Birth of Postcolonial South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh

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Birth of Post-colonial South Asia India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh

• October 6, 2008
• Based primarily on Bose and Jalal
• Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism
• Jahan, Bangladesh

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Main questions

• What was the nature of the political and
  institutional developments in India and Pakistan?
  
• Why did we have democracy in India and military
  dictatorship in Pakistan?
• Why did Bengalis fight a War of Liberation?
• What was the nature of the political and
  institutional developments in Bangladesh?
• How are these histories reflected in contemporary
  events in the countries?

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Recap 1 August 15, 1947

• India achieves independence and incorporates
  West Bengal and Assam
• Pakistan is created incorporates East Bengal
  (the East Wing, or East Pakistan) and territory
  in the northwest (the West Wing, or West
  Pakistan)
• Jinnah becomes governor general of Pakistan
  Nehru, the PM of India
• The map

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Recap 2 Two Nation theory

• First articulated in the Presidential address to
  the All India Muslim league in 1930 by Allama
  Iqbal, the famous poet, philosopher and
  politician.
• Argued that the aspirations of two different
  communities, especially when one was a minority,
  and the other a majority, could be addressed
  within one state
• Was in disagreement with both Nehru and Gandhi
• In Indias nationalist discourse this came to be
  known as Muslim separatism.

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Recap 3 Savarkar and Hindutva

• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the President of the
  Hindu Mahasabha
• Advocated the idea of Hindu Rashtra and supported
  the two-nation theory
• His famous article Who is a Hindu? argued that
  more than a religion, Hindus were ethnically and
  territorially connected to India

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Recap 4 Colonial rule and the Nature of
identities

• Both Hindus and Muslims fractured by class,
  region and rural-urbal divide, sect, caste,
  doctrine
• This too complex to hence the effort to forge one
  Muslim and one Hindu identity
• For this allegiance was sought with the elites
• In the end, partition was a combination of these
  factors, domestic elite politics and the
  arbitrariness of colonial power.

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Partition by W.H.Auden

• Pg 155 of Bose and Jalal.
• Full text here
• The poem is about the work of Cyril Radcliffe who
  actually designed the Partition of the territory
• To think do you know of any other country/region
  where borders have been imposed arbitrarily? What
  have been its consequences?

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Question I

• What was the nature of the political and
  institutional developments in India and Pakistan?
  

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India Nature of the political and institutional
developments

• Centrism
• Dominance of elected politicians, particularly
  parties, and particualrly the Congress
• Democracy
• Fundamental rights
• Economy state intervention
• Overall Centrist, interventionist but liberal,
  accommodation of minorities through
  constitutional measures

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India

• Indias two goals emerging from the struggle
• Social transformation and
• Projection of a unified nation
• Jalal suggests these are contradictory Why?
• Single party dominance in a multi-party democracy
• Laid the ground for patronage politics

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Pakistan Nature of political institutional
developments

• Conception of Pakistan
• PPunjab
• AAfghan
• KKashmir
• S Sindh
• Tan from Baluchistan
• What did this mean for the Pakistani state?

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State formation in Pakistan (2)

• What did this mean for the Pakistani state?
• The tension between provinces and the centre
  was inscribed into the very heart of the polity
• In this conflict, bureaucracy rather than party
  emerged as victorious.

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Pakistan (3)

• Tensions with India, Kashmir situation etc., also
  created insecurity
• This led in turn to a strengthening of the
  military
• Resource scarcity
• Assassination of first PM Liaqaut Ali Khan
• By 1951, the US saw this as an opportunity to
  extend Cold War politics

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Sources of Power Pakistan

• Military
• Bureaucracy
• Landowning Classes
• Prime Minister and Party in government
• President
• Religion Religious Leaders
• External relations (in particular, with the US)

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II. Why the difference?

• Three factors
• Concept of the center
• Pre-existing and non-existing state structures
• Consequences of partition

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Q III-IV Bangladesh

• Why did Bengalis fight a War of Liberation?
• What was the nature of the political and
  institutional developments in Bangladesh?
• Link to map and timeline

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Turning points in History

• 1952 Language revolution
• 1971 march Beginning of the Liberation War
• 1971 - Sheikh Mujib arrested and taken to West
  Pakistan. In exile, Awami League leaders proclaim
  the independence of the province of East Pakistan
  on 26th March. The new country is called
  Bangladesh. Just under 10 million Bangladeshis
  flee to India as troops from West Pakistan are
  defeated with Indian assistance
• Dec 16 1971 Surrender of the Pakistan Army
  (termed Victory Day)

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Birth of Bangladesh

• Internal colonialism
• Challenge of facing both a state apparatus and a
  political community
• Disarray of civil bureaucracy and the military
• Schism between collaborators and patriots
• Institutionalization of the freedom fighters
  into a political entity

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Bangladesh

• Continuing militancy
• Debates over the constitution extent of
  political power of the Prime Minister
• Mujibbad Mujibism nationalism, socialism,
  democracy and secularism
• Supposed to correct the deficiencies of communism
  and capitalism (the third way)

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Bangladesh timeline

• 1971-5 The Mujib era. This is the formative
  period, associated with a strong
• nationalist and statist fervour,
  with Mujibur Rahman and his
• party Awami League in power
• 1977-81 The Zia regime. This is the
  beginning of military rule in
• Bangladesh, marked by the
  adoption of Islam in the constitution
• 1982-91 The Ershad regime. Military rule, and
  declaration of Islam as state religion
• 1991-6 the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
  regime, with Khaleda Zia as Prime Minister
• 1996-2000 The second Awami League regime, with
  Sheik Hasina as leader
• 2001-2006 Coalition government headed by
  the BNP
• 2006-present Caretaker government, postponement
  of elections, declaration of a state of
  Emergency and political violence