Contesting Identities in Bangladesh: A Study of Secular and Religious Frontiers

The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 was an epoch-making event within the post-colonial order of South Asia. Led by the middle classes, a bitter and bloody war of Liberation from Pakistan was fought, based on Bangladeshi peoples’ aspirations for democracy, identity and for a more progressive society. Bangladesh’s emergence as an independent secular state effectively shattered the ‘two nation theory’ that had formed the basis for the creation of Pakistan in 1947, and demonstrated that religion alone was not sufficient to forge a cohesive national identity. The new state of Bangladesh was the product of a ‘Bengali nationalism’ that arose to challenge West Pakistan’s economic exploitation of its Eastern wing, its attempt to impose religious hegemony, and its repression of Bengali political voice.1