Indian Nationalism State of the Debate

T V Sathyamurthy This historical overview of the nationalist discourse analyses the three main tendencies represented by the Indian National Congress, the Hindu nationalists and the communists in the pre-independence period. With regard to post-independence period, it distinguishes between the newly emerging local elites-based regional political forces on the one hand, and popularly based democratically inspired movements with local autonomy as their cornerstone, on the other.