Question

describe the process of nation building in post independence India.

Answer 1

Is India a “nation”, a “state”, a “multi-national state” or a “civilizational state”, or a “geographical expression” to use the phrase used by Winston Churchill? What problems, challenges and difficulties is India facing and experiencing in the process of nation-building? How can the emerging “New Indian Nation” achieve its aspiration / goal of nation-building in the face of challenges from divergent religious, cultural, linguistic, caste, class, and regional groups? Is the new state with its democratic, secular and human rights objectives able to build an inclusive and integrated social and political system? Do minorities, ex-untouchables, tribal groups and women still feel alienated and secluded from the mainstream, and how can their integration be achieved? Can the recent initiatives by the Indian political system to follow the policies of inclusive growth lead and contribute towards this process of nation building? Is there a gap in the constitutional vision of nation-building and the attempts by successive federal/national governments to build a strong, secular, democratic and multicultural federal nation? Have we deviated from the Gandhi-Nehru model of nation building? These and similar other questions will be analyzed in the lecture.

Professor Abdulrahim Vijapur is the Visiting ICCR (Indian Council of Cultural Relations) Chair at Carleton University for Fall 2013. He is Professor and former Chairman, Department of Political Science and former Director, Centre for Nehru Studies at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh., India. He previously worked as Director (1996-1999), Centre for Federal Studies, Hamdard University, New Delhi and was Professor, Ford Foundation Endowed Chair in Dalit Studies, at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University) New Delhi (2005-2007). He has authored, co-authored, edited or co- edited eight books. His publications cover fields such as Dalit Studies; Minority Rights; Human Rights and the United Nations; Human Rights issues in Islam, India, and the Third World; and Federal Nation Building in India.