History of South Asia

As part of a series of connected inquiries, this paper focused on the regional ethnic/religious movements of the Pashtuns/Pathans, the Sikhs and Dravidian/Tamil activism before independence.
While the formation of political identity in pre-independence South Asia is most often associated with pan-Indian forces of the nationalist movement, regional identity-building is often neglected or relegated to the background. Though the main
political forces of the time, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League,
were themselves composed of different regional sub-groupings, both aimed at
objectives comparable in their reach beyond a particular region and for the lure of
power over the whole of India. To fill this gap, a comparative study of regional
politics under colonial rule might be required. This paper focused on ethnic and
religious movements of an independent stature and a somewhat indigenous political
nature before independence. It builds on a conceptual framework which was laid
out in an earlier article on the subject. (Ethnic and religious identities in colonial India: a conceptual debate. Also here on academia.edu) The twenties and thirties of this century with their high tide of the nationalist movement gave a strong boost to mass support for regional political parties aiming at an ethnic or religious appeal. After
independence their concepts, organisations and leadership networks extended right
into the body politics of the young states of India and Pakistan.
For the purpose of comparison, I would distinguish between three types of regional
political reflexes relying on ethnic and religious support: (1) major activist,
(2) minor activist and (3) loyalist movements. Their political status varied. At some point they were independent, on other occasions they belonged to one of the major South Asian movements, the Indian National Congress or the Muslim League; and at other times all three options applied simultaneously. When a local group championed a
particular cause like the administrative amalgamation of the Oriya-speaking tracts
of various provinces it lobbied for whatever support it could get, be it within
Congress, any other party, or independently.