The great Indian classic liberal that he was, Agarkar championed the cause of rationality and women emancipation in colonial Maharashtra.

What enabled this coalition of disparate groups was the Nehruvian Congress’ grip over political power which effectively turned India into one-party democracy and a radical left drift in economic policy.

The recent revival of interest in Shenoy has undoubtedly been enabled by India’s post-liberalization moment.

In Masani, Indian liberals should find a more appropriate icon to emulate.

Tarabai Shinde deserves to be known as one of the early feminists of India and a figure who espoused the cause of liberty through her commitment to equal rights for women.  

If the economic reforms exposed the Indian capitalists to outside competition, they also reduced the vulnerability of the capitalist vis-à-vis the union leaders.

In what could be seen as the unfolding of high modernist ideology, Quest’s criticism took the form of rationalist railing against the religious objection to family planning.

Ranade’s ideas were so distinct because he managed to have a fine blend of Indian sensibility and Western Liberalism.

Ambedkar argued, that the leading liberal figure reposed his faith in Congress, effectively paving way for a single party hegemony.

In his struggle against the caste system, Jyotiba Phule’s innovation lay in overturning the ideological foundation of what he called Brahmanical order.