M.K. Gandhi, Media, Politics and Society

Chandrika Kaul is Reader in Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. In addition to several edited collections, her key monographs on the media and empire include, Reporting the Raj: the British Press and India (2004, 2017), and Communications, Media and the Imperial Experience: Britain and India in the Twentieth Century (2014, 2017).

“This edited book brings Gandhi’s checkered relations with media to the centre-stage of analysis, thereby exploring Gandhi both in national and international contexts. The work thus virtually draws inspiration from disciplinary fields such as history, politics, literary and religious studies, media and popular culture.” (Arun Bandopadhyay, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Vol. 64 (2), 2022)“It is highly rich in content, many of facts presented and analysed in this book are either not known or not much talked in public space. … this book contains a wealth of authentic information about Mahatma Gandhi. It provides objective analysis of his thinking and actions, which shaped the history of that period. It has messages for all of us today and will be relevant even tomorrow. It is highly recommended across all spectrum of humanity.” (Vishwa Mohan Katoch, Indian Journal of Leprosy, Vol. 93, 2021)“The book is an exploration of Gandhi’s tryst with modernity, a world order which he apparently repudiated and was yet unable to dispense with altogether. … Chandrika Kaul’s book has been eminently successful, as promised by her, in filling in the many absent themes in the very scanty scholarly considerations of Gandhi’s utilization of media politics to negotiate the Raj, and in relocating these themes firmly in a comprehensive discursive universe shaped by the conjunction of Gandhi, media, politics and society.” (Tapan Basu, The Book Review, Vol. 45 (4), April, 2021)

• ​1. Brief Introductory Remarks- Chandrika Kaul.- 2. “This cable...was not in my words”: Gandhi, the Telegraph and Political Communication in the British Empire- Amelia Bonea.- 3. Gandhi’s Evolving Discourse on Leprosy- Sanjiv Kakar.- 4. The Global Gandhi of the Muslim Vernacular Press: Mahatma as Monumental Peasant and the Prophetic Rose in the Urdu Pamphlets of an early 20th century Delhi Sufi- Timothy S. Dobe.- 5. Gandhi and the Bengali Intellectuals: Perceptions and portrayal of his ideas in contemporary vernacular journals in the 1920s and 1930s- Sarvani Gooptu.- 6. Gandhi and Broadcasting: Missing Narratives in Media, Nationalism and the Raj- Chandrika Kaul.- 7. Gandhi and the Muslim League: The Dawn in 1947- Gopa Sabharwal.- 8. Gandhi in 1947: Self Fashioning, Print Culture and The Republic of letters- Anjana Sharma.- 9. A Modern Mahatma? Use and Misuse of Gandhi in Popular Culture- Mei Li Badecker.