The legacy of colonial rule
It would be naive to think that Indian governments prior to Narendra Modi yet post-1947 independence built a harmonious and inclusive society. For much of the time, the Congress party was in charge. Power mostly rested in the hands of upper caste and upper-class elites. The minorities remained marginalised. Governments rarely targeted them with hate rhetoric, though the anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi in 1984 was a terrible exception. Today, the country's minorities – especially Muslims – have become the targets of systematic and institutionalised hate campaigns. In this sense, the trauma of partition is still virulent.
Yet in Pakistan, too, faith-based identity politics matter, though not in the same way as in India. Radical Sunnis have managed to largely redefine "Islam" to reflect their own version of the faith, discriminating against others.
A popular adage says that the British colonial power ruled India with just 15,000 Brits in the country. They managed to control the huge subcontinent, because Indians contributed to and supported their rule for more than two centuries. Indeed, the upper castes largely flourished, as they had done previously under the Mughal emperors.
"Divide and rule"
As part of their colonising tactics, the British relied on a policy of divide and rule. They focused on pitting Hindus and Muslims against one another, inculcating religious identity as the primary identity. Historically, language, caste and class were of at least equal importance, with the caste system permeating faiths other than Hinduism. After the uprising of 1857, which involved Hindus and Muslims and which South Asians call the first war of independence, the colonial power stringently followed its divide-and-rule strategy.
The Congress party, formed in 1885, was the political forerunner in the fight against the British. It was not a Hindu organisation, though some Muslims nevertheless felt excluded. Accordingly, the All India Muslim League was founded in 1906.
Congress wanted India to remain united after independence, but the Muslim League insisted on a separate state, what would later become Pakistan. The reasoning was that, under Congress rule, Muslims would suffer as second-class citizens.
In the years preceding India's independence, tensions skyrocketed. 1946 saw the hatred culminate in the Great Calcutta Killings, a vicious communal riot between Hindus and Muslims. When the British relinquished their power, it took just a year for India and Pakistan to become separate states. In both countries, the new governments remained under the control of the established elites.
© D+C | Development & Cooperation 2023
Suparna Banerjee is a political scientist based in Frankfurt, Germany.