Reassessing Secularism and Muslim Belonging in Early Postcolonial India

Since independence, Muslim belonging in India has been anchored using the language of secularism. In the last decades the rise of Hindu nationalist forces has led many to announce that India's secularism is in crisis. This paper reassesses secularism in early postcolonial India, avoiding the well-trodden territory of Nehru's published works. Instead, it explores contests over the definition of secularism, and the question of Muslim belonging, at several layers of Indian government and society.