While India's freedom struggle is often remembered for its nonviolent approach, remarkable individuals like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sukhdev, and Rajguru actively pursued revolutionary methods, conducting rebellious activities within India. Meanwhile, others ventured abroad, forging alliances, securing funds and weapons for Indian revolutionaries, assassinating British officials in London, conspiring against colonial authorities, and establishing organisations, parties, and committees, often while navigating complex love lives. Two such remarkable figures are Virendranath Chattopadhyay, alias Chatto, and M.N. Roy. In this episode, Kavitha Rao chronicles the extraordinary journeys of these two individuals.

References

1. Kavitha Rao: Website, X, Instagram
2. Books: Spies, Lies and Allies: The Extraordinary Lives of Chatto and Roy, Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine, The Librarian
3. Daughter of the Earth: A Novel by Agnes Smedley
4. Giulia Lazzari by Somerset Maugham
5. The Multiple Careers of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: In conversation with Nico Slate- Episode 7 of Navigating India
6. Transnational resistance and fictive truths: Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, Agnes Smedley and the Indian nationalist movement by Purnima Bose
7. A Glimpse of My Life: Autobiography of the Indian Revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil, translated from the Hindi by Awadhesh Tripathi
8. Why have Indian historians failed to combat ‘WhatsApp history’? By Shoaib Daniyal
9. Ramachandra Guha, Peter Frankopan, William Dalrymple, Manu S Pillai, Srikar Raghavan, Ira Mukhoty, Rollo Romig, Sam Dalrymple
10. Rama Bhima Soma: Cultural Investigations into Modern Karnataka: In Conversation with Srikar Raghavan- Episode 10 of Navigating India
11. New India Foundation
12. A Journalist’s Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India: In conversation with Rollo Romig- Episode 11 of Navigating India
13. Gender bias in men’s reading habits still exists by Claire Shanahan: “This research confirms that while women read books by women and men equally, men overwhelmingly reject books written by women in favour of male authors”