Bipan Chandra: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Indian historian (1928–2014)}}

'''Bipan Chandra''' (24 May 1928&nbsp;– 30 August 2014)<ref name="Bhushan1992">{{cite book|author=Ravi Bhushan|title=Reference India: biographical notes on men & women of achievement of today & tomorrow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZodmAAAAMAAJ|page=139|year=1992|publisher=Rifacimento International}}</ref> was an Indian marxist [[historian]], specialising in [[Economic history of India#Republic of India|economic]] and [[Politics of India|political]] history of [[modern India]]. An emeritus professor of modern history at [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]], he specialized on the [[Indian independence movement]] and is considered a leading scholar on [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. He authored several books, including ''The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Rise_and_Growth_of_Economic_National.html?id=tjbZNJYmuTkC&redir_esc=y "Bipan Chandra, ''The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism''"] Googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2015-03-24.</ref>

Chandra was born in [[Kangra, Himachal Pradesh|Kangra]] in [[Punjab, British India]] (now in [[Himachal Pradesh]]). As used to be the case in old Punjab, his early education was in Urdu, he was best at home in his early years with an Urdu novel by his side. He graduated from [[Forman Christian College]], Lahore in 1946 after which the Partition forced him to leave. ThereafterThere after he went to the United States where he studied at the [[Stanford University]], California, [[United States]], to complete his graduation and post-graduation. He established contact with Communists there, and, caught in the net cast under Senator McCarthy’sMcCarthy's anti-Communist crusade, he was deported to India. Back in Delhi in the early 1950s, Bipan Chandra was appointed lecturer in Historyhistory at the Hindu College, Delhi.<ref name=Release>[http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=23756 "Bipan Chandra and Andre Beteille Appointed as National Research Professors"]. Press Information Bureau, Government of India. 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2014.</ref> Later he completed his Ph.D. from Delhi University in 1963.

Chandra was at the forefront of the communist movement in India since independence.<ref name="targetinghistory">{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20080504042106/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1809/18090880.htm T.K.Rajalakshmi, Targeting History, in ''Frontline'', Vol. 18, Issue 09, 28 April – 11 May 2001]}}</ref> His co-authored book, ''Freedom Struggle'', was censored by the new central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272&lpg=PA272&dq=Barun+De+-+ICHR&sourcepg=bl&ots=hmRlRiPqav&sig=6MUM5_sRlcbIUsBEKy6tnvpR3r0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ULXoVKPXJcHguQTupYCoAg&ved=0CBwQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%20-%20ICHR&f=falsePA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Books.google.com Retrieved 2015-03-25.</ref> He collaborated with historians such [[S. Nurul Hasan|Nurul Hasan]], [[Ram Sharan Sharma]], [[S. Gopal|Sarvapalli Gopal]], [[Satish Chandra]], [[Romila Thapar]], [[Irfan Habib]], [[Barun De]] and Arjun Dev and some of his students, such as [[Mridula Mukherjee]], Aditya Mukherjee, Sucheta Mahajan and Vishalakshi Menon, some of whose textbooks have previously been prescribed in the history syllabi of schools in India.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020428/spectrum/book6.htm | title = Critiques galore! | author = D.R. Chaudhry | work = [[The Tribune (Chandigarh)]] | date = 2002-04-28 | access-date = 2009-03-06}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140906173810/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140831/jsp/nation/story_18783081.jsp#.VKIaQvkA `Call me Bipan, not prof'], The Telegraph, 31 August 2014.</ref>

In April 2016, right-wing activist [[Dinanath Batra]] sought a ban on Chandra's bestselling ''[[India's Struggle for Independence]]'' because of a misunderstanding of the terminology used in it.<ref name="thehindu">[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ban-sought-on-bipan-chandras-book/article8533688.ece Vikas Pathak, 'Ban Sought on Bipan Chandra's book' in ''The Hindu'', 29 April 2016]</ref><ref name="indiatoday">[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bipan-chandras-book-on-indias-free-struggle-raises-controversy/1/652815.html Siddhartha Rai, 'Bipan Chandra's book on India's freedom struggle raises controversy, calls Bhagat Singh a terrorist' in ''India Today'', 28 April 2016]</ref>

[[Category:Academic staff of Delhi University faculty]]

[[Category:Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University faculty]]