Book Review
| Author | Jaytilak Guha Roy |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120160418 |
| Published date | 01 October 2016 |
| Date | 01 October 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
BOOK
REVIEWS
I
943
the bourgeoisie. The printing press and modem education supplemented
it..
The colonial bourgeoisie,
thus~
had actuated the role
of
bourgeoisie which
should have been ideally actuated
by
the Indians against feudalism.
Written for specialised readers, the book serves the purpose admirably
well. Its lucid style in narrative fonn contains interesting research material.
The rare photographs
of
the era add further value to it. Its cover page, for
example, with a rare portrait
of
Robert Clive surveying the battle field
of
Plassey is a treat to the context
of
the book. The only weakness is the absence
of
a uniform, professional house style for the endnotes. The endnotes in each
chapter are written in different styles which, however, can be overlooked.
-HrMANSHU
ROY
R.C. Vermani, Nationalism
in
India, New Delhi, Gitanjali Publishing
House, 2015,
pp.
vi+ 395, Rs. 400.
In recent time a lot
of
debate has been going on in regard to the concept
of
nationalism in the midst
of
which different political parties and social
groups are giving diverse interpretations
of
nationalism. This is indeed not
altogether undesirable
in
a democratic country
as
ours. As Swaminathan
S.
Aiyar has observed very poignantly, "The notion that there can be only
one concept
of
what constitutes a nation, and that every other view is anti-
national,
is
intellectually empty at best and authoritarian at worst."
Yet,
there
is
no denying that nationalism needs to be defined in the reliable historical
perspective and not on anyone's whims. As eminent historian, Romila
Thapar, has observed very forthrightly in the context
of
recent events at
the Jawaharlal Nehru University, "At the time
of
independence and soon
after, we had no problem defining nationalism. It is being obfuscated now.
Nationalism draws on reliable history and not on anyone's fantasy
of
the
past".
In
the above perspective, the book under review
is
timely and relevant.
Divided into twenty chapters, the book has analysed the entire gamut
of
the rise and growth
of
nationalism in India. Starting from the significant
social reforms movements in the
19th
century,
it
discusses the birth oflndian
National Congress, the liberals versus extremists debate on nationalism,
rise
of
Gandhi in the then Indian political scenario, mass mobilisation
under his leadership and the three major movements, launched by him
the non-cooperation movement, civil disobedience movement and the
Quit India movement, the role
of
Azad Hind Fauz under the leadership
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the social movements such as peasants' and
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