Our special and first guest to our series of interviews- Guftagu Dr Diniyar  Patel, is an  Assistant Professor of History at the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai. Previously, he taught in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina. He teaches courses on modern South Asia, the Indian nationalist movement, and the British Empire. Most of his research has focused on the life and career of Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-17), who, according to Dr Patel, is arguably the most significant Indian nationalist leader before Gandhi. Naoroji was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, became the first Indian elected to the British Parliament in 1892, and, in 1906, declared swaraj or self-government to be the policy of the Indian National Congress. In 2015, He received his PhD in History from Harvard University. His biography on Dadabhai Naoroji, Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism, was published by Harvard University Press in May 2020.

Dr Patel's academic research focuses on the Indian nationalist movement, Bombay/Mumbai, and the Parsi Zoroastrian community. He has received two Fulbright fellowships and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his research.

During the interview, we will discuss Dr Patel's research interests, academic and intellectual journey, and the journey of writing his first book, Dadabhai Naoroji. (In this podcast episode, )We will talk about the life and struggles of the pioneer of Indian Nationalism and various intrigues of his lesser-known public life.

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