Revista de Ciências Políticas e Assuntos Públicos
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History, National Identity and Politics of History Textbooks in India

Jatin Kumar

This paper seeks to understand and analyse the transformative and transitional aspect of national identity in India. National identities, it's argued, have emerged either out of a civic model that originated in the European context and, was mediated by factors such as territory, political equality, ideology, and political culture among others; or it followed the path of an ethnic model that evolved in most non-western societies and were predominantly shaped by the local rituals and traditions, popular mobilization, vernacular language, customs and so on. This paper argues that the post-colonial state of India has followed both models of national identity. The journey of the Post-Colonial State of India started with the civic model which has now transitioned into an ethnic model with variations in the intensity of the transitions. The discourse of Indian identity, India's secular identity (Civic Model) considers the internal diversity of the country as the main basis of India's national identity. India's multi-linguistic, multi-religious, multicaste, and democratic system with equal rights defines India's secular state. The Hindu nationalist identity (Ethnic Model) of India consists of the idea of majority religiosity, homogeneous ethnicity and the division of self (Hindu) and Other (Muslims/Christians). The Hindu nationalist identity seeks to define the Indian nation based on Hindu religiosity and caste homogeneity. The paper will interrogate how have the shifts in national identity been manifested, contested, constructed and impacted Indian Politics.