Citizen Refugee: Forging the Indian Nation after Partition

306 Pages·2018·3.43 MB·English

by  Sen

Citizen Refugee
This innovative study explores the interface between nation-building
and refugee rehabilitation in post-partition India. Relying on archival
records and oral histories, Uditi Sen analyses official policy towards
Hindu refugees from eastern Pakistan to reveal a pan-Indian govern-
mentality of rehabilitation. This governmentality emerged in the
Andaman Islands, where Bengali refugees were recast as pioneering
settlers. Not all refugees, however, were willing or able to live up to
this top-down vision of productive citizenship. Their reminiscences
reveal divergent negotiations of rehabilitation ‘from below’. Educated
refugeesfromdominantcastesmobilisedtheirsocialandculturalcapital
to build urban ‘squatters’ colonies’, while poor Dalit refugees had to
performtheroleofagriculturalpioneerstoaccessaid.Policiesofreha-
bilitationmarginalisedsingleandwidowedwomenbytreatingthemas
‘permanentliabilities’.Theserichcasestudiesdramaticallyexpandour
understanding of popular politics and everyday citizenship in post-
partitionIndia.
UditiSenisahistorianofcolonialandpost-colonialIndia.Shestudied
history at Presidency University and Jawaharlal Nehru University in
India before being awared a DPhil in history from the University of
Cambridge.ShehastaughthistoryandSouthAsianstudiesinvarious
institutions, including the European University Institute, the London
School of Economics and Political Science and Hampshire College.
In 2018, she joined the University of Nottingham as Assistant
ProfessorofLiberalArts.

Citizen Refugee
Forging the Indian Nation after Partition
Uditi Sen
UniversityofNottingham
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108425612
DOI:10.1017/9781108348553
©UditiSen2018
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andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2018
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyClaysLtd,ElcografS.p.A.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Sen,Uditi,author.
Title: Citizen refugee : forging the Indian nation after partition / Uditi Sen,
NottinghamUniversity.
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY,USA:Cambridge
University Press is part of the University of Cambridge, [2018] | Includes
bibliographicalreferences.
Identifiers:LCCN2017061461|ISBN9781108425612
Subjects:LCSH:Refugees–India–WestBengal–History–20thcentury.|
India–History–Partition,1947–Influence.|Hindus–India–WestBengal–
History–20thcentury.|Citizenship–India–History–20thcentury.|West
Bengal(India)–Politicsandgovernment–20thcentury.
Classification:LCCHV640.4.I4S472018|DDC305.9/06914095409045–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017061461
ISBN978-1-108-42561-2Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
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Contents
ListofFiguresandMaps pagevi
ListofTables vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xii
NoteonSpellingandTranslations xvi
Introduction 1
PartI FramingPolicy 21
1 UnwantedCitizensinaSaturatedState:Towards
aGovernmentalityofRehabilitation 23
2 HarnessedtoNationalDevelopment:Settlers,Producersand
AgentsofHinduisation 71
PartII RebuildingLives 113
3 ExilesorSettlers?Caste,GovernanceandIdentityinthe
AndamanIslands 115
4 UnrulyCitizens:Memory,IdentityandtheAnatomyof
SquattinginCalcutta 161
5 GenderedBelongings:State,SocialWorkersandthe
‘Unattached’RefugeeWoman 201
Conclusion 241
Appendices 251
SelectBibliography 257
Index 276
v
Figures and Maps
Figures
1.1 RefugeesfromEastPakistan,1950 page22
1.2 RefugeesfromEastPakistanatDandakaranya 22
2.1 BengaliRefugeesatCalcuttaPort,boardingaship
toAndamanIslands,1949 70
3.1 EastBengalirefugeesbuildhutsattheAndamanIslands 118
3.2 RefugeesfromEastPakistanatSouthAndamanIslands,1951 118
5.1 SketchplanofBansberiaWomen’sHome,c.1989(notto
scale) 231
Maps
0.1 IndiaandPakistaninJanuary1948 xviii
3.1 AndamanIslandsshowingsettledareasin1961 114
vi
Tables
1.1 Chronologicalstatementofexodusfromerstwhile
EastPakistantoIndia,1946–70 page42
1.2 Acceptedschemesofresiduaryrehabilitation,1962 60
2.1 PatternofrefugeeresettlementintheAndamanIslands,
1949–52 87
2.2 DisplacedfamiliessettledintheAndaman
andNicobarIslands,1953–71 106
3.1 RefugeessettledinSouthAndamanIsland,1949–52 120
vii