Aruti Sharma, Dehradun , 17 Nov : New forces arose that drove us to the masses in the villages, and for the first time, a new and different India rose up before the young intellectuals who had almost forgotten its existence or attached little importance to it. It was a disturbing sight, not only because of its stark misery and magnitude of its problems, but because it began to upset some of our values and conclusions. So began for us the discovery of India as it was, and it produced both understanding and conflict within us. Our reactions varied and depended on our previous environment and experience.
– Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India (1946)
India had changed; it was not the good and stable country it had once been. In the days of the freedom movement, political workers, honouring Gandhi, had worn homespun as an emblem of sacrifice and service, their oneness with the poor. Now the politician’s homespun stood for power. With industrialization and economic growth people had forgotten old reverences. Men honoured only money now.
– V S Naipaul, A Million Mutinies Now (1962)
Any discussion of India is inescapably forced on to the treacherous fields of the politics of knowledge. These must be navigated, like any political activity, by one’s wits…The idea of India was created by such collisions between culture and politics. These encounters have left Indians with three questions of practical judgement. What possibilities are available to them? What challenges are they likely to face? And what is the significance of the history they are making? Answers to these questions necessarily invite dispute and revision, but the questions themselves are direct, urgent and unavoidable.
– Sunil Khilnani, The Idea of India (1998)
The economic integration of India is a consequence of its political integration. They act in a mutually reinforcing loop. The greater the movement of goods and capital and people across India, the greater the sense that this is, after all, one country.
– Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi (2007)