History Of India Quotes

“There was a greater truth — that of a glorious struggle, hard-fought and hard-won, in which many fell martyrs and countless others made sacrifices, dreaming of the day India would be free. That day had come. The people of India saw that too, and on 15 August — despite the sorrow in their hearts for the division of their land danced in the streets with abandon and joy.”
― Bipan Chandra, India's Struggle for Independence

“Since the early beginning of history, India has been the Klondyke of the world”
― Virchand Raghavji Gandhi

“Bhagat Singh revered Lajpat Rai as a leader. But he would not spare even Lajpat Rai, when, during the last years of his life, Lajpat Rai turned to communal politics. He then launched a political-ideological campaign against him. Because Lajpat Rai was a respected leader, he would not publicly use harsh words of criticism against him. And so he printed as a pamphlet Robert Browning’s famous poem, ‘The Lost Leader,’ in which Browning criticizes Wordsworth for turning against liberty. The poem begins with the line ‘Just for a handful of silver he left us.’ A few more of the poem’s lines were:
‘We shall march prospering, not thro’ his presence;
Songs may inspirit us, not from his lyre,’ and
‘Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more.’

There was not one word of criticism of Lajpat Rai. Only, on the front cover, he printed Lajpat Rai’s photograph!”
― Bipan Chandra, India's Struggle for Independence

“The true father of free India was Subhas Chandra Bose, not Gandhi.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace

“Subhas Chandra Bose is to India what George Washington is to the United States of America.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace

“each year India produces thousands upon thousands of eighteen-year olds who have little to no instructed idea of the last sixty years of Indian history. They have no idea if or how those five-year plans worked. They have no idea if or how the Non-Aligned Movement worked. They have no idea about the numerous wars India has fought against Pakistan or China. They have no idea, for instance, of what many people call the greatest threat to India’s internal security: the Naxal movement. What created this Naxal movement? And why is the movement popular where it is? Our youth doesn’t know.”
― Sidin Vadukut, The Sceptical Patriot: Exploring the Truths Behind the Zero and Other Indian Glories

“If you don't know by now, it was Subhas Chandra Bose who liberated India from British imperialism, and not Gandhi, you are yet to know the history of India.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“A commentator had correctly stated that Queen Victoria was essentially a drug lord; like a turbo-charged Dawood Ibrahim with a better headdress.”
― Amish Tripathi, Immortal India: Articles and Speeches by Amish

“The relation between the SS's Hindutva and its Mafia Character is one of inverse proportionality: on a number of occasions, the SS called off Hindu nationalist agitations in exchange for money. The Shiv Sena(SS) support to the Indira Gandhi's Emergency dictatorship should be seen in the same light; it was the only "communal" organisation not to be banned.”
― Koenraad Elst, Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism

“In the fifth century BC, Buddhism and Jainism posed a great threat to Vedic ritualism. Members of the merchant classes patronized these monastic ideologies. Threatening even the Buddhists and the Jains was the idea of an all-powerful personal Godhead that was slowly taking shape in the popular imagination. The common man always found more comfort in tangible stories and rituals that made trees, rivers, mountains, heroes, sages, alchemists and ascetics worthy of worship. The move from many guardian deities and fertility spirits to one all-powerful uniting deity was but a small step. Being atheistic, or at least agnostic, Buddhism and Jainism could do nothing more than tolerate this fascination for theism on their fringes. In a desperate bid to survive, Vedic priests, the Brahmins, did something more: they consciously assimilated the trend into the Vedic fold. In their speculation they concluded and advertised the idea that Godhead was nothing but the embodiment of Brahman, the mystic force invoked by the chanting of Vedic hymns and the performance of Vedic rituals. Adoration of this Godhead through pooja, a rite that involved offering food, water, flowers, lamp and incense, was no different from the yagna.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, Shiva To Shankara: Decoding The Phallic Symbol