Glimpses of LeadersMukesh Vatsyayana LEADERS OF MODERN INDIA By Sankar Ghose Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1980, pp. 454, Rs. 100.00 VOLUME V NUMBER 3 November/December 1980 An understanding of the
period from 1830 when Raja Rammohan Roy took first faltering steps on the road
to what later came to be known as the Indian Renaissance, to 1947, the year
which became the culmination point for various socio-political processes, is
essential for a correct appraisal of our present predicament. Sankar Ghose in
the present work deals with this significant period by presenting brief but
adequate life-histories of prominent leaders who were shaped by and in turn
shaped the prevailing social and political currents in the Indian society of
their time.
Exploring
the exotic realm of history is always an exciting affair. But a move in the
recent history of one's own society and country has an added attraction in that
it gives us an account of why we are what we are today? And particularly when
that history is presented as it was played out in the lives of famous men of
the time, the tortuous twists and turns that it took in its evolution being
reflected in the changing responses and growing expectations of the leaders
with regard to the formidable challenge of their age.
The saga
that the author begins with Rammohan Roy comes to an epd with Indira Gandhi's
expulsion from Parliament in December 1978. And between these two, men as different
as Sri Rama Krishna and Syed Ahmad Khan, Aurobindo Ghose and Iqbal, Gandhi and
M.N. Roy, Nehru and Savarkar, Maulana Azad and Patel, Subhas Bose and
Rajagopalachari, Radhakrishnan and J.P., the trio of Lal-Bal-Pal and many others appear on the scene
to contribute their mite to the making of modern India. It is a rich and varied
repast that the author provides us and within the scope in which he has
confined himself in the name of 'objectivity', the book makes an engaging
reading. It is interesting to find how religion weighed upon the consciousness
of even the most 'modern' of Indian leaders born in nineteenth century and what
a prominent part it played in shaping and influencing their responses to the
manifold tasks and challenges that confronted them. I am mentioning this only
to point out that just as the objective conditions of the nineteenth century
made it imperative for its leaders to meet the western challenge by playing up
the religious aspect of Indian personality, so the challenges of the last
twenty years of the ... Table of Contents >> |