Revolutionaries

The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom

By: Sanjeev Sanyal

Narrated by: Adwait Karambelkar

The history of India's struggle for freedom is usually told from the perspective of the non-violent movement. Yet, the story of armed resistance to colonial occupation is just as important. Names such as Vinayak Savarkar, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose, Bagha Jatin, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and Subhas Chandra Bose are still widely remembered. Their story is almost always presented as acts of individual heroism and not as part of a wider movement that had any overarching strategy or significant impact on the overall struggle for Independence.

In reality, the revolutionaries were part of a large network that sustained armed resistance against the British Empire for half a century. They not only created a wide network inside India but also established nodes in Britain, France, Thailand, Germany, Persia, Russia, Italy, Ireland, the United States, Japan and Singapore. At various points, they received official support and recognition from the governments of some of these countries. Even the internal dynamics of the Indian National Congress of the time cannot be understood without the revolutionaries, who enjoyed widespread support within the organization. This was no small-scale movement of naive individual heroism but one that involved a large number of extraordinary young men and women who were connected in multiple ways to each other and to the evolving events of their times.

Revolutionaries tells their story, one that is replete with swashbuckling adventure, intrigue, espionage, incredible bravery, diabolical treachery and shockingly unpredictable twists of fate.

©2023 Sanjeev Sanyal (P)2023 HarperCollins India

Goosebumps and pensive reflection

Thank you for getting out the truth about Bharat’s unsung great heros. In recent years we are seeing variously scholars doing excellent work on “purposely” hidden history of our great nation. May the truth prevail to balance the value of contributions of Gandhi to deserving levels than mere adulation. Thank you sir and really appreciate your story telling.

Great research and narration

What a great research and narrative of unknown facts which were suppressed.
It’s such a shame that collaborators suppressed these facts and misled us.
Thanks Sanjeev for doing the justice to all forgotten heroes

Comprehensive story about the Indian revolutionaries.

There is a need to bring the wholistic picture of the freedom struggle in India.

Thank You. A Real Gem

Thanks so much. We need more awareness on these aspects. Grateful to find your lectures and this book. No interruptions, and a more in depth story, not restrained to time constraints. Having this book in audible version made me feel was with friends, and made their memory live on.

Revealing the Hidden Truths of India's Independence

This book sheds light on overlooked chapters of India’s freedom movement—stories and sacrifices that are rarely acknowledged in mainstream education. It highlights the efforts of numerous revolutionaries whose contributions have been largely erased from popular narratives. It’s both enlightening and disheartening to realize how much of this history has been intentionally excluded from standard textbooks.

Revolutionaries

I just finished two minutes ago, and I am immediately starting the book over again. its an incredibly great piece of work, brovo to the author and all the work out into it.

Good stories but falls short

This book sets out to show that the violent revolutionaries were central to India’s fight for independence. I doubt one could show that without taking a broader view of the struggle and offering a theory as to why India became independent. I am left with thinking that the centrality of violent revolution might be an interesting hypothesis, but the book was unable to convince me that they were any more than a fringe (always excepting Bose). In any case, they were, at the least, an interesting fringe.
I found the narratives excessive pauses after each sentence irritating at first, but I almost got used to it by the audiobook’s end.