Claiming Citizenship and Nation: Muslim Politics and State Building in North India, 1947–1986

285 Pages·2021·12.314 MB·English

by  Aishwarya Pandit

CLAIMING CITIZENSHIP AND NATION
The book provides insight into the changing nature of Muslim politics and the
ideas of citizenship in independent India. It studies the electoral mobilization
of minority groups across North India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh where
Muslims have been demographically dominant in various constituencies. The
volume discusses themes such as the making and unmaking of the ‘Congress
heartland’ and the threat of revival of ‘Muslim communalism’, alongside
issues of representation, property, language politics, rehabilitation and citizen-
ship, politics of Waqf, personal law and Hindu counter-m obilization. The
author utilizes previously unused government and institutional files, private
archives, interviews and oral resources to address questions central to Indian
politics and society.
An important intervention, this book will be useful for scholars and
researchers of politics, Indian history, minority studies, law, political studies,
nationalism, electoral politics, partition studies, political sociology, sociology
and South Asian Studies.
Aishwarya Pandit is Associate Professor at Jindal Global Law School, O.P.
Jindal Global University, India. She was previously a visiting fellow at the
Centre for Developing Societies, New Delhi, India. She has also taught at
the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, India.

CLAIMING CITIZENSHIP
AND NATION
Muslim Politics and State Building in
North India, 1947–1986
Aishwarya Pandit
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Aishwarya Pandit
The right of Aishwarya Pandit to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by
her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
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marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pandit, Aishwarya, author.
Title: Claiming citizenship and nation : Muslim politics and state building
in North India, 1947-1986 / Aishwarya Pandit.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: "The book provides
insight into the changing nature of Muslim politics and the ideas of
citizenship in independent India. It studies the electoral mobilization
of minority groups across North India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh
where Muslims have been demographically dominant in various
constituencies. The volume discusses themes such as the making and
unmaking of the 'Congress heartland' and the threat of revival of
'Muslim communalism', alongside issues of representation, property,
language politics, rehabilitation and citizenship, politics of Waqf,
personal law and Hindu counter-mobilization. The author utilizes
previously unused government and institutional files, private archives,
interviews, and oral resources to address questions central to Indian
politics and society. An important intervention, this book will be
useful for scholars and researchers of politics, Indian history,
minority studies, law, political studies, nationalism, electoral
politics, Partition studies, political sociology, sociology and South
Asian Studies"-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021004603 (print) | LCCN 2021004604 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367335564 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032040127 (paperback) | ISBN
9780429320545 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Citizenship--India--Uttar Pradesh. | Muslims--Political
activity--India--Uttar Pradesh--History--20th century. | Islam and
politics--India--Uttar Pradesh. | Religious pluralism--Political
aspects--India--Uttar Pradesh. | Indian National Congress. |
Representative government and representation--India--Uttar Pradesh. |
Uttar Pradesh (India)--Politics and government--20th century.
Classification: LCC JQ617.A2 P36 2021 (print) | LCC JQ617.A2 (ebook) |
DDC 322/.10954209045--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004603
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004604
ISBN: 978-0-367-33556-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-04012-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-32054-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Global, India
To my mother Neelam and my husband Kartik
For their eternal love and humor

CONTENTS
List of figures and tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
Note on transliteration and place names xi
List of abbreviations xii
Glossary xiv
Introduction xvii
1 The making and unmaking of the Congress heartland 1
2 Muslim politics in India’s heartland 42
3 The making of the Hindi heartland 90
4 Property, rehabilitation and citizenship 127
5 The Husainabad trust: A case of Shi‘a heartland 163
6 Mandir–Masjid politics: Muslim appeasement and
Hindu counter-mobilization 196
Conclusion 222
Bibliography 229
Index 242
vii
FIGURES
1.1 The death of Congress in UP? 12
1.2 Congress election symbol 26
2.1 Indian or Muslim – no longer welcome in Pakistan 45
2.2 Conspiracy theory or reality 46
2.3 The ‘Loyalty’ test 52
2.4 The ghost of partition 80
4.1 Cloth situation in UP – rationing scheme 143
4.2 Are we being robbed? – insurance companies and business
of partition 149
5.1 Muharram in two cities 183
5.2 Tazia makers 184
5.3 Tazia procession and growing sectarianism 187
TABLES
1.1 Number of seats in the Lok Sabha, by state 25
2.1 Displaced persons settled in UP districts 50
2.2 Muslim representation in Congress (number of seats/430) 61
2.3 Minorities employed in the A.C.P.R.D (Prantiya Raksha
Dal), UP 65
2.4 The representation of minorities in the state services under
control of District Commissioner, UP 66
5.1 Statement showing the annual expenditure of the
Husainabad Trust, 1921 and 1922 171
5.2 Statement showing annual income of the Husainabad
Trust, 1921 and 1922 171
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is the result of my doctoral research that I began at Cambridge
in October 2010. It is the outcome of several drafts written in Cambridge,
Delhi and London and research trips undertaken in Delhi, Lucknow and
Aligarh between October 2010 and September 2014. This research would
not have been possible without the support of many people, and I would
like to express my gratitude for their contribution. First of all, this book
would have not been possible without the unflinching support of my doc-
toral supervisor Professor Joya Chatterji. I am indebted to her for her sup-
port while researching and writing my book, and it has been a great learning
experience for me. She ensured that the process of writing the book was a
thoroughly rewarding and enjoyable experience, and I cannot thank her
enough for that. I would also like to thank my examiners Professor Justin
Jones and Professor William Gould for their valuable feedback, which
helped me to improve my work. My friends and colleagues at Cambridge
and LSE have been very supportive, and I would like to thank Ali, Mohsin
Alam Bhatt, Alokeparna, Anshuman, Anjali, Amir, Alastair, Atiyab, Berenice,
Devyani, Derek, Mudrika, Maryam, Pallavi, Saumya, Sophie, Newal,
Sundeep, Laurence, Partha, Ishan, Patrick, Zhong, Margit, Gitanjali, Anish
and Caroline.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the staff, librarian and archi-
vists at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and the National Archives of
India, New Delhi especially Shashi and Jyoti madam for their help. The staff
at UP State Archives, Lucknow especially Jaskaranji and Pandeyji have been
very helpful in making documents available and photocopying them. I would
also like to thank the ADM Lucknow, Mr H.P. Sahi, and the staff for allow-
ing me to access the documents and files of Husainabad Trust at the Picture
Gallery Lucknow. A special thanks to Mr Pradeep Dubey, Tilottama Verma
and Mr Pravir Kumar for helping me access the documents housed at Central
Secretariat Library Lucknow and Central Record Room, Lucknow. A special
thanks to Mr Yashwant Deshmukh for letting me see some of his grandfa-
ther’s private papers. I would also like to thank Hilal Ahmed for constantly
encouraging me and looking at my drafts and giving his valuable feedback.
I would also like to thank Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Member of Parliament for
ix