At this virtual book event, Dr. Neeti Nair, a distinguished historian of South Asia and a Wilson Center global fellow, discussed her new study, Hurt Sentiments. The book situates allegations of “hurt sentiments” and demands for censorship in a wider set of debates on secularism and state ideology in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Nair argues that it is through the process of debate--in the press, the courts, Constituent Assemblies, parliaments, and National Assemblies--in moments of crisis such as Gandhi’s assassination and the war of 1971, that meanings of secularism evolve, and that allow for the framing of demands for a Hindu Rashtra or an Islamic state.

After Nair's remarks, three other scholars offered commentary on the India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh cases discussed in the book.