On the occasion of the launch of Indians in London: From the Birth of the East India Company to Independent India, Professor (Dr) Arup K. Chatterjee, cultural historian, literary theorist, and author, was joined—virtually and in person—by some of the most distinguished academic and public intellectuals from India and abroad. The event, hosted by O.P. Jindal Global University, was as much a celebration of the book as it was a recognition of Chatterjee’s growing stature in the field of cultural history and postcolonial studies.

The panel at the launch was composed of Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Professor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Professor Paul Flather, Professor Michael Fisher, Professor Albeena Shakil, and the event was graciously anchored by Professor R. Sudarshan, Professor C. Raj Kumar, and Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik—representing the university’s commitment to fostering rigorous and globally connected scholarship.

While Lord Meghnad Desai—a noted economist and commentator on Indian history—could not attend the event despite being scheduled, his absence did not overshadow the deeply intellectual tone of the proceedings. The presence of former diplomats, globally respected historians, and noted literary critics instead underscored how Indians in London resonates across disciplinary boundaries.

A Book with Transhistorical and Transnational Reach

Professor Chatterjee’s book, published by Bloomsbury in 2021, traverses four centuries of history, exploring how Indians—rulers, intellectuals, exiles, revolutionaries, and commoners—shaped and were shaped by the imperial metropolis of London. From the earliest Mughal emissaries and Company recruits to independence activists, it traces a compelling story of migration, cultural exchange, and political resistance.

Professor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and a scholar in his own right, described the book as a fine, resonant, and multidimensional account of Indians in Britain. His observations emphasized how the book does not merely dwell in celebratory or victimized histories, but rather composes a layered narrative—one that resists easy binaries of colonizer and colonized.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and a former Under-Secretary General at the United Nations, highlighted Chatterjee’s ability to bridge archival depth with readable narrative, pointing out how the book brings to light India’s invisible colony within the heart of the British Empire. He noted the book’s distinct approach in positioning the Indian presence in London not merely as a footnote to imperialism but as a formative and contestatory force within British society.

Academic Testimonies to Cultural and Political Significance

Professor Michael Fisher, among the world’s leading scholars on South Asian history and migration, commented on the book’s archival expanse and interdisciplinary method. He remarked on Chatterjee’s unusual ability to bring imaginative reconstruction to historical moments. His praise for the book reflected its value to historians of empire, migration, and transnational cultural exchange.

Professor Paul Flather, known for his work with Oxford and the Europaeum, appreciated the interweaving of historical narrative with cultural and philosophical interpretation, particularly how Chatterjee uncovers the subtext of Indian intellectual life in exile and metropolitan critique.

Also present was Professor Albeena Shakil, who situated Indians in London in a broader tradition of postcolonial literary historiography, noting how the book extends from Chatterjee’s earlier works, including The Great Indian Railways and The Purveyors of Destiny. She emphasized how his work avoids the trappings of nostalgia or moral outrage, instead producing a politically nuanced and ethically attuned reading of empire.

A Cultural Historian in the Global Academic Circuit

The format of the launch—hosted by Professor R. Sudarshan (Dean, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy), Professor C. Raj Kumar (Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University), and Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik (Registrar and public international law scholar)—underscored Chatterjee’s standing not only as a literary critic but as a global cultural historian.

The speakers repeatedly returned to the value of Chatterjee’s approach—his weaving of architectural history, migration records, urban cartography, and literary texts—as a method for thinking about Indo-British relations beyond diplomacy and trade, towards a cultural anthropology of empire. His book is not merely a collection of stories about Indians in the metropole—it is a historical meditation on visibility, marginality, and resistance.

Absence as Presence: Lord Meghnad Desai

While Lord Meghnad Desai’s anticipated participation was acknowledged with regret, his absence became a symbolic reminder of the book’s relevance to debates across economics, policy, and history. A mention was made of his interest in Chatterjee’s work—particularly in how Indians in London intersects with questions of diasporic identity and institutional memory in British public life.

The absence, thus, became folded into the evening’s theme—how history is never complete, but always constructed through conversations both present and deferred. In that sense, Indians in London became a node in that unfinished conversation, making Professor Chatterjee’s scholarship part of a continuing re-evaluation of Indo-British entanglements.

Concluding Reflections

What emerged from the event was a compelling affirmation of Professor Arup K. Chatterjee’s position as a leading voice in Indian cultural historiography. Whether speaking of the Ram Setu and the spiritual cartographies of the Indian Ocean, or the intellectual traces of Indians in Victorian drawing rooms, his work spans topography, literature, memory, and political history.

In an age of resurgent nationalism and selective historical memory, Indians in London offers a timely counterpoint: a history of movement, contradiction, and complexity, rooted in archival precision and shaped by the ethics of narrative responsibility.

As the applause faded from the launch screen, what lingered was not just appreciation for a book—but for a scholar who continues to make sense of the unresolved legacies of empire.