ABSTRACT
Postcolonial states have demonstrated more faith in the nation-state than their Western counterparts. This chapter provides the prevalent terrorism discourse and asks that the gaze be turned inwards to understand the legacy of colonial control and marginalisations, which legitimises territorial nation-states and challenges alternative ways of collective political and cultural existence. It addresses the Indian state's responses to this armed rebellion, labelled as left-wing extremism or terrorism that challenges the territorial sovereignty and integrity of India. The terrorism discourse has largely determined the self-perception of postcolonial nations and their anxieties around their statehood; they in turn continue to develop specific genealogical narratives about terrorism and its encounter with postcolonial modernity and its violences. The idea of nation as a shared community has been the most important inspiration for the resistance of colonial societies against imperial control. Prominent scholars of nationalism have envisaged the concept of 'nation' as an 'imagined community'.
