Book: ‘Indian Nationalism: The Essential Writings’Author: S Irfan HabibPublisher: AlephPages: 296 Price: Rs 499If the time that we live in was to have a leitmotif, then it is the recurrent tests of nationalism that Indians are being subjected to as a wave of frenzied nationalism grips society. This book conveys eminent historian S Irfan Habib’s seething anger over these distortions of the idea of nationalism. He elucidates not just the different kinds of nationalistic ideas that have been fashionable in India in the past, but also traces the trajectory of the current wave of nationalistic fervour. The trio represented different gradients of Hindu nationalism that was concerned with raising a national consciousness to combat the British. As Pal eloquently said, “Under the Moslems (rulers) we had…one common government, but that did not destroy the integrity of Hindu culture.

Source: dna February 04, 2018 01:52 UTC