Akhand Bharat

Akhand Bharat is a political and cultural vision of a united Indian subcontinent, commonly encompassing present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and sometimes neighboring countries.

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Indian nationalism: Political movements and ideas that promote an Indian national identity and state. Akhand Bharat draws on national belonging while imagining a territorial unity beyond existing borders.
Undivided India: The territory governed as British India before its 1947 partition, including areas now in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It supplies a historical referent often invoked when describing the subcontinent’s former political unity.
Two-nation theory: The doctrine that Hindus and Muslims formed distinct nations requiring separate political homelands. It directly opposed a unified postcolonial polity and helped justify partition.
India–Pakistan relations: The political, military, and diplomatic relationship between India and Pakistan since 1947. Territorial rhetoric about unity can intensify suspicion between the two states.
Territorial integrity: The principle that a state’s territory and political independence should be respected. Any political interpretation must confront the sovereignty of the states within its proposed scope.
Hindutva: A Hindu nationalist ideology that defines Indian identity through Hindu culture and civilization. Some contemporary advocates frame Akhand Bharat through Hindutva’s account of civilizational unity.
British Raj: The period of direct British rule over much of the Indian subcontinent, from 1858 to 1947. Its borders and institutions shaped the territory later divided at independence.
South Asian regionalism: Cooperation among South Asian states while preserving their separate national sovereignty. Regional cooperation pursues connection without the territorial merger implied by some readings of Akhand Bharat.
India–Bangladesh relations: The political and diplomatic relationship between India and Bangladesh since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. Including Bangladesh in the vision can raise concerns about sovereignty and historical memory.
Self-determination: The principle that peoples may determine their political status and pursue their own development. It raises the question of whose consent could authorize any future political unification.