The Centre de Sciences Humaines is pleased to invite you to the CSH Seminar
by
Aparna Vaidik
(Ashoka University)
on
Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal and Martyrdom
Followed by a discussion with Aditya Nigam
(Centre for the Study of Developing Societies )
On
Monday, 12 May 2025, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm IST
At
Centre de Sciences Humaines
IFI-CSH conference room (ground floor)
2 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi – 110011
To register: Please fill out the registration form
Abstract: Revolutionaries on Trial is a ground-breaking study of the infamous Lahore Conspiracy Case and its principal martyrs—Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru; and several of their associates. Based on a vast array of rare and unused materials from Indian, Pakistani and British archives, the book goes beyond the story of the Lahore Trial as one of miscarriage of justice. The book instead raises novel questions: why did the colonial state bother to stage a trial despite the vast repertoire of violence at its disposal? What more was there to the revolutionaries’ trial strategy other than using the process for propaganda? Is it possible to write a history of nationalism that incorporates acts of collaboration without the implicit moral judgement embodied in the term? In what way did the trial shift the public perception about the revolutionaries, if at all? Its narrative examines the spectacular performances of four sets of actors—the colonial state as the plaintiff, the revolutionaries as the defendants, the renegades as prosecution witnesses, and the Indian press and public as spectators. Lucidly written and grounded in impeccable scholarship, the book brings to vivid life the people and events of a trial that left an indelible imprint on the history of nationalism and revolution in India.
Speaker:
Aparna Vaidik is Professor of History at Ashoka University. She has previously taught at Georgetown University, Washington DC and University of Delhi and was educated at JNU, University of Cambridge, and St. Stephen’s College. She has to her credit a diverse set of monographs, journal articles and book chapters in volumes on environmental history, labor history, history of Indian nationalism and revolutionism, the history of the Indian Ocean and its islands and psychoanalytical history. Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal and Martyrdom (2024) is her most recent monograph.
For more info contact:
joel[dot]cabalion[at]csh-delhi[dot]com
laurence[dot]gautier[at]csh-delhi[dot]com
CSH Seminars are in hybrid mode. Please pre-register for offline and online registration before Monday, 12 May, 2:00 p.m. IST.
To attend at the venue: Please note the room capacity is limited. Seats will be reserved on a first-come first-served basis. Kindly bring ID proof to be granted access to the venue.
