Stereotypes About Religious Membership and Authentic National Identity
Further information: Muslim nationalism in South Asia and Hindu nationalismStereotypes about religious identification and national identity are intertwined in South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Often, respective national identities are given strength by means of a narrative of a religious/moral contrast, against negative stereotypes of a foreign, religious-other across the border.
In South Asia, the two-nation theory is the ideology that the primary identity of Muslims on the Indian subcontinent is their religion, rather than their language or ethnicity, and therefore Indian Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nationalities, regardless of ethnic or other commonalities. The two-nation theory was a founding principle of the Pakistan Movement (i.e. the ideology of Pakistan as a Muslim nation-state in South Asia), and the partition of India in 1947.
The ideology that religion is the determining factor in defining the nationality of Indian Muslims is also a source of inspiration to several Hindu nationalist organizations, with causes as varied as the redefinition of Indian Muslims as non-Indian foreigners in India, the expulsion of all Muslims from India, establishment of a legally Hindu state in India, prohibition of conversions to Islam, and the promotion of conversions or reconversions of Indian Muslims to Hinduism.
Read more about this topic: Turban Tide And Hindoo Invasion, In Asia, In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
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