Religious identity, territory, and partition: India and its Muslim diaspora in Surinam and the Netherlands

This article relates the Indian Muslim diaspora to the events of 1947, when British India was partitioned. It is argued that although the government of India has tried to woo people of Indian origin, it is interested only in Hindus, while reterritorializing Muslims to Pakistan. It is also argued that, as a consequence, Muslims of Indian origin in Surinam and the Netherlands do not identify with present-day India. Nor, however, do they look upon Pakistan as their homeland. Instead, they have chosen "Hindustan" - pre-partitioned British India - as their imaginary homeland. Although it was lost with Partition, they retain a collective memory of Hindustan and try to restore it in Surinam and the Netherlands