Excerpt from The Significance of Indian Nationalism In 1909 when the book was first written and published, there was a widespread hope that if only the average English man and woman could be made to understand the Indian de mand for freedom, they would recognise its justice and its logic, that their national acumen would forsee irremediable disaster for England, should she persist in her attempt to frustrate the independent development of Indian nationality, and that consequently the pressure of an awakened public opinion would compel the Government to a liberating policy in con formity with English idealism and the security of the Empire. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Presents an account of the factors that led to the rise of Indian nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. This book discusses how the Indian National Congress affected the struggle for independence, giving importance to the individuals and political groups responsible for inaugurating the first Western-style political organisations.

The historiography of modern India is largely a pageant of presumed virtues: harmonious territorial unity, religious impartiality, the miraculous survival of electoral norms in the world’s most populous democracy. Even critics of Indian society still underwrite such claims. But how well does the “Idea of India” correspond to the realities of the Union? In an iconoclastic intervention, Marxist historian Perry Anderson provides an unforgettable reading of the Subcontinent’s passage through Independence and the catastrophe of Partition, the idiosyncratic and corrosive vanities of Gandhi and Nehru, and the close interrelationship of Indian democracy and caste inequality. The Indian Ideology caused uproar on first publication in 2012, not least for breaking with euphemisms for Delhi’s occupation of Kashmir. This new, expanded edition includes the author’s reply to his critics, an interview with the Indian weekly Outlook, and a postscript on India under the rule of Narendra Modi.

This book gives a clear, comprehensive account of the complex factors which led to the rise and eventual success of Indian nationalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The groups and individuals responsible for inaugurating the first Western-style political organisations are examined against their social background, and the part played by the Indian National Congress in the struggle for Independence is then analysed in detail. The later chapters examine the emergence of Gandhi as a national leader and consider the success of the non-violent techniques which he espoused. The history concludes with the attainment of independence and traces developments in the successor nations up to the present day, Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister of India, the coming of V.P. Singh as Prime Minister, up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.