Includes bibliographical references and index.

At the time of Partition and the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, it was widely expected that India would be "secular," home to members of different religious traditions and communities, whereas Pakistan would be a homeland for Muslims, and an Islamic state. Seventy-five years later, India is on the precipice of declaring itself a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu state, whereas Pakistan has drawn increasingly narrow interpretations of what it means to be an Islamic state. Pakistan's once-eastern wing, now the independent nation-state of Bangladesh, has oscillated between professions of secularism and an Islamic ideology. Neeti Nair reveals how the various ideologies of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that were first debated in their constituent assemblies, evolved to support the claims of "hurt sentiments" of majoritarian communities - Hindus in India, and Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh.