Sanjib Goswami

At The Crossroad Sanjib Goswami

The book presents six separate research articles that I had written over the years. It does not have one single theme and as such each chapter has a different approach. Three chapters in the book are focused on thematic topics of India (Gandhi & Modi, Hinduism and Folklore) while the other three chapters have a focus on North East of India. The lead essay, on Gandhi and Modi, which lends its name to the sub-title of the book, is a novel take on how Gandhiji's vision has been implemented through many of the policies introduced by Narendra Modi as Prime Minister since May 2014. In effect, the article presents how Gandhi's vision for India, left unfulfilled over decades by the Congress, is being implemented by Narendra Modi. The book also outlines the theoretical base for Modi's economic philosophy. Often called Modinomics, the economic philosophy of Modi is a welfare capitalist bottom-up economic approach of self-reliance or swadeshi. Similarly, the other articles analyses the impact of colonialism in India, especially the North East, and how these colonial underpinning have led to an incomplete decolonization in the region. A chapter on folklore explores how even folklore and oral history has become subject to colonial underpinnings in India. Removing these underpinnings is a challenge to unearth the true heritage of India at the crossroad. The book also has an appendix of Gandhi writings, and an article on Settler Colonialism which is relevant to interpret the triangular social formation in North East India. To help readers understand the context of each article, an overview of that article precedes the said article. As each article is complete by itself, readers may like to read and enjoy each chapter separately, independent of the entire book. Bringing together six themes into one book is never an easy task. While each article is different, yet they do carry a common theme: all the articles are on historical interpretation of India in the colonial and post-colonial period. In his foreword to the book, written by Dr. Bibek Debroy, well known economist and Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, he mentioned "Dr Goswami is a historian and a researcher and the six essays in this volume illustrate the impeccable quality of his research [...] This is a very rich collection of essays. Indeed, one can go further and suggest that each of these essays deserves to be spun out into a full-fledged book. However, until Sanjib Goswami decides to do that, this wonderful collection will have to suffice".