About The Book
Nearly seventy years ago, the founding fathers of the Indian republic-Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru, B. R. Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhbhai Patel-steeredthe new nation in a direction that ensured it wasn't destroyed by sectarianism, casteismand authoritarianism. Because their wisdom found widespread acceptance, every timeit seemed that the country would succumb to religious hatred, fissiparous tendencies orcaste violence, disaster was averted as its leaders and its people stayed more or less trueto the values on which the republic was founded. In recent times, however, attempts havebeen made to discredit these great Indians and devalue their contribution to the modernIndian state.In this thought-provoking book, award-winning biographer and historian RajmohanGandhi sets the record straight on the founding fathers as well as their great opponent,Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Along the way, he answers questions of perennial interest-Whowas really responsible for Partition? Were Gandhi and Ambedkar enemies? Did theMahatma weaken the country's Hindus? Was he anti-Muslim? Should India have been aHindu Rashtra? Could the Kashmir issue have been dealt with differently? Would Bose andPatel have led the independent nation better than Gandhi and Nehru? Erudite, forthright and brilliantly argued, Understanding the Founding Fathers will help us know ourselves and our nation, and how we came to be this way.
About The Author
Rajmohan Gandhi's last two books are Prince of Gujarat: The Extraordinary Story of PrinceGopaldas Desai, 1887-1951 and Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Until end-December 2012 he taught political science and history at the University of Illinois. Since thenhe has had spells as a scholar-in-residence at IIT, Gandhinagar. Dividing his time betweenIndia and the United States, Rajmohan Gandhi has also made several visits to Pakistan.
About The Book Nearly seventy years ago, the founding fathers of the Indian republic-Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru, B. R. Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhbhai Patel-steeredthe new nation in a direction that ensured it wasn't destroyed by sectarianism, casteismand authoritarianism. Because their wisdom found widespread acceptance, every timeit seemed that the country would succumb to religious hatred, fissiparous tendencies orcaste violence, disaster was averted as its leaders and its people stayed more or less trueto the values on which the republic was founded. In recent times, however, attempts havebeen made to discredit these great Indians and devalue their contribution to the modernIndian state.In this thought-provoking book, award-winning biographer and historian RajmohanGandhi sets the record straight on the founding fathers as well as their great opponent,Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Along the way, he answers questions of perennial interest-Whowas really responsible for Partition? Were Gandhi and Ambedkar enemies? Did theMahatma weaken the country's Hindus? Was he anti-Muslim? Should India have been aHindu Rashtra? Could the Kashmir issue have been dealt with differently? Would Bose andPatel have led the independent nation better than Gandhi and Nehru? Erudite, forthright and brilliantly argued, Understanding the Founding Fathers will help us know ourselves and our nation, and how we came to be this way. About The Author Rajmohan Gandhi's last two books are Prince of Gujarat: The Extraordinary Story of PrinceGopaldas Desai, 1887-1951 and Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Until end-December 2012 he taught political science and history at the University of Illinois. Since thenhe has had spells as a scholar-in-residence at IIT, Gandhinagar. Dividing his time betweenIndia and the United States, Rajmohan Gandhi has also made several visits to Pakistan.