Just out! Another interview featuring me and the inimitable Romila Thapar (1:10 hrs). In his questions, Shoaib Daniyal, political editor at Scroll, focused more on the interface between history and modern politics—a major topic we discuss in Speaking of History. This well-produced video also has Prof. Thapar (94) in great form. Do watch!

Why Hindutva loves to hate Romila Thapar | Scroll Adda
“Very few things are as controversial in today’s India as its history. The academic discipline now sits at the heart of popular politics, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its Hindutva supporters using India’s medieval past to power its politics. Into this battlefield rush in writer Namit Arora and India’s most famous historian, Romila Thapar. In their new book Speaking of History, Thapar and Arora deconstruct what the discipline means in India today, the role of popular history and why ideas such as perpetual Hindu-Muslim conflict say more about the present than the past. In this episode of Scroll Adda, Thapar opens up about what it has been like being attacked by the Hindutva right for so long and why she thinks academic history will, eventually, prevail over short-term politics.” (more here)