Pathway to India’s Partition: A Nation within a Nation 1877-1937 (Volume II)

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This volume seeks to analyse the evolution of Muslim nationalism from 1877 to 1937. This exercise has resulted in highlighting certain trends which have been so far either ignored or underplayed, at any rate in India. It, for instance, shows that the two nation theory was as old as the movement for Muslim awakening and solidarity and almost all its leaders firmly believed in it. Similarly the idea of Pakistan, instead of being born in 1933 with Rehmat Ali’s forceful espousal of it, is shown to be steadily circulating, particularly in the Punjab, since mid-1920s. Again, contrary to what has been generally imagined so far, Jinnah as well as Iqbal had become converts to that idea, as early as June 1937, before even the beginning of any serious talk for the installation of a so-called coalition government in U.P., and not after its failure. On the other hand, the volume also reveals the strength of the growing sentiment of Hindu nationalism in 1920s, particularly in the Punjab and Bengal. The situation created by the juxtaposition of the two nationalisms is underlined by Lala Lajpat Rai’s declaration in 1924 that in view of the general Muslim attitude a divided India might provide the only solution to the communal problem. Equally significant was Gandhi’s repeated assertion in 1924-5 that he saw no solution of that problem except through prayer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bimal Prasad

Professor Bimal Prasad, formerly Professor of South Asian Studies and Dean, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) and Indiaâ€™s Ambassador to Nepal, is at present Honorary Director, Rajendra Prasad Academy and Honorary Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (both in New Delhi). Before joining the School of International Studies, Professor Prasad was Research Fellow at the Columbia University (New York) and Professor of History, Patna University. In later years he was Senior Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds. Professor Prasad has authored and edited several books relating to Modern Indian History and Foreign Policy. His latest work, Pathway to Indiaâ€™s Partition, is a trilogy of which two volumes have already been published: The Foundations of Muslim Nationalism (New Delhi, 1999) and A Nation within a Nation (New Delhi, 2000). A close associate of J.P., Professor Prasad has earlier edited three single-volume selections of his writings: Socialism, Sarvodaya and Democracy (Bombay, 1964), A Revolutionaryâ€™s Quest (New Delhi, 1980) and Jayaprakash Narayan: Essential Writings, 1929-79 (New Delhi, 2002). Besides, he has authored Gandhi, Nehru and J.P. : Studies in Leadership (New Delhi, 1985) and Jayaprakash Narayan: Quest and Legacy (New Delhi, 1992).