Why Hindutva loves to hate Romila Thapar - Scroll Adda

What this episode covers

Very few things are as controversial in today’s India as its history. The academic discipline now sits at the heart of popular politics, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its Hindutva supporters using India’s medieval past to power its politics.Into this battlefield rush in writer Namit Arora and India’s most famous historian, Romila Thapar. In their new book “Speaking of History”, Thapar and Arora deconstruct what the discipline means in India today, the role of popular history and why ideas such as perpetual Hindu-Muslim conflict say more about the present than the past.In this episode of Scroll Adda, Thapar opens up about what it has been like being attacked by the Hindutva right for so long and why she thinks academic history will, eventually, prevail over short-term politics.Producer: Raghav KakkarEditor: Hyder HabibHost: Shoaib DaniyalComments: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Scroll Adda?

This episode is 1 hour and 8 minutes long.

When was this Scroll Adda episode published?

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

What is this episode about?

Very few things are as controversial in today’s India as its history. The academic discipline now sits at the heart of popular politics, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its Hindutva supporters using India’s medieval past to power its...

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