Theorizing a Bengali Nation

This book explores the philosophical and political roots of the United Bengal movement of 1947 that emerged as a final bid to keep the province united against Partition. Through Abul Hashim, one of its architects, it explores the idea of an independent Bengali nation in the years preceding Independence and examines the underlying tensions of the concept of a Muslim-led independent Bangalistaan and its repercussions on a sizeable Hindu minority. Focusing on Hashim’s writings and political contributions, this monograph highlights his vision of an aesthetic identity rooted within religious principles as well as civic ideals in a new united Bengal, where common law underwritten through religious ideals did not need to be necessarily opposed to western discourses of a modern state.

A major, new intervention, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, especially the Partition, politics, and South Asian studies.

Sucharita Sen is Associate Professor of politics at the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities (JSLH), O.P. Jindal Global University (O.P. JGU), Haryana, India. She completed her PhD at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2020. She received her MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies from the University of Cambridge in July 2013. Her areas of interest are the study of nationalism, ethnic identity constructions, and issues of modernity. This book is primarily based on her doctoral thesis.