M A I N   N E W S

Noted historian Bipan Chandra dies at 86
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 30
Noted historian Bipan Chandra died this morning, leaving behind a world of memories for his students and a repertoire of top-class historiography for researchers. Chandra, 86, died at his Gurgaon home after a prolonged illness. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi expressed grief at the death of Chandra and extended condolences to his family.

Remembered by students as a “legendary teacher” and by his contemporaries as a “mighty scholar”, Kangra-born Prof Chandra’s range of writings on modern Indian history remains unmatched.

From his path-breaking work on the moderates who laid the foundations of economic nationalism in the freedom struggle, to the discovery and publication of Bhagat Singh’s unknown work, “Why I am an Atheist”, Chandra left a clear mark in the world of academics by remaining free spirited and all absorbing.

“Bhagat Singh was a giant of an intellectual,” wrote Chandra in the introduction to a 2007 book he published as chairman of the National Book Trust to disseminate the martyr’s intellectual side.

“Prof Chandra was a great person to be with, strong but not dogmatic… a very popular teacher with a rare ability to combine teaching with research. His two-hour class at JNU would stretch into three, even four hours… He would hand down lessons in gender equality by asking the boys (instead of the girls) to help him brew tea whenever we gathered at his home for tutorials,” recalls Mridula Mukherjee, former Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, who attended Chandra’s last rites at Lodhi Road Crematorium here.

Among those who attended his rites were CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, social activist Shabnam Hashmi, political scientist CP Bhambri, economist Prabhat Patnaik and writer Madhu Kishwar.