Politics

Why Modi’s India sounds like Jinnah

As Muslims and Bengali-speaking Indians face questions over language, identity and citizenship, a country constitutionally founded in rejection of the Two-Nation Theory confronts an uncomfortable contradiction.

Utsa Pal
10 min read
Why Modi’s India sounds like Jinnah

At Surendranath Law College in central Kolkata, the immediate dispute was over attendance.

But after Mohammadi Tarannum, the college’s vice-principal and teacher-in-charge, left the campus under police protection on September 11 following a roughly 23-hour gherao, a section of students entered her chamber, lit incense sticks and sprinkled Ganga water across the room. They described the act as a ‘purification’ of the office.

Tarannum, who has taught at the institution for 25 years, said students...

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Utsa Pal
Utsa Pal
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