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Chapter 8 India and the Punjab Problems of national unification and of religious and linguisic rights have been fundamental to modern Indian politics and history. India has experienced not only the partition of British India into India and Pakistan , but also insurgencies in Nagaland and other parts of the northeast and a long-standing sentiment on the part of some in favor of Kashmiri independence or accession to P a k i ~ t a n . ~ ~ " Although most ethnic conflicts in India do not raise the specter of secession, many ethnic and linguistic groups fear the loss of their homelands and cultural identities in the face of the modernization of Indian society and the internal migration which almost inevitably follows.52" For example, the state527 of Maharashtra claims a district in neighboring Karnataka, on the grounds of linguistic affinity; the Chief Minister of Sikkim has demanded that the central government recognize the rights of Nepali speakers, who constitute 70% of Sikkim's population; and the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas of West Bengal fought for two years for an autonomous Gurkhaland. The crisis in Assam, which was partially resolved in August 1985, has now shifted from the grievances of the Assamese to the grievances of the tribal and Bengali people of the state who feel prejudiced by restrictions on illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the disenfranchisement of foreign nationals in Assam. These challenges to national unity are not new phenomena. The 525 Cf., e.g., Neville Maxwell, India, the Nagas and the Northeast (London: Minority Rights Group, 1980); Dilip Hiro, Insirle India Today (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976), chap. 17; and M.J. Akbar, India: The Siege Witlzitz (London: Penguin Books, 1985). 526 See, e.g., Myron Weiner, Sons of tlze Soil (Princeton, N J : Princeton Univ. Press, 1978). 527 Following Indian usage, "state" in this chapter refers to the sub-federal constituent parts of the larger Indian Union. Chapter 8 India and the Punjab Problems of national unification and of religious and linguisic rights have been fundamental to modern Indian politics and history. India has experienced not only the partition of British India into India and Pakistan , but also insurgencies in Nagaland and other parts of the northeast and a long-standing sentiment on the part of some in favor of Kashmiri independence or accession to Pakistan.525 Although most ethnic conflicts in India do not raise the specter of secession, many ethnic and linguistic groups fear the loss of their homelands and cultural identities in the face of the modernization of Indian society and the internal migration which almost inevitably follows. 526 For example, the state527 of Maharashtra claims a district in neighboring Karnataka, on the grounds of linguistic affinity; the Chief Minister of Sikkim has demanded that the central government recognize the rights of Nepali speakers, who constitute 70% of Sikkim's population; and the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas of West Bengal fought for two years for an autonomous Gurkhaland. The crisis in Assam, which was partially resolved in August 1985, has now shifted from the grievances of the Assamese to the grievances of the tribal and Bengali people of the state who feel prejudiced by restrictions on illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the disenfranchisement of foreign nationals in Assam. These challenges to national unity are not new phenomena. The 525 Cf., e.g., Neville Maxwell, India, the Nagas and the Northeast (London: Minority Rights Group, 1980); Dilip Hiro, Inside India Today (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976), chap. 17; and M.J. Akbar, India: The Siege Within (London: Penguin Books, 1985). 526 See, e.g., Myron Weiner, Sons of the Soil (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1978). 527 Following Indian usage, "state" in this chapter refers to the sub-federal constituent parts of the larger Indian Union. 152 Searching f ~ r Solutions pre-independence period was characterized by demands for special consideration or even sovereignty by various groups, such as the larger princely states and the populous Tamil and other Dravidian peoples in southern India. Indeed, the devolution of provincial autonomy under the Government of India Act of 1935 was intended to be the first step in a process whereby the provincial governments and the princely states would enter into an undetermined form of federati~n.~" The Indian Independence Act of 1947 was the legal basis for the transfer of sovereignty from the British crown to the Dominion governments of India and Pakistan. However, since the crown had had treaty relations with the nominally sovereign rulers of the Indian...

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