“Brave Hearts of Bharat, Vignettes from Indian History: book is reclaiming our history one hero at a time says Rajeev Chandrashekhar

New Delhi: As we celebrate ‘ Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts paid its homage to the heroes of India. In the same series of events a book was launched namely “Brave Hearts of Bharat, Vignettes from Indian History” by Vikram Sampath and published by Penguin, India. It is an anthology of 15 stories of men and women and their indomitable spirit of freedom and courage. The chief guest of the event was Shri. Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister for State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology and guest of honour present at the event was Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President ICCR, Government of India and former MP, Rajya Sabha. There was a panel discussion and the panelist was Prof. Meenakshi Jain, Historian, and Shri. Sanjeev Sanyal, Member Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Dr. Anand Ranganathan, Scientist, Author and Columnist. Dr. Sachidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA was also present on the occasion.
Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar while speaking at the event said that, our learning of the history was bereft of heroes other than Gandhi and Nehru. He further added that nation is judged and benchmarked by various narratives but is also marked by pantheon of heroes. He while talking about the book said, this book is about “reclaiming our history one hero at a time.” Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, while speaking at the event said that, “it is truly unputdownable book and something which provokes you to think about the past”. It provides the reader some sort of continuity and re-telling of history. He further talked about the contents of the book and said that the citations of the book are thorough and adequate. The book is scholarly attempted and popular too which makes it book of commendable balance.
Dr. Sachidanand Joshi, while addressing the audience at the book launch event said that, he is privileged to see youngster at the event and mentioned Dr. Vikram Sampath’s deep relation with IGNCA and how it is his alma mater, it’s like home coming for him. While talking about the book he said that it is a remarkable book and the title of the book, ““Brave Hearts of Bharat, Vignettes from Indian History” is a strong statement in itself as it includes ‘Bharat’ in the title and not ‘India’. He reiterated that history has its own importance and there is a need to revisit and re-invent history and most neglected part in Indian history is writing of history. He concluded by saying that attempt to re-invent and revisit history is on the right path.
Dr. Vikram Sampath while talking on the occasion of his book launch said that, the problem he faced while choosing the heroes was whom to choose and whom to leave. He also added that that the narrative of defeatist nation needed to be challenged and he has attempted that through writing of this book. This book was written to occupy the mind space and bring the subaltern heroes to the mainstream. He also said that it is not jingoism, but the story of true, real and genuine people and added that civilisational outreach was important for ‘Indic Imagination’. He further added that history and politics come hand in hand and we should stop hyphenating it. The other panelist too added their remarks and views about the book like Anand Ranganathan, said that the book has rebuilt history. Prof. Meenakshi Jain said that she is in fundamental agreement with the central theme of the book and added in this context that, “history is not weakened by past but how they are taught”. Shri Sanjeev Sanyal said that the book has involved a new experience as it is born out of the conversation between the author and Shri Sanjeev because he mentioned that in history we seem to lose all the battles. Therefore, there must have been some resistance and that is how after research Dr. Vikram Sampath came out with stories of resistance. He also said that the book reclaims the heroes of the past and redefine the narratives of history. The book launch event ended with questions and answer session. One of the prominent questions asked was what source qualifies for mainstream history? If the answer is in affirmative then do we feel the need of multiple histories? This was answered by Prof. Meenakshi Jain and she answered it by saying that, vernacular sources will open up a whole new dimension of history.