Five myths about the partition of British India – and what really happened

August 21, 2022August 21, 2022 Mohammed Abbasi

Navtej K Purewal, SOAS, University of London and Eleanor Newbigin, SOAS, University of London This August marks 75 years since the partition of the Indian subcontinent. British withdrawal from the region prompted the creation of two new states, India and Pakistan. The process of transferring power grossly simplified diverse societies to make it seem like dividing social groups and drawing new borders was logical and even possible. This decision unleashed one of the biggest human migrations of the 20th century when more than ten million people fled across borders seeking safe refuge. Anniversaries can be a critical moment to pause … Continue reading Five myths about the partition of British India – and what really happened

How one atheist laid the foundation of contemporary Hindu nationalism

November 10, 2021 Mohammed Abbasi

Saba Sattar, The Institute of World Politics India’s position as a secular nation is under threat. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the country’s 200 million Muslim minority population has been increasingly targeted. Over the past … Continue reading How one atheist laid the foundation of contemporary Hindu nationalism

India stands at electoral crossroads

April 9, 2014 Mohammed Abbasi

India starts voting today, and if one were to believe the hype surrounding the electoral bid by Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), then the polls are a mere formality. The widely held expectation in India, propagated by a credibility-challenged media, is that Modi is a shoo-in for the post of prime minister. But opinion pollsters and media pundits have not always shown accuracy in understanding subtler realities of the world’s largest democracy. They could have goofed up again. This Monday marked the start of an unprecedented exercise in democracy – the biggest general election in history. The first of 814.5 million … Continue reading India stands at electoral crossroads