Abstract

The issue of Self-Other comparison, as entailed in the national identity of a state, is important in defining the state’s worldviews, its foreign policy goals, its friends and enemies abroad. Religion is seen as a very potent force in defining the state’s Self-Other notion in different parts of the globe across different religious traditions. From this perspective, politics of Islamic identity in Bangladesh, the world’s third largest Muslim country, can be an important case study. This paper argues that the politics of Islamic identity in Bangladesh defines national selfness in terms of Muslimness of the overwhelming Muslim population of Bangladesh. This notion of the Self depicts “Hindu India” as the Other to Bangladesh’s Muslim identity and conditions the country’s policy of pan-Islamic friendship. The paper examines the conditions, under which this Self-Other notion emerged in Bangladesh politics.