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3 - Secularization of Politics: Muslim Nationalism and Sectarian Conflict in South Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

By
Sadia Saeed
Edited by
Humeira Iqtidar  and
Tanika Sarkar
Humeira Iqtidar
Affiliation:
King's College London
Tanika Sarkar
Affiliation:
Jawaharlal Nehru University
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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
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Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia , pp. 50 - 74
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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