State of Subversion This volume looks at the interface between ideology, religion and culture in Punjab in the 20th century, spanning from colonial to post-colonial times. Through a re-reading of the history of Punjab and of Punjabi migrant networks the world over, it interrogates the term ‘radicalism’ and its relationship with terms such as ‘militancy’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ in the context of Punjab and elsewhere during the period; explores the relationship between left and religious radicalism—such as the Ghadar movement and the Akalis – and the continuing role of radical movements from British Punjab to the independent states of India and Pakistan. Expanding the dimensions on the study of Punjab and its historical impact in the South Asian region, this book will interest scholars and students of modern Indian history, politics and sociology. Virinder S. Kalra is Senior Lecturer in sociology at the University of Manchester. He is the author of Sacred and Secular Musics: A Postcolonial Approach (2014). Widely published, his areas of research include Punjabi popular culture, British racism and themes in creative resistance. Shalini Sharma is Lecturer in colonial and postcolonial history at Keele University. She has written on radical politics in Punjab and is currently working on Indian intellectuals and the USA. Introduction i South Asian History and Culture Series Editors: David Washbrook, University of Cambridge, UK Boria Majumdar, University of Central Lancashire, UK Sharmistha Gooptu, South Asia Research Foundation, India Nalin Mehta, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore This series brings together research on South Asia in the humanities and social sciences, and provides scholars with a platform covering, but not restricted to, their particular fields of interest and specialization. A significant concern for the series is to focus across the whole of the region known as South Asia, and not simply on India, as is often the case. There will be a conscious attempt to publish regional studies and bring together scholarship on and from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and other parts of South Asia. This series will consciously initiate synergy between research from within aca- demia and that from outside the formal academy. A focus will be to bring into the mainstream more recently developed disciplines in South Asian studies which have till date remained in the nature of specialized fields: for instance, research on film, media, photography, sport, medicine, environment, to mention a few. The series will address this gap and generate more comprehensive knowledge fields. Also in this series ‘How Best Do We Survive?’ A Modern Edited by: Rosalind O’Hanlon and Political History of the Tamil Muslims David Washbrook Kenneth McPherson 978-81-89643-18-8 978-0-415-58913-0 Escaping the World: Women Renouncers Health, Culture and Religion: Critical among Jains Perspectives Manisha Sethi Edited by: Assa Doron and 978-0-415-50081-4 Alex Broom South Asian Transnationalisms: Cultural 978-81-89643-16-4 Exchange in the Twentieth Century Gujarat Beyond Gandhi: Identity, Babli Sinha Conflict and Society 978-81-89643-20-1 Edited by: Nalin Mehta and Mona G. Minority Nationalisms in South Asia Mehta Edited by: Tanweer Fazal 978-81-89643-17-1 978-81-89643-33-1 India’s Foreign Relations, 1947–2007 Indian Sisters: A History of Nursing and Ray Jayanta Kumar the State, 1907–2007 978-0-415-59742-5 Madelaine Healey Defining Andhra: Land, Water, Language 978-0-415-71040-4 and Politics from 1850 Television at Large in South Asia Stoddart Brian Edited by: Aswin Punathambekar and 978-0-415-67795-0 Shanti Kumar Scoring off the Field: Football Culture in 978-81-89643-35-5 Bengal, 1911–1980 Gender and Masculinities: Histories, Kausik Bandyopadhyay Texts and Practices in India and Sri Lanka 978-0-415-67800-1 Edited by: Assa Doron and Alex Broom Religious Cultures in Early Modern India: 978-81-89643-36-2 Newii PerspectivesAmita Shah and Jharna Pathak State of Subversion Radical politics in Punjab in the 20th century Edited by Virinder S. Kalra and Shalini Sharma Introduction iii First published 2013 as a special issue of South Asian History and Culture (Vol. 4, No. 4) by Routledge, UK First published in hardback 2016 by Routledge 1 Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001, India by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013, 2016 Virinder S. Kalra and Shalini Sharma The right of Virinder S. Kalra and Shalini Sharma to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade- marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book