a founder of the Swatantra party in the fifties, he attacked the 'permit-license Raj' fearing its potential for corruption and stagnation, even while the tide was in favour of Nehru's socialistic pattern. Meticulously researched, using C.R.'s private papers, his contemporaries' archives, extensive interviews with eyewitnesses and contemporary accounts and newspapers, this intensely personal, yet objective account gives us an unparalleled portrait of one of the outstanding Indians of this century.
From the early Vedic period, the Vaishyas, the oldest mercantile community of India, generated wealth for the nation through their remarkable efforts. Their Marwari offshoots were appointed by many rulers as ministers, advisors and diwans and were recognised as the first philanthropists in India. The Marwari Heritage takes the reader on a voyage of discovery of the Marwaris who migrated from Rajputana, Haryana, Malwa and its adjoining regions to other parts of India. They braved trials and tribulations in unchartered territories, supporting others of their community, never losing faith in their ability to succeed, and focused on their goal, they became the uncrowned kings, first of trade and business, and later of industry. They joined the freedom struggle with a true spirit of patriotism, philanthropy and active political involvement. Many courted imprisonment and even achieved martyrdom. Today, the roots of the Marwari community are deeply enmeshed in the social, cultural and economic fabric of India. Their innate psyche of giving back to society has seen them donate generously to education, empowerment of women and vocational training leading to employment. Shedding some traditions and retaining many, they have stepped into the modern age, achieving an enviable cultural mix. At the helm of most successful entrepreneurial enterprises, their focus on innovation and technological advancement has resulted in governments of several countries seeking their advice on economic growth. Of the many who have left an indelible mark on the history, socio-political and economic foundations of the country, this book is enriched with rich cameos of some of these ‘greats’ and the reader derives insights into numerous newly discovered and hitherto unrecorded facts. The younger generation of Marwaris continue to dream big and build on the foundations their forefathers planted. They continue to grow from strength to strength, marching towards new horizons. The plethora of welfare schemes and trusts responsible for development of the nation’s needy continue to be monitored with precision. Meticulously researched over five years and richly illustrated with over 100 rare, coloured photographs, paintings, and 600 black and white photographs, illustrations and rare documents published for the first time, readers have much to feast their eyes on. This pictorial book also serves as an inspiration to any and everyone who dares to dream and reach for the skies.