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In 1940, Mohamed Ali Jinnah rose to deliver his infamous two-nation theory speech in Lahore.
It is a “dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality” since they “belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literatures”, the soon-to-be founder of Pakistan claimed.
Jinnah’s speech was likely one of the most consequential in history. Seven years later, British India was divided on communal lines in a partition so bloody that South Asians are still grappling with its consequences.
Lahore 1940 to Bengal 2026
Given this history, it is remarkable to see a minister from West Bengal – a state that is the outcome of Bengal’s Partition in 1947 – write a piece backing the two-nation theory. The idea of a “composite cultural community spanning religious fault lines” was a “myth”, Swapan Dasgupta held. He repeated a few paragraphs later that a “composite Bengali identity was a nice, serving myth”.
That Hindus and Muslim in...
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