Dear Editor,
In the passing away of Professor Bipan Chandra, the discipline of history has lost a practising historian, teacher and activist. He popularised modern Indian history by delineating the genesis of Indian economic nationalism through the writings of Indian nationalists. His work on The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India is a classic. In the 1960s, he along with economists and historians combated the Neo-Colonial and Cambridge interpretation of modern Indian economic history. In his General Presidential Address to the delegates of Indian History Congress, Amritsar session, 1985, he turned a Gramscian mould to long-term dynamics of Indian National Congress which he posited with Indian National Movement. He exposed the historicity of communalism as a colonial construct and a ploy. He authored a reader for commoners. A Marxist, he theorised more often as a Left Nationalist moving away from orthodox and official Marxism. He acknowledged the revolutionary and intellectual vibrancy of Bhagat Singh, the Martyr, a Che Guera of India.
His popularity rests on his zeal to make history understandable to the students, workers and masses. Many a scholar and historian may differ with him. His loss is colossal. Professor Bipan Chandra, RIP!!!
Ram Saran
Kathua
