39 – Rethinking Constitutionalism in South Asian Political Thought and Intellectual History

October 1, 2025
1:45 pm
H05
This panel provides a forum for new thinking on the history of constitutionalism in South Asia across the 1947 divide. In particular, this panel seeks to connect recent work on South Asian political thought and intellectual history to new interpretations of constitution-making, the law, and imaginations of the future. The papers thus interrogate both the force of ideas and the contingent ways in which they were put into action in mid 20th century South Asia. In doing so, the panel situates twentieth-century South Asia as a key global site of ideological innovation and constitutional contestation.

Convenor

Sunil Purushotham

Presentations

Secularism in Hindu Rashtra
Roy Suryapratim - Trinity College Dublin, University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Sambaraju Rahul - School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Reigniting Constitutionalism in Karnataka
Ravikumar Veena - Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India
The Ancient Constitution and the Ideological Origins of the Republic of India
Purushotham Sunil - -
Untouchability, Representation, and the Round Table Conferences
Chairez-Garza Jesus - History, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Promises Unkept: Minority Rights and the Ambiguity of Pakistan’s Early Constitutional Vision, 1947-54
Ahmed Imran - Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore