"This is an important book.... More than just an academic book, it is a major statement of political belief from a man who, whether consciously or not, is concerned to give India's Muslims -- indeed Indian society in general -- the best possible lead for the future". Francis Robinson University of London

In the opening chapters of "Legacy of a Divided Nation", Mushirul Hasan examines the origins of Muslim separatism under the British, the making of the partition of India, and the meaning of partition for a host of Muslim communities, individuals, and families. Chapter 5 examines the establishment of the Nehruvian consensus in the 1940s and 1950s with its secular vision for India's future, and Chapter 6 attempts to delineate secular identities and the Muslim organizations that ran counter to this process. Chapter 7 illustrates the role of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University as the bearers of the "beacon lights" of modern and secular understandings of the Muslim future in India.

Next, Hasan examines the breakup of the Nehruvian consensus from the 1960s to the 1990s, looking in particular at the reasons for the growth of communalism and the retreat of both Muslims and Hindus into communal political camps. The final section of the book surveys the state of India's Muslims in the period after December 6, 1992, when the Babri Mosque was demolished.