|
Post by MinnesotaNationalist on Dec 25, 2016 6:14:13 GMT
Most think of the Indian state as a unified nation by most means, but it is hardly the case. It is united by religion, and only barely so, the fact it still exists is about perplexing as a united Catholic state (cough couch Charles V) or a united Sunni state (cough cough Turkey). To some extent, the conflict as created by the many nations in India trying to coexist is hindering India quite a bit (and limiting Pakistan even more).
So my question is, what if India was divided by ethno-linguistic groups rather than by religion?
|
|
|
Post by bytor on Dec 27, 2016 16:48:52 GMT
I've been wondering that, too, from a slightly different perspective.
In my ATL the Brits and Russians are more friendly which leads to a Central Asian buffer zone that had been talked about but never implemented in the OTL "Great Game". That plus the OTL facts that Lal Singh was sending the British military secrets and even taking order from them, and he and Tej Singh were apparently trying to use the First Anglo-Sikh War to break the army's political power, means the Sikh Empire is not part of British India but is instead a puppet state that publicly maintains the fiction of independence for the sake of Russo-British relations.
That's going to have significant implications in the future of the region as the increased Russo-British trade across Central Asia with the resulting railways will enrich the Sikhs along with the other Central Asian nations, making them less accepting of puppet status and more nationalist-independence minded in the future.
"Now", in my ATL (1871) it is a seemingly independent country starting to see an uptick in wealth from railway-associated trade that has a number of small border conflicts with both Afghanistan and princely states in British India that make the British Raj nervous but can't really do much about because of the fiction of independence.
|
|
wendy
New Member
Posts: 14
|
Post by wendy on Jan 5, 2017 12:37:34 GMT
This should not be too hard. The states basically correspond to the main language groups. This was the 1951 state boundary reform.
One could imagine the dravidian empire (mainly the states on the peninsula), and they could have the northern bits (inc Celyon) as a kind of colony. The malayalam were a rich state, and could be the main state here. It is the long thin one from Cochin south.
The border between the indian empire and the aryan states (persia &c), would be down the middle of pakistan.
The sikh states in the north would be round two states.
|
|
fjihr
New Member
Posts: 21
|
Post by fjihr on Jan 5, 2017 22:10:11 GMT
India is divided.
If you mean a more divided India, the latest possible POD would be to cause India to break free with a war of independence rather than the peaceful struggle that occurred IOTL. This India would probably be far less stable. Insert a number of strongmen as rulers, and you'd see this India collapse with various revolts all over the place.
|
|
|
Post by futurist on Oct 15, 2018 22:42:41 GMT
Theoretically, this could happen if India went Communist and then collapsed and broke up later on. I'm not quite sure how to make India Communist, though--perhaps the Indian National Congress decides to fully emulate the Soviet Union in response to the Soviet Union's anti-imperialist stance?
If India breaks up into a bunch of nation-states, though, then this could possibly trigger a break-up of Pakistan as well since there would no longer be the "Hindu menace" threat to keep Pakistan united. Also, the big winner of this is likely to be China as it will no longer have to deal with competition from a large southern neighbor and is thus going to be able to do a more thorough job of dominating this region.
|
|