1st Edition

Nation-state and Minority Rights in India Comparative Perspectives on Muslim and Sikh Identities

By Tanweer Fazal Copyright 2015
236 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

234 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

234 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The blood-laden birth-pangs of the Indian "nation-state" undoubtedly had a bearing on the contentious issue of group rights for cultural minorities. Indeed, the trajectory of the concept ‘minority rights’ evolved amidst multiple conceptualizations, political posturing and violent mobilizations and outbursts. Accommodating minority groups posed a predicament for the fledgling "nation-state" of... Read more

Chapter 1. Introduction: The ‘Nation-state’ and its Citizens Chapter 2. Nationalism, Minority Rights and the Public Sphere: The Terms of an Emerging Discourse Chapter 3. Qaum, Millat and Ummah: Liminality in the Muslim Identity Discourse Chapter 4. Beyond Hybridity: Evolution of A Sikh Exclusive Identity; From Panth to Qaum Chapter 5. Muslim Perceptions: Nation, Identity and Rights Chapter 6. Sikh Narratives: Nationhood and its Discontents Chapter 7. Concluding Remarks: Comparative Perspectives on Muslim and Sikh Identities Bibliography Glossary

Biography

Tanweer Fazal is Associate Professor at the Nelson Mandela Centre, JMI, New Delhi, India. His previous publications include the edited book Minority Nationalisms in South Asia (Routledge 2012).

"This work should be of interest not only to political sociologists but also for historians and political scientists given its awareness of the historical archive, government reports, political debates in and outside the legislative assembly, etc." - Javed Iqbal Wani, Royal Holloway, University of London, South Asian History and Culture Volume 6,  Issue 4, 2015

Tanweer Fazal’s book historicizes this complex sociology of nationalism and the nation-state from the vantage point of minorities and the discourse of minority rights. […] As a historically conscious and comparative account of minority rights in India, this book is a remarkably valuable intervention in the field. […] Fazal’s book is an important analysis of the problematic discourse of minority rights in India. The book straddles a range of disciplines and methods and marks a notable interdisciplinary attempt to capture the dialectic between nation, nationalism, minority identities and rights in India.

Rajesh Dev, University of Delhi in Pacific Affairs