What Do Historians Do, Mr. Chetan Bhagat? Read This!

NEW DELHI: Chetan Bhagat courted controversy recently for a tweet that reads: “What do historians do? I am genuinely curious. This happened. Then this happened. Then this. Ok work done for the day.”

It’s almost not worth dignifying the above tweet with a response, but I will take the opportunity to post a lecture delivered by historian Prof. Irfan Habib at Kennedy Auditorium, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh on October 07, 2015.

Prof. Habib talked about “Building The Idea Of India” and effectively demonstrated, better than any counter I could come up with, what it is that historians do, whilst taking on the worldview of people like Bhagat and reiterating what India has stood for.