Book contents
- Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia
- Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Languages of Secularity
- 3 Secularization of Politics: Muslim Nationalism and Sectarian Conflict in South Asia
- 4 Temple Building in Secularising Nepal: Materializing Religion and Ethnicity in a State of Transformation
- 5 Secularization and Constitutive Moments: Insights from Partition Diplomacy in South Asia
- 6 Tolerance in Bangladesh: Discourses of State and Society
- 7 In the Void of Faith: Sunnyata, Sovereignty, Minority
- 8 Pillayar and the Politicians: Secularization and Toleration at the End of Sri Lanka’s Civil War
- Index
- References
3 - Secularization of Politics: Muslim Nationalism and Sectarian Conflict in South Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2018
By
Book contents
- Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia
- Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Languages of Secularity
- 3 Secularization of Politics: Muslim Nationalism and Sectarian Conflict in South Asia
- 4 Temple Building in Secularising Nepal: Materializing Religion and Ethnicity in a State of Transformation
- 5 Secularization and Constitutive Moments: Insights from Partition Diplomacy in South Asia
- 6 Tolerance in Bangladesh: Discourses of State and Society
- 7 In the Void of Faith: Sunnyata, Sovereignty, Minority
- 8 Pillayar and the Politicians: Secularization and Toleration at the End of Sri Lanka’s Civil War
- Index
- References
Summary
This essay examines the relationship between democratic politics and secularization in British India. Empirically, it focuses on the relationship between the controversial Ahmadiyya community and Muslim/Pakistani nationalism in colonial India and postcolonial Pakistan. It argues that the roots of anti-Ahmadiyya politics in Pakistan can be traced to historical specificities of institutionalization of mass democratic politics in British India. By pegging electoral politics to religious community, the British colonial state made questions about religious authenticity central to Muslim political life. This dynamic has continued to shape the political field in Pakistan, leading a broader trajectory of desecularization characterized by state-sanctioned exclusion of religious minorities from full citizenship.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
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