Four ideological turns in the construction of the Indian nation: Historical evolution and contemporary implications

Abstract For India, the construction of the nation has been a core task in its pursuit of internal integration and sustained stability as a modern nation-state. Built upon an exceptionally diverse social foundation, this process has been marked by inherent tensions and contested trajectories. In the case of India, a paradigmatic postcolonial and emerging state, the idea of the Indian nation has undergone four major shifts since the modern era. From the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, anti-colonial struggles fostered a trans-communal vision, enabling Hindus and Muslims, the two principal religious communities, to articulate a shared project of a united “Hindustan.” From the early twentieth century to the Partition of India in 1947, however, under the combined impact of the colonial “divide and rule” policy and intensifying communal mobilization, divergences between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the All-India Muslim League over the construction of the nation and its political arrangements became increasingly pronounced. Social and religious differences between Hindus and Muslims were progressively politicized and exacerbated, ultimately culminating in the Partition of India. From independence to the full assumption of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, India, drawing on the painful historical lessons of Partition, motivated by the pragmatic imperative of maximizing unity among the country’s diverse groups, and deeply influenced by Western liberal democracy and modern conceptions of the state, established through its Constitution the principles of the “civic nation,” centered on secularism and civic equality, which in turn guided the country’s integration process for several decades. Since the BJP came to power in 2014, India has increasingly turned toward reconstructing national identity around the framework of a “Hindu national community.” While this idea has strengthened cohesion among the Hindu majority, it has also intensified tensions among different religious communities and posed persistent challenges to the stability and coordination of state governance. The evolution of the idea of the Indian nation encapsulates the deep-seated tension between the imperative of national integration and the long-term coexistence of religious and social differences in a plural society. Through the spillover effects generated in political and governance practices, India’s trajectory offers important insights into national identity formation and governance in other multiethnic states.