Identity Crisis (In South Asia)‪.‬

Abstract: With the sunset of the 20th century fast approaching, it seems more prudent to take stock of the Indian subcontinent's past and present without making facile distinctions between the religious and the secular, the emotional and the rational, or nationalist and communalist. Once this is done, it becomes easier to assess not just the recent history but also the current political tendencies informing South Asia's trajectory into the next millennium. The growing role of regional parties in the making or unmaking of shaky coalition governments is hinting at a dynamic new equation between center and region in India.