Sit back and listen

The Penguin Book Of Modern Indian
Speches: 1877 To The Present
Edited by Rakesh Batabyal
916 pages
Rs595

Great Speeches Of Modern India
Edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Random House
454 pages
Rs395

To many Indians, the only great Indian speech they can remember off-hand starts, “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny”.

Great speeches seem to belong to those eras when language and sense were important means of communication. In today’s world of instant sound bytes, SMSese, emailese and blogging, one wonders.

However, two publishers have brought out books on Indian speeches at the same time. Random House’s Great Speeches of Modern India, edited by Rudrangshu Mukherkee, starts with Womesh Chandra Bonerjee’s speech on the opening of the Indian National Congress in 1885.

The first section of the book ends at 1947 and Mukherjee often juxtaposes the opposing points of view that came up during India’s freedom struggle.

Thus Sir Syed Ahmed Khan opposes the Congress in his “two nation” speech in 1885. Then, Lord Curzon emphasises the importance of protecting India’s monuments in a speech which many contemporary heritage conservationists would applaud.

Tilak says freedom is his birthright, Subhas Chandra Bose asks for blood in exchange for freedom, Mohammed Ali Jinnah gives Pakistan’s first and we reach our tryst with destiny.

When we look at the new India, Mukherjee’s choices can be whimsical — Vikram Seth at Doon school and three speeches by JRD Tata, as the earlier part was predictable.

Yet, you can dip into our modern wonders of oratory and either track a decline in public speaking in India or trace our evolution.

The Penguin Book Of Modern Indian Speeches edited by Rakesh Batabyal is a much more comprehensive tome. It starts in 1877 and gives you a fairly detailed insight into the history of modern India and the concerns of the people who shaped it — from Surendranath Banerjea on Rammohun Roy to Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the nuclear tests at Pokhran.

Batabyal segregates speeches into sections — the idea of the Indian nation, critiques of colonialism, social reform, nationalism and freedom.

There are nuggets here, like Jaipal Singh’s in defence of the Adivasi language or NG Goray opposing the Emergency and defending the freedom of the press. Education, the economy, the conflicts within the nation, labour and foreign affairs are some of the other areas.

This is a mammoth effort and a very satisfying exploration into Indian thought.  Speeches have a purpose. A toast to that.