Indian secularism : a social and intellectual history, 1890-1950 / Shabnum Tejani.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [266]-296) and index.

1. A Hindu community in Maharashtra? : cow protection, Ganpati festivals, and music before mosques 1893-1894
2. Regionalism to nationalism : Swadeshi and the new patriotism in Maharashtra 1905-1910
3. From 'religious community' to 'communal minority' : Muslims and the debates around constitutional reform 1906-1909)
4. The question of Muslim autonomy : the Khilafat movement and the separation of Sind 1919-1932
5. From untouchable to Hindu : Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the depressed classes question 1932
6. From nationalism to secularism : defining the secular citizen 1946-1950.

Many of the central issues in modern Indian politics have long been understood in terms of an opposition between ideologies of secularism and communalism. Observers have argued that recent Hindu nationalism is the symptom of a crisis of Indian secularism and have blamed this on a resurgence of religion or communalism. Shabnum Tejani unpacks prevailing assumptions about the meaning of secularism in contemporary politics, focusing on India but with many points of comparison elsewhere in the world. She questions the simple dichotomy between secularism and communalism that has been used in scholarly study and political discourse. Tracing the social, political, and the intellectual genealogies of the concepts of secularism and communalism from the late nineteenth century until the ratification of the Indian constitution in 1950, she shows how secularism came to be bound up with ideas about nationalism and national identity.