ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the notion of communalism, its origins, and the extent to which it contributed to the 1947 Partition of British India. It understands communalism as a term that refers to bounded religious communities with a sense of a distinctive political identity and interest. The debates around whether communalism was produced by colonial rule and why India was partitioned are enmeshed. The contested history remains highly significant seven decades after independence, for Partition continues to cast a long shadow over society and the state in the Indian subcontinent.
