Guha’s new book re-examines Gandhi legacy

Historian Ramachandra Guha’s upcoming book, Arguments with Gandhi, seeks to re-evaluate the Mahatma’s legacy by examining the fierce intellectual debates and disagreements he engaged in with prominent contemporaries, as well as the lasting imprint his ideas left on subsequent generations.

Slated for release on 2 October, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, the book uses Mahatma Gandhi as a central pivot to address enduring questions that continue to confront the modern world. These include resistance to political authoritarianism, systemic discrimination rooted in caste, gender, and race, as well as the pursuit of communal harmony, economic equity, and sustainable development without ecolo-gical destruction.

Published by HarperCollins

India, the volume positions Gandhi as both a compelling leader and a polarising figure. His steadfast views on ahimsa, social justice, secularism, and village-centric economic self-reliance often provoked intense reactions, drawing criticism and counter-arguments from several key figures of his time, including BR Ambedkar, Albert Einstein, Rabindranath Tagore, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

According to the publishers, the narrative presents Gandhi not as an unquestioned icon, but as a thinker whose ideas evolved through rigorous exchange and friction with rival worldviews. By placing these contentious dialogues at the forefront, Guha illustrates how debate was integral to the Indian freedom movement and essential to shaping post-colonial democratic thought.

Guha, one of India’s foremost biographical historians, has previously chronicled the leader’s life through acclaimed works such as Gandhi Before India and Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World. His latest work promises to offer readers a fresh vantage point on how Gandhi’s philosophy was tested, challenged, and refined through confrontation with opposing perspectives.

The book also explores how the fundamental questions raised during those histor-ical exchanges remain acutely relevant today, offering crucial insights into contem-porary political polarisation, environmental degradation, and global struggles for social justice and economic fairness.

Courtesy: pressreader.com, dt. 5.9.2026