The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches

At their best speechies righight the concerns of the times and inspire a nation to great acts From Surendranath Banerjee's 1878 speech on the issue of Indian unity MA Jinnah's address in 1940 calling for the creation of Pakistan from Homi Bhatha's espousal of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the 1960s to Rajiv Gandhi's remarkable address on disarmament in 1988 from Gopal Krishna Gokhale's find budget speech in the impernal legislative council in 1902 to Manmohan Singh's equally epoch-making one in 1992, great speeches have shaped the development of India as we know it today

The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches brings together over a hundred and fifty of the most influential and important speeches in our history, including Dadabhal Naoroji's maiden address to the House of Commons in 1892. Bhagat Singh's soul-stirring statement in court during his trial In 1930, Veer Savarkar's presidential address of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937 articulating 'there are two nations the Hindus and the Moslems, in India', and Jawaharlal Nehru's classic, Tryst with Destiny'. There are also others on an eclectic range of subjects-politics, economics, science, social and religious reform-by some of the best minds of India. C.V Raman and Jagadish Bose, Sir Syed Ahmad and Pherozeshah Mehta, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, P.C. Mahalanobis and Amartya Sen, among others.