This book explores the experiences of people affected by the Partition of British India and princely states in 1947 through first-person accounts, memoirs, archival material, literature, and cinema. It focuses on the displacement, violence and trauma of the people affected and interrogates the interrelationships between nationalism, temporality, religion, and citizenship. The authors examine the mass migrations triggered by the 1947 Partition, amidst nationalist posturing, religious violence, and debates on crucial issues of refugee rehabilitation and redistribution of land and resources. It focuses on the drawing of the borders and the ruptures in the socio-cultural bonds within regions and communities brought on by demographic changes, violence, and displacement. The volume reflects on the significant mark left by the event on the socio-political sensibilities of various communities, and the questions of identity and citizenship. It also studies the effects of Partition on the politics of Bangladesh and India’s east and northeast states, specifically Bengal, Assam and Tripura. A significant addition to the existing corpus on Partition historiography, this book will be of interest to modern Indian history, partition studies, border studies, sociology, refugee and migration studies, cultural studies, literature, post-colonial studies and South Asian studies, particularly those concerned with Bengal, Northeast India and Bangladesh.

This book looks at migration through the lens of the Partition of India in 1947. The Partition uprooted millions of people from their homelands. This volume examines the initial difficulties faced by the refugees in settling down in their adopted land. It analyses the state’s efforts in facilitating the movement of refugees, the processes it initiated to resettle them after Partition, and the extent to which it was successful. This book also investigates the links between socio-political developments in contemporary India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as a result of the Partition. Drawing on archival sources, oral histories and literary representations, the contributing authors discuss and analyse the experiences of the migrated population. Part of the Migrations in South Asia series, this book will be an important read for scholars and researchers of migration studies, refugee studies, Partition studies, Indian history, Indian politics, and South Asian studies.

The Partition of British India in 1947 set in motion events that have had far-reaching consequences in South Asia – wars, military tensions, secessionist movements and militancy/terrorism. This book looks at key events in 1947 and explores the aftermath of the Partition and its continued impact in the present-day understanding of nationhood and identity. It also examines the diverse and fractured narratives that framed popular memory and understanding of history in the region. The volume includes discussions on the manner in which regions such as the Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) and North-East India were influenced. It deals with issues such as communal politics, class conflict, religion, peasant nationalism, decolonization, migration, displacement, riots, the state of refugees, women and minorities, as well as the political relationship between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Drawing on major flashpoints in contemporary South Asian history along with representations from literature, art and popular culture, this book will interest scholars of modern Indian history, Partition studies, colonial history, postcolonial studies, international relations, politics, sociology, literature and South Asian studies.

This book presents a systematic study of the transformation of the specific socio-political identity of the Muslims in Assam. It discusses the issues of Muslims under India’s ‘indigenous secularism’, Hindu nationalism and the rise of majoritarian politics; Muslim immigration into Assam after Independence; the Assam Movement and the shift of Muslims from being a vote bank to an autonomous force in the post-Partition politics of Assam; the role of Jamiat; and the divide between Assamese and the neo-Assamese. It explores the history and contemporary politics of the state to show how they shape the new context of Muslim identity in Assam, where previously an Assamese identity often prevailed over religious and linguistic identity. With the current debates on illegal immigration, the National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, this book will be a timely addition to the existing literature on Muslim minority politics in Assam and northeast India. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of political science, sociology, political sociology, minority studies, northeast India studies, demography and immigration studies, and development studies. It will interest those concerned with minority politics, communal politics, identity politics, migration, citizenship issues, and South Asian studies.

'A model work of historical scholarship'-Ramachandra Guha 'The most well-researched, comprehensive history of contemporary Assam ever written'-Partha Chatterjee The crucial battles of World War II fought in India's north-east-followed soon after by Independence and Partition-had a critical impact on the making of modern Assam. In the three decades following 1947, the state of Assam underwent massive political turmoil, geographical instability, and social and demographic upheaval, among others. Later, the truncated state suffered widespread unrest as various groups believed their cultural identity and political leverage were under threat. New social energies and political forces were unleashed and came to the fore. Definitive, comprehensive and unputdownable, The Quest for Modern Assam explores the interconnected layers of political, environmental, economic and cultural processes that shaped the development of Assam since the 1940s. It offers an authoritative account that sets new standards in the writing of regional political history. Not to be missed by any one keen on Assam, India, Asia or world history in the twentieth century.

We have grown up in a country where we were taught a distorted history, and some essential segments of our yesteryear have been obscured. Consequently, we were wronged, and we wronged others - unwittingly. Knowing our factual past is, therefore, vital to understanding the aberrations that make our present problematic. This book attempts to sensitise people on some crucial chapters of India, which have either been misrepresented or blurred. The Indian state of Assam has been distressed by several historical deceptions for over a century now, which have remained unaddressed. Thus, despite being one of the most fascinating territories inhabited by incredibly charming people, Assam is often in the national and international news, mostly for the wrong reasons. A case in point is a 1983 American magazine editorial in The New Republic that reportedly wrote, inter alia, “There are places - the Indian state of Assam is one – where the slaughter of children is a form of political expression.” The caustic comment was made in an apparent reference to the 1983 broad daylight Nellie massacre, killing countless newborns, toddlers, babies, infirm females, aged people and others indiscriminately in six hours of mayhem in the village on 18th February 1983. Dissemination of factual awareness about the disinformation spread earlier by British colonial rulers concerning the history of eastern India is, therefore, essential to end the present conflicts between the various communities and tribes of the region. With meticulous research backed by years of personal experience, septuagenarian author Subir wrote this book aiming to permeate ordinary peoples’ much-needed understanding of past realities and the prevalent circumstances that should help usher in peace and prosperity promptly in Assam.

This volume explores the rich pre-history, history, and oral history of the northeast region of India––a land-locked region that is home to over 350 ethnolinguistic communities. Despite its uniqueness and diversity, little is known to the outside world. The book studies the vibrant and diverse socio-political and cultural history of this region through a transdisciplinary perspective, covering a wide range of topics such as the pre-history, medieval and colonial histories of Assam, the geopolitics of the creation of independent states from undivided Assam, oral narratives from Manipur, prehistoric cultures of Meghalaya, the Naga National Movement, Sikkim’s Namgyal dynasty, and Tripura’s transition from monarchy to democracy. It also discusses the invaluable contributions made by Professor Mohammad Taher (1931–2015), who laid the foundation of geography in Northeast India. A compelling exploration of this geo-politically contested space, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of anthropology, archaeology, history, human geography, South Asian studies, and minority studies.

The Partition of India left in its wake far-reaching consequences for the northeastern state of Assam. Appearing to be caught in a time warp, the region continues to grapple with questions that engaged the public mind more than seven decades ago, before and immediately after the Partition. Alarmingly, issues such as immigration, demographic change, language, and identity have not only retained their relevance but have also gained an extra edge today. In this volume, the author outlines the present contentious issues confronting the state. Explaining the roots of these disputes and how the challenge posed by Assam held serious consequences for the nation as a whole, this work examines the developments that occurred in the years preceding Independence and the Partition. These developments have etched their effect on the society, politics, and economy of Assam, along with the entire northeastern region, in an indelible manner. As the volume reveals, the burden of those momentous years still rests heavily on Assam’s contemporary political scenario.

The fragmentation of Bengal and Assam in 1947 was a crucial moment in India's socio-political history as a nation state. Both the British Indian provinces were divided as much through the actions of the Muslim League as by those of Congress and the British colonial power. Attributing partition largely to Hindu communalists is, therefore, historically inaccurate and factually misleading. The Partition of Bengal and Assam provides a review of constitutional and party politics as well as of popular attitudes and perceptions. The primary aim of this book is to unravel the intricate socio-economic and political processes that led up to partition, as Hindus and Muslims competed ferociously for the new power and privileges to be conferred on them with independence. As shown in the book, well before they divorced at a political level, Hindus and Muslims had been cleaved apart by their socio-economic differences. Partition was probably inevitable.