Ramachandra Guha pens 'the most ambitious book' on Gandhi
New Delhi, July 24 : Renowned historian and author of several bestselling books, including the highly acclaimed "India After Gandhi" and "India Before Gandhi", Ramachandra Guha has penned a new book on the father of the nation, which has just gone to the press and will be out in September.
Billed as the most definitive new biography of Gandhi, the upcoming book is titled "Gandhi: the years that changed the world (1914-1948)" and will be published by Penguin Random House India.
"This magnificent book," sources said, "will not only tell the story of Gandhi's life, from his departure from South Africa to his dramatic assassination in 1948, but also the history of our freedom movement and its many strands".
It is said to be a book with "a Tolstoyan sweep", revealing Gandhi to the readers just as he was understood by his contemporaries. The book will also include new readings of his arguments with B.R. Ambedkar, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Subhas Chandra Bose, among others.
Drawing on never-before-seen sources and animated by its author's unparalleled sense of drama and politics, Guha's latest work will be marketed as the "most ambitious and integral book" on Bapu.
The book will be relevant, particularly in the context of religious tensions and communal disharmony engulfing the country in contemporary times. At the same time, the 60-year-old historian is known for his profound research and objective portrayal of his subjects, and readers can look forward to drawing lessons from Gandhi's life in current times.
It is a follow up to "Gandhi Before India" (2013). Further details on the book and a formal announcement is awaited from the publisher.
Guha's large body of work, covering a range of fields and yielding a number of rational insights has made him a significant figure in Indian historical studies. He is valued as one of the major historians of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
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Resolution seeking removal of Om Birla as Speaker defeated by voice vote in Lok Sabha
New Delhi (PTI): The resolution seeking the removal of Om Birla as Speaker was on Wednesday defeated in Lok Sabha by a voice vote.
Amid protests and sloganeering by the opposition seeking an apology from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the chair, announced that the no-confidence motion was defeated.
Pal urged the opposition to take their seats so that he could put the motion to vote. But as the protests continued, he sought the vote of the House and the resolution was rejected by a voice vote, following which he adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, the home minister hit out at the opposition for bringing the motion for the removal of Birla as Speaker.
The opposition objected to certain remarks of Shah and started shouting slogans, disrupted the proceedings and sought an apology from him.
Responding to the two-day-long debate, Shah asserted that the House will be run by its own rules and not by the rules of a party.
"It is not an ordinary occurrence as after nearly four decades, such a motion has been brought against the speaker," he said.
The home minister said it was unfortunate for parliamentary politics that some opposition parties were questioning the integrity of the speaker.
Shah said the BJP has been in the opposition for the longest period of time, but the party has never brought a no-confidence motion against any speaker.
"According to the established history of this House, its proceedings are conducted on the basis of mutual trust. The speaker serves as a neutral custodian, representing both the ruling party and the opposition. It is unfortunate for parliamentary politics that a resolution for the removal of the speaker has come," he said.
Shah said the opposition raised questions on Birla's integrity and contended that it was akin to questioning the country's democratic processes.
Birla was not present in the House during the entire period of the debate.
