Rahul Sagar

Prof @NYUAbuDhabi Birth of Indian Liberalism | Progressive Maharaja | Raise A Fallen People |

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

I’ve spent ten years building https://t.co/19XD07IvaT out of love for those who came before us. If you have a moment, I would really appreciate you sharing this flyer with researchers and libraries

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@TweetinderKaul Happily or sadly, the latter!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@TweetinderKaul Indeed, they were attacked on those grounds. Very cautiously, I'd say they were aiming at something like what we see in Singapore, where the state intervenes in preaching. Of course, very different worlds. This is only to say that they did not consider themselves utopians.

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

Should religion be separated from politics? Liberals in nineteenth-century India had a surprising answer:

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@aaomarokheda Thank you! Your observation is spot on.

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

Indian liberalism has been mocked as little more than mimicry. The British laughed at the ideals preached by “Jabberjees” at the Indian National Congress. Indians have not been much kinder to those raised on an “English diet”. The jibes have only multiplied since 1947 — “kala sahibs”, “Macaulayputras”, the “Lutyens” cabal.

But there was more to India than meets the eye. By focusing on the grievances raised and compromises made by liberals in British India, we have overlooked what liberals imagined and tried to do in Indian India. This is their story…

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@Bellarykar Thank you so much Nikhil! :)

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

In a seminal essay, “The Absent Liberal”, Ramachandra Guha ventured that Indian liberalism “is a sensibility rather than a theory”, a contention affirmed in the late lamented CA Bayly’s Recovering Liberties.

It has only taken two decades, but I finally have a rejoinder. We have been looking in the wrong place. Indian liberals did develop a theory—not for British India but for Indian India.

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

There is an easter egg in there too...

It took forever but I was able to track down and restore the only surviving copy of Mama Parmanand's English and Native Rule in India (1868)

This was one of the very first pamphlets to circulate the country. It was a remarkable production that directly challenged the Viceroy

Parmanand paid a heavy price for writing it. But it transformed his life, and ours too -- because it motivated Indian liberals to flock to the Native States in the hoping of making them bastions of progress

If you read only one thing about the origin and progress of Indian liberalism, read this stunning pamphlet..

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

For the fuller story, do see my new book, The Birth of Indian Liberalism, which launches on May 26

It contains a 100 page introductory essay that traces the story of Indian liberalism. And of course it restores Mama Parmanand's groundbreaking Letters to an Indian Raja which has been carefully edited and corrected

https://t.co/7K0KQeEnm3

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@CafeEconomics @PramitWorld Thanks so much @CafeEconomics :) It's out on May 26. I owe you a copy by way of thanks for the help and advice!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@deep007_bond007 🙂

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@DrGeneCallahan Well, both are necessary. Sentiment can underwrite, but can't replace, institutions and laws.

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@surajyengde Thanks Suraj! :) Parmanand was arguably Phule's most important backer. The story is in the book!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@NikhilShembekar Now live: https://t.co/SZyfH9Nh1d

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@ADropInDSky Thank you so much for your support Anshuman!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@Pranjal90985707 Hope you like it!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@dhruvtrehan9 @irfhabib Thank you!

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@NikhilShembekar Preorders start today! I jumped the gun by a few hours.

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@rgfufeva 😁

[Rahul Sagar @rahulsagar]

@ShamikaRavi @irfhabib Thanks @ShamikaRavi !