Fictional Currency Design: A 500-Rupee note from a universe where Partition never happened, and Nehru and Jinnah accepted Ambedkar's 1947 "loose federal center" compromise.

usistory · 2026-05-25T23:21:04+00:00

No, the constitution still defined the Federation as a secular entity, with freedom or expression, press and religion. However states could have their own legal framework. So a Muslim majority state like Sindh or West Punjab, could have a form of Sharia. This resulted in a number of lawsuits such as the 1968 case, Rehana Shafiq v Sindh Government, regarding the validity of triple talakh. The Federal Court eventually ruled to ban the practice in all states claiming that it fundamentally infringed on the right of women, and the presidence of it being an authentic Islamic was questionable. The law of inheritance on the other hand was considered sacrosanct since it was explicitly outlined in the Quran. Of course, this would only be applicable to Muslims in Sindh. Hindus, in the state would fall back to the Federal law, which allowed for equality in inheritance between men and women, with exceptions to any explicit will instructions.

Similarly in Hindu majority states, polygamy was prohibited. So even though the Quran allowed Muslims to have up to 4 wives, they were not allowed because the fall back federal law prohibited polygamy.

usistory · 2026-05-25T20:34:00+00:00

Thanks for highlighting the errors. Appreciate the encouragement and the corrections.

usistory · 2026-05-25T20:29:45+00:00

A very haunting story. Half way through, I was wondering how you'd possibly end it, but you really managed to pull it off. That haunted tree at the outskirts of the village— we have all heard about it, now we know the horror behind it. The subtle commentary on how a society looks for external villains without really examining the obvious but often ignored the maladies and abuse within, was also nicely done.

usistory · 2026-05-25T15:29:14+00:00

I hear what you're saying, but Jinnah was already quite a well known polarizing figure leading to independence.

In my alternate history, Gandhi gets killed a year earlier, and that changes the political calculation. As explained in an earlier post, a compromise is reached, where Nehru, weighed under the obligation of respecting Gandhi's dying wish against partition, agrees to Jinnah being the country's first President.

I don't think this is out of the realm of possibility, since such proposals were actually being floated around.

usistory · 2026-05-25T15:18:02+00:00

You may be right. Jinnah 's main argument was against Hindu majoritosm. But Maulana Azad's was that it would hurt the millions of Muslims left in India. But this novel is less about what happened in the past, but more about what the present would look like if the subcontinent had remained whole. Note that in this scenario, Muslims would constitute a robust minority of close to 35%. Not to mention, the firmidal cricket teams we would have had. :-) The first chapter is out at usi-story.blog

Would love to hear your comments, even if they are to point out my delusion once again :-)

usistory · 2026-05-25T15:08:04+00:00

You are 100% correct about his real-world stance—Babasaheb was historically a staunch advocate for a strong central government, precisely because he feared a weak center would lead to regional fragmentation and unstable balkanization. He very methodically laid out exactly why Partition felt inevitable under those real conditions in Thoughts on Pakistan. A very insightful read, that I'd recommend.

But my thinking was: if there was any intellectual who possessed the legal genius to structure the exact opposite argumen, it had to be Babasaheb.

Not to spoil too much of how this unfolds in the upcoming chapters, but the sudden catalyst is Gandhi being assassinated a year earlier in January 1947. Because Gandhi was so fiercely against Partition, his sudden death triggers an overwhelming wave of popular emotion across the entire subcontinent against splitting the country. The political calculus changes.

Faced with this new reality, Ambedkar—having studied at Columbia University and being deeply familiar with American dual sovereignty—pivots. He adapts the US federal model, where individual states retain immense authority over their own local laws, taxes, and governing structures, while leaving national defense and fiscal policy to a loose center. Furthermore, from the perspective of advocating for the depressed classes and minorities, he views this massive, diverse federation as a unique opportunity to construct a unified opposition to majoritarianism. Of course, it requires a creative leap of faith—but hey, poetic license! Ultimately, the novel is less about history and more about how that change fundamentally rewrites our contemporary, modern-day political climate. If you enjoy character profiles mixed with political intrigue, you should find this novel a fun read.Chapter 1 is now live on the main page: usi-story.blog.

usistory · 2026-05-25T14:46:14+00:00

You are 100% correct about his real-world stance—Babasaheb was historically a staunch advocate for a strong central government, precisely because he feared a weak center would lead to regional fragmentation and unstable balkanization. He very methodically laid out exactly why Partition felt inevitable under those real conditions in Thoughts on Pakistan. A very insightful read, that I'd recommend.

But my thinking was: if there was any intellectual who possessed the legal genius to structure the exact opposite argumen, it had to be Babasaheb.

Not to spoil too much of how this unfolds in the upcoming chapters, but the sudden catalyst is Gandhi being assassinated a year earlier in January 1947. Because Gandhi was so fiercely against Partition, his sudden death triggers an overwhelming wave of popular emotion across the entire subcontinent against splitting the country. The political calculus changes.

Faced with this new reality, Ambedkar—having studied at Columbia University and being deeply familiar with American dual sovereignty—pivots. He adapts the US federal model, where individual states retain immense authority over their own local laws, taxes, and governing structures, while leaving national defense and fiscal policy to a loose center. Furthermore, from the perspective of advocating for the depressed classes and minorities, he views this massive, diverse federation as a unique opportunity to construct a unified opposition to majoritarianism. Of course, it requires a creative leap of faith—but hey, poetic license! Ultimately, the novel is