History Archive

November 12 holds a special significance in the history of India. For this was the day in 1969 when one of India’s most powerful prime ministers, Indira Gandhi, was expelled from her own party on charges of violating the party discipline. 

Nowhere have the contradictions posed by an Islamist solution become more evident than in the case of a South Asian Muslim divorcee who sought support from her husband through the court system. To examine the case of Shah Bano is to call attention to the pivotal yet problematic role of one mode of governance, the judiciary, as it functions in the three major Muslim states of South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Indira Gandhi was one of the most prominent leaders who led the country. She was known for many things. Indira Gandhi was an astute and shrewd politician who waded her way through the political corridors dominated by males through sheer grit and what some say as ruthlessness. The way she handled foreign policy to the role India played in the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 under her rule, Indira Gandhi has left an indelible mark on India's post-independence history.

Jesus Christ never said that his Gospel of Love and Care should be spread far and wide around the world  through violent means. Unfortunately, in the early centuries and later when European Imperialism took the world by storm, the guardians of Christian faith considered the followers of other faiths  across the globes were pagans or heretics. They were against idolatry and, in particular, the one prevailing in India.

We have grown up, reading about all the good things about Jawaharlal Nehru. Every 14th November, we offered our tributes to him, year after year! Why Nehru’s birthday is celebrated as Children’s Day across India? Was it because little innocent children referred him as Chacha Nehru? What historians falsely portrayed him as ‘spending his entire life for the welfare of children across India’ has well served its purpose.

In this post, we’ll delve into the shadowy past of the British Empire and uncover how it contributed to the annihilation of numerous formerly prosperous nations, such as India. India was formerly termed as the “golden bird,” which was fairly accurate; at that time, India accounted for approximately 25% of global net wealth. India transitioned from a prosperous nation to a poor, impoverished one until the end of the British Raj in 1947.

Sixty-eight years ago in 1953 on this day, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee – one of the country’s tallest leaders – was mysteriously found dead while he was under detention by the government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Since childhood, we all have been taught that the great son of India, Mahatma Gandhi is the "Father of the Nation". But surprisingly, the government of India does not consider Gandhiji as the Father of the Nation! According to government's documents, Gandhiji was not conferred with this title, constitutionally.

September 25th marks the 105th birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The erstwhile president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh was found dead on February 11, 1968. This body was discovered on the tracks near the Mughalsarai Junction. It has been 53-years since. Still, to this date, there are no answers to who killed the man who was fondly addressed as Panditji. The mysterious death of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay still intrigues the nation.

As we celebrate the fact that the Republic of India is an independent sovereign State today, we’d like to, as predicted, take a trip down history’s memory lane, and revisit the conference that declared August 15, 1947 as India’s day of Independence. Just a few months before this date, June 3, an iconic conference gave us this day to celebrate. It also gave us a dotted line running through the map of the former state of India, creating a whole new country called Pakistan in the process. And spilling a whole lot of blood in its wake.