This book explores the meanings and complexities of India's experience of transition from colonial to the post-colonial period. It focuses on the first five years - from independence on 15th August 1947 to the first general election in January 1952 - in the politics of West Bengal, the new Indian province that was created as a result of the Partition.

The author, a specialist on the history of modern India, discusses what freedom actually meant to various individuals, communities and political parties, how they responded to it, how they extended its...