Indian National Identity:

1. Secular or Hindu Indian National Identity:

2. Early India: Empire and Village • Maurya Empire (322-185 BCE) – Chandragupta – Ashoka – Buddhism – Dharma ( sacral laws governing universe and codes of conduct governing relations between social groups and individuals) • Gupta Period (4th – 6th Century AD) – Indian golden age • The world of the village – Pancha – Panchayat – dharma – relative social harmony – memory of Hindu greatness survived Mughal conquest

3. The Mughal Empire • Mughal dynasty 1526 – 1857 • Decline of empire began in 1707 after the death of the last great emperor Aurangzeb • Characteristics of Mughal rule – Rajni Kothari • Strong military emphasis • Separation of Muslim and Hindu communities • Clear center of political authority and bureaucracy • Failure to alter local institutions and village affairs • Legacy of Communalism

4. The British Empire in India • British East India Company – 1600 – secured trading privileges fro Mughal – controlled 2/3 of Indian sub continent by the 19th century • Policies focused on profit • Western education challenged, supplemented and or replaced indigenous education • Civil service dominated by a rising Hindu middle class; Muslims were displaced – Educated groups become core of Nationalist movement

5. Defining the Indian Nation-State • Sikhs defeated in 1840s; British forays into Afghanistan meet with disaster • Military conquest and enlighten government pragmatic combination of tactics advancing British rule • Effectiveness of British tactics created suspicions that contributed to Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 • Sepoy Mutiny viewed as a first war for independence but may have been a more conservative movement – nationalism and communalism

6. Reviving and Reforming the Hindu Tradition • Ranmohun Roy (1774 – 1833) – “Father of Modern India” – affirmed Hinduism while reforming repressive social practices – influenced nationalists such as Gokhale and Gandhi • AryaSamraj attempted to restore ideal Hindu past and criticized Islamic and Christian influences in India – influenced BharatiyaJanata Party • Indian National Congress 1885 dealt with these debates, politically articulate Muslims, and an ultimate decision for a secular India

7. The Indian National Congress • Establish and expand representational institutions for India • Bal GangadharTilak (1856-1920) – Eliminate British rule – opposed Age of Consent Act – combined opposition to government measures with defense of religious values as way of mobilizing public support • Moderates such as Gokhale hoped to persuade Britain to rule by Liberal principles and great Indian self-determination • Extremists instituted boycott of British governmental institutions and British economic goods and focused on renewed village self-sufficiency • All India Muslim League founded to counter a Hindu tinged Congress party

8. Congress and the Politics of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah • British Policies of Reaction and Reform • MorelyMinto Reforms recognized rights of Muslims as distinct community • Gandhi’s role in transforming the Congress into a mass movement • Satyagraha – non-violence – Amritsar massacre – communal violence – civil disobedience – resisting salt tax law – 1935 Government of India Act – compromise with Ambedkar gives greater representation to untouchables • The Growing Muslim demand for a separate nation-state • Insistence on communal representation moves to search for independent nation state • Jawaharlal Nehru’s impact on the independence movement and on the newly independent India • Ally of Gandhi but influenced by European democratic socialist tradition and supported the development of India as a planned economy and centralized nation state

9. Swaraj and Partition • 1946 Constituent Assembly elected to draft constitution and serve as the Provisional Parliament – Muslim League boycotted early meetings • 1947 – Separate state solution becomes inevitable despite Gandhi’s resistance – tremendous violence ensues as populations shift to the state of their choice – Gandhi fasted to stop violence – Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu militant

10. Pakistan: A Different Historical Trajectory • Pakistan becomes a Muslim nation but religious identity has not been sufficient to unify country or create a single vision of that nation’s future • 173 million people – Punjabis – Baloch – Pakhtuns – Afghan refugees – Indian Muslims from time of partition and those who left East Pakistan after 1971 civil war • Five constitutions, military rule, and recent instability associated with U.S. war on terror

11. The Ayodhya Dispute • The popular appeal of Lord Ram and the Ramayana • Presumably Muslim’s destroyed a temple dedicated to Lord Ram and built the Babri Mosque in early sixteenth century • Communal tensions have existed over this spot for a very long time including violence during the 1857 – 1858 mutiny • In the 1980s tensions over the Mosque were revived by the BharatiyaJanata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council). • A riot in 1992 resulted in destruction of the Mosque and eruption of communal violence that killed more than 1,000 Indians • The crisis has a legal legacy as Hindus attempt to gain rights to rebuild a temple dedicated to Lord Ram and other sites have similar disputes arise… Historical memory plays an important role in contemporary Indian politics

12. The Kashmir Confrontation • During partition Jammu Kashmir became a space of contention – Muslim majority state with a Hindu Maharajah – 1965 and 1971 wars fought over region – Chinese incursion into Indian claimed territory in the region has intensified Indian security concerns • Musharraf had pushed claims to counter criticisms for his cooperation with United States in the war on terror but some improvements have occurred including opening a bus route over line of control – Muslim fundamentalists and Hindu fundamentalists make negotiations over Kashmir difficult

13. Summary • Congress, as divided as it was, cooperated with a variety of other influences to bring about Indian independence • Partition ultimately broke the country in two – largely because of communalism – but this division intensified communalism • The issues of that were unresolved during independence continue to color India’s politics