For about a hundred years, from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th, Maharashtra was the crucible of political activism and social reform. The state’s contribution to the making of modern India rivals, and perhaps even exceeds, that of Bengal. At our Online Talk #RenaissanceState, part of our month-long #MumbaiSwaraj exhibition on Mumbai’s role in the freedom struggle on the occasion of 75 years of independence, author and journalist Girish Kuber talks about the pioneering individuals from the state who laid the bedrock of Indian independence, and the watershed events in the state that brought it about.

About the author

Girish Kuber is the editor of Loksatta and writes frequently in the Indian Express. He is the author of Renaissance State - The unwritten story of the making of Maharashtra and several other books, including six in Marathi.