From Movement to Government

For a long time the provincial autonomy phase of the Indian national movement was largely ignored by historians. However, it is now becoming increasingly evident that vital changes in power equations occurred during that period. Starting from this premise, Visalakshi Menon provides a detailed account of the Congress Ministry of 1937-39 in the United Provinces and explores the internal dynamics of an organization performing the dual function of a government in power and a movement spearheading the anti-imperialist struggle. She amply demonstrates that this period was not a dormant one as generally believed, and that it actually ’pulsated with a new life and a new vision’. Based on largely unused primary documents combined with interviews with freedom fighters, this important book provides a fresh perspective on an important but hitherto neglected period of modern India’s political history.