This introduction frames a selection of papers that encourage a richer spatial understanding of the years before the Partition of India. The papers respond to two types of questions. One type is spatial (at what scale do we approach Partition? Through which spaces should we attempt to understand both micro and macro processes? Movements across what distances constituted Partition?). The second type is temporal (what timescales do we invoke when approaching Partition? Of what was it the endpoint? What sort of memories were invoked and made during India’s multiple partitions?).

In the present work, it is my endeavour to discuss the growth of the Muslim politics in the Punjab from 1919 to 1947. The study of this period forms an important and interesting subject of research for a variety of reasons. The period from 1919 to 1947 marks an important phase in the history of the Punjab. At the close of the World War I in 1919, the Punjab was passing through a very critical period. The passage of the MontaguChelmsford Reforms, the Rowlatt Bills and Jallianwala Bagh tragedy created anarchy in the province.

Abstract: In this paper we shall explore the move from localised to politicised identities in Bengalisociety and evidence how religious affiliation became a central consideration within thisshift. Te growth of communalism, we shall argue, has much to do with the colonialstrategy of establishing separate electoral systems for Hindus and Muslims, cementingthe separation between these religious groupings.