If Annie Besant promoted the emancipation of women in a deeply patriarchal society, B.G. Horniman campaigned tirelessly for the freedom of the press. These are two of the seven “brave renegades” Ramachandra Guha profiles in his new book, Rebels against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom. What unites them, writes Guha, is the courage they displayed in their personal lives, the depth of their commitment, and the timelessness of what they lived and struggled for. An excerpt:
In my country, the rise of nativism and xenophobia in recent decades has been both immense and intense. National and especially religious parochialism is rife. ‘Garv se kaho Hindu ho’— Proclaim with Pride that you are a Hindu—such is the leitmotif that has accompanied the rise to power of the political movement known as Hindutva. Hindus, it is now said, are destined to be the world’s Vishwa Guru, teachers to the rest of humanity. They have apparently nothing to learn from or gain from the world in return. Although this book has not been written for the nativists and xenophobes, I hope that some members of that tribe might read it too. For here are seven quite remarkable individuals, all foreign-born, all white-skinned, who identified so completely with Indian aspirations. In the course of fighting non-violently for India’s liberation from colonial rule, all were interned or deported by the British. Yet it is not merely as ‘freedom-fighters’ that we should remember them. Quite apart from what they did in the sphere of politics, they each enriched and enhanced the life of the Indian nation in so many different ways.
