Indian nationalism
Indian nationalism is an instance of civic nationalism. It is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, but was fully developed during the Indian independence movement which campaigned against nearly two centuries of British rule. Indian nationalism quickly rose to popularity in India through these united anti-colonial coalitions and movements. Independence movement figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Jawaharlal Nehru spearheaded the Indian nationalist movement, with the Indian National Congress playing a major role.
India's independence in 1947 was coupled with separation from Muslim-majority Pakistan, with that nation being carved out of British India's northwestern and eastern regions. Afterwards, Prime Minister Nehru and his successors continued to campaign on Indian nationalism in the face of border wars with both China and Pakistan, with the latter clashing several times over the Kashmir border region. After the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 and the Bangladesh Liberation War, which resulted in East Pakistan's independence, Indian nationalism reached its post-independence peak. However by the 1980s, religious tensions reached a boiling point, the Indian National Congress lost its political dominance and became more authoritarian, and Indian nationalism sluggishly collapsed in the following decades. Despite its decline and the rise of religious nationalism, Indian nationalism and its historic figures continue to strongly influence the politics of India and reflect an opposition to the sectarian strands of Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism.
National consciousness in India
India was first unified as a single state under Maurya Empire in 3rd century BC. Much of India has also been unified by later empires, such as the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire in the early modern era.Conception of Pan-South Asianism
India's concept of nationhood is based not merely on territorial extent of its sovereignty. Nationalistic sentiments and expression encompass India's ancient history as the birthplace of the Indus Valley civilisation, as well as four major world religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Indian nationalists see India stretching along these lines across the Indian subcontinent. Mahatma Gandhi argued that the presence of ancient Hindu pilgrimage centres in the corners of India indicated an older consciousness of Indian unity.Ages of war and invasion
India today celebrates many kings and queens for combating foreign invasion and domination, such as Shivaji of the Maratha Empire, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, Kittur Chennamma, Maharana Pratap of Rajputana, Prithviraj Chauhan and Tipu Sultan. The kings of Ancient India, such as Chandragupta Maurya of the Maurya Empire and his successor Ashoka of the Magadha Empire, are also remembered for their military genius, notable conquests and remarkable religious tolerance.The Mughal emperor Akbar was known to have a policy of religious tolerance and syncretism.
Colonial-era nationalism
The consolidation of the British East India Company's rule in the Indian subcontinent during the late 18th century brought about socio-economic changes which led to the rise of an Indian middle class and steadily eroded pre-colonial socio-religious institutions and barriers.The emerging economic and financial power of Indian business-owners and merchants and the professional class brought them increasingly into conflict with the British authorities. A rising political consciousness among the native Indian social elite spawned an Indian identity and fed a growing nationalist sentiment in India in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The creation in 1885 of the Indian National Congress in India by the political reformer A.O. Hume intensified the process by providing an important platform from which demands could be made for political liberalisation, increased autonomy, and social reform.
Congress leaders preferred dialogue and debate with the Raj administration to press their political demands. Unlike these moderates or loyalists, who opposed violence, the nationalist movement grew increasingly strong, radical, and militant in Bengal and Punjab, with smaller yet notable movements emerging in Maharashtra, Madras, and other parts of southern India.
International history
British views and influence
From the British perspective, the creation of a unified India began with and was only made possible by their conquest of the subcontinent ignoring that much of India had previously been unified under domestic powers like Maurya Empire, Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. With their introduction of the Aryan Invasion Theory, proposing that most modern Indians descend from ancient invaders, it was implied that their presence in India was no more unnatural than that of the Hindus and the Muslims. As the rulers of India, they had an ambiguous view of Indian nationalism, envisioning a process of yielding greater autonomy to the colony while depending on it for their global dominance.British sports such as cricket became part of the nationalist movement over time, with victories against the British by unified Indian teams offering a nonviolent means to push for independence. The nationalist movement also found other ways to adopt elements of British culture while opposing British rule.
Other foreign influences
and other figures associated with the 19th-century unification of Italy were greatly admired by many early Indian nationalists. Sri Aurobindo described the nationalist sentiment of his time as the "sweet harmony between the new ideal of Mazzini and the old ideal of Sannyasa".B. R. Ambedkar, a major figure in the postcolonial drafting of the modern Indian Constitution, took note of the historical challenges of nation-building in several other societies. He was influenced by his education at Columbia University in the United States.
International networks
By the early 20th century, Pan-Asianism became part of anticolonial discourse within the nationalist movement.Due to the manner in which British India grew to annex and administer territories beyond the traditional frontier of India, certain groups like the Arabs and Burmese once professed some support for being included within Indian nationalism before developing their own local nationalisms.
''Swadeshi''
The controversial 1905 partition of Bengal, dividing the region along religious lines, escalated the growing unrest, stimulating radical nationalist sentiments and becoming a driving force for Indian revolutionaries.The Gandhian era
pioneered the art of Satyagraha, typified with a strict adherence to ahimsa, and civil disobedience. This permitted common individuals to engage the British in revolution, without employing violence or other distasteful means. Gandhi's equally strict adherence to democracy, religious and ethnic equality and brotherhood, as well as activist rejection of caste-based discrimination and untouchability united people across these demographic lines for the first time in India's history. The masses participated in India's independence struggle for the first time, and the membership of the Congress grew over tens of millions by the 1930s. In addition, Gandhi's victories in the Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha in 1918–19, gave confidence to a rising younger generation of Indian nationalists that India could gain independence from British rule.National leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Azad, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, the Lal Bal Pal trio, and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan brought together generations of Indians across regions and demographics, and provided a strong leadership base giving the country political direction.
Final years
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten came to India to discuss the eventual outcome of the British departure. At one point, he offered a plan to Nehru to make the various regions of India autonomous provinces, which Nehru strongly rejected; Lakshman Menon, grandson of Nehru's principal adviser V. P. Menon, referred to the plan as "Plan Balkan".Independence
Upon independence on 15 August of that year, India maintained formal links with the dissolving British Empire through its Commonwealth membership and Dominion status. The latter was abandoned in 1950, an anniversary now celebrated as Republic Day.Beyond Indian nationalism
Indian nationalism is as much a diverse blend of nationalistic sentiments as its people are ethnically and religiously diverse. Thus the most influential undercurrents are more than just Indian in nature. The most controversial and emotionally charged fibre in the fabric of Indian nationalism is religion. Religion forms a major, and in many cases, the central element of Indian life. Religious nationalisms are often dependent on mutual opposition. Ethnic communities are diverse in terms of linguistics, social traditions and history across India.Hindu Rashtra
An important influence upon Hindu consciousness arises from the time of Islamic empires in India. Entering the 20th century, Hindus formed over 75% of the population and thus unsurprisingly the backbone and platform of the nationalist movement. Modern Hindu thinking desired to unite Hindu society across the boundaries of caste, linguistic groups and ethnicity. In 1925, K.B. Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Nagpur, as a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation.Vinayak Damodar Savarkar coined the term Hindutva for his ideology that described India as a Hindu Rashtra, or a Hindu nation. This ideology has become the cornerstone of the political and religious agendas of modern Hindu nationalist bodies like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, both of whom are closely associated with the RSS. The RSS leads the Sangh Parivar, a collective of Hindutva. These particular demands are based upon ending laws that Hindu nationalists consider to be special treatment offered to different religions.