Presents an analysis of Muslim political mobilization in the late 20th century, arguing that it emerged out of a sustained engagement with Bengali intellectual and literary traditions rather than from north Indian calls for a separatist Muslim state.

Pamphlets have usually been regarded as ephemeral literature with little permanent impact. This work demonstrates the historical value of this genre of political literature. The propaganda pamphlets help historians place a finger on the pulse of an extraordinarily important historical period when new ideas concerning the nation-state, the rights of the governed and forms of political protest complicated the political scene and opened up new fronts of conflict between the colonial state and the colonized subjects. This study devises innovative approaches to reading these pamphlets and generates new insights into the world of the pamphleteers thus providing the readers with a more nuanced understanding of the politics and political culture of early twentieth-century Bengal. In the process, the book makes an important contribution to the historical controversies that the politics of this period has generated among scholars of Indian nationalism.

This volume offers for the first time a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the making and maintenance of a modern caste society in colonial and postcolonial West Bengal in India. Drawing on cutting-edge multidisciplinary scholarship, it explains why caste continues to be neglected in the politics of and scholarship on West Bengal, and how caste relations have permeated the politics of the region until today. The essays presented here dispel the myth that caste does not matter in Bengali society and politics, and make possible meaningful comparisons and contrasts with other regions in South Asia. The work will interest scholars and researchers in sociology, social anthropology, politics, modern Indian history and cultural studies.

This book explores various aspects and processes of the twentieth-century Indian state, from the central, Union government down to grassroot-level in the provinces and villages.