Histories of the Political

Prathama Banerjee’s book offers a brilliant academic contribution to the histories of the non-western world with its primary focus on the Indian subcontinent. This book is about ‘histories of the political’ by exploring the question of what is ‘political’ in the context of modern India. Thus, its overall focus is on how the modern ideas of political practice emerged in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century Bengal out of different Indian philosophical traditions as well as influence of colonialism. Dipesh Chakrabarty’s deliberation is that modernity in the colony emanated out of the political conquest of the British. Thus, political modernity in India emerged with the influence of colonial rule, European models of enlightenment ideas and governance with their centuries of interaction with Indian societies and cultures, and vice-versa. This later resulted in creating modern ideas of representation, democracy, rights, sovereignty and so on.