This edition is for sale in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives only. ISBN: 978-1-138-95642-1 (hbk) ivTypeset Amitain Sabon Shah 10/12pt and Jharna by Glyph Pathak Graphics Private Limited Delhi 110 096 Contents List of Illustrations vii Notes on Contributors ix 1 State of Subversion: Aspects of Radical Politics in 20th Century Punjab 1 Virinder S. Kalra and Shalini Sharma 2 Progressives, Punjab and Pakistan: The Early Years 13 Kamran Asdar Ali 3 Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam: Religion, Socialism and Agitation in Action 45 Tahir Kamran 4 An Unfulfilled Dream: The Left in Pakistan ca. 1947–50 74 Ali Raza 5 Alternative Politics and Dominant Narratives: Communists and the Pakistani State in the Early 1950s 102 Anushay Malik 6 ‘In One Hand a Pen in the Other a Gun’: Punjabi Language Radicalism in Punjab, Pakistan 130 Virinder S. Kalra and Waqas M. Butt 7 The Indian Workers’ Association Coventry 1938–1990: Political and Social Action 156 Talvinder Gill 8 A Long Strange Trip: The Lives in Exile of Har Dayal 188 Benjamin Zachariah 9 Communism and ‘Democracy’: Punjab Radicals and Representative Politics in the 1930s 218 Shalini Sharma Index Introduction 00v This ground-breaking collection of essays significantly enhances our understanding of the political formations of colonial and post- colonial Punjab, with particular attention to the Pakistani Punjab and diaspora … [The book] provides insight on a pragmatic and region- specific politics that promises to inform a broader understanding.’ Anne Murphy, University of British Columbia, Canada vi Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak Illustrations Figure 9.1 Starred questions in the Punjab Assembly 1932–40 240 Table 9.1 [TBC] 241 Introduction vii viii Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak Contributors Kamran Asdar Ali is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Middle East Studies and Asian Studies and the Director of the South Asia Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism, 1947–1972. Waqas Butt is an independent researcher, former Lecturer in Anthropology at Qaid-e-Azam University. He is the author of The Life of Pakistanis in the Netherlands. He is currently Head of transla- tion and interpretation services at Stoke City Council. Talvinder Gill is an independent researcher who obtained his PhD in History from the University of Warwick, on the topic of The Indian Workers’ Association Coventry, 1938–1990. Tahir Kamran is a notable Pakistani historian, currently the Iqbal Fellow at the University of Cambridge, as professor in the Centre of South Asian Studies. He has authored four books and has written several articles specifically on the history of the Punjab, sectarianism, democracy, and governance. Virinder S. Kalra is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester. He is the author of Sacred and Secular Musics: A Postcolonial Approach (2014). Widely published, his areas of research include Punjabi popular culture, British racism and themes in creative resistance. Anushay Malik is currently Assistant Professor in the History depart- ment at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Her PhD thesis focused on the labour movement in Lahore and was com- pleted from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2013. Ali Raza is Assistant Professor in History at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. His interests are in radical politics in Punjab in the mid-twentieth century. His PhD focused on theIntroduction Kirti Kisan Party. ix x Contributors Shalini Sharma lectures on colonial and postcolonial history at Keele University. She has written on radical politics in Punjab and is cur- rently working on Indian intellectuals and the USA. Benjamin Zachariah is a historian and postcolonial theorist. He is the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Professor of South Asian History, Orientalisches Institut, University of Halle-Wittenberg, and Senior Research Fellow, Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe’, Heidelberg University. x Amita Shah and Jharna Pathak 1 State of Subversion: Aspects of Radical Politics in 20th Century Punjab Virinder S. Kalra and Shalini Sharma Political radicalism has been a constant feature of Punjab politics in the 20th century: from the formation of the Communist Party in the province in the 1920s to the rise of religious sectarianism in Pakistan Punjab in the 1990s, it has been an unsettling, if not a prominent, characteristic of the Punjabi political landscape.