among Hindus. An Indian leader of a moderate Hindu party, K. C. Tyagi,
comments that “there is often a tendency in India to treat Muslims as
them rather
than us. And this tendency does have terrible manifestations. Even today, by and
large, Muslims have not been admitted to what we call the Indian mainstream.”
The emergence of nationalism(s) in India is actually a modern vehicle for
many forces simultaneously at work: anticolonialist reactions, “patriotism” and
nationalism, ethnic, class, and regional differences, and economic competition.
The disturbing events of recent history in India demonstrate the potential
ugliness of the forces of modern nationalism at work, even within a democratic
order.
Nonetheless, the historical Muslim experience in India overwhelmingly
indicates the fruitful coexistence in which both Muslim and Hindu profoundly
enriched each other. The two cultures are now inextricably linked, cannot be
spoken of as civilizational “borders,” and have little option but to find some
newer forms of coexistence in the Indian state to come. In this sense, Islam has
indeed changed the course of history in India, but primarily through integration,
assimilation, and fusion. Muslims are diverse, disparate, and scattered across
India. Yet today, ironically, “Islam” has simply come to crystallize and embody
the resentments that many Hindus feel over many other issues that have nothing
to do with religion and everything to do with diverse communal struggles for
power and influence. In this context Muslims are only one of many communal
groups that compete on what can be a rough playing field. The role of Pakistan,
caught in its own shaky national identity, troubled geopolitical fears, and
involvement in Kashmir and Afghanistan, intensifies the problem. It would be a
tragedy if in modern times, narrow-minded forces on all sides should take these
deeply interwoven cultural strands and attempt to permanently rip them asunder.
It is reasonable to ask: If there had never been a British Raj, or any British
control of India as an imperial colony, would there have been an eventual
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