Tyranny of Partition: Hindus in Bangladesh and Muslims in India

The establishment of new nation-states after the partition of British India in 1947 not only required new geographical boundaries but also a cognitive map with included and excluded. This book concerns the ‘tyrannical’ workings of such borders on the mind of nation-builders in both Bangladesh and India. The author also shows however that there are other stories to tell about the event of 1947, its history and its aftermath. Members of the so-called religious minorities interviewed by Sinha-Kerkhoff fiercely contest the past that is embodied in state-supported partition rhetoric. In the end, the author argues that if the continuation of the two nation-states circumscribed by geographical borders is desired, their cognitive maps have to be altered through new mental borders that de-partition these societies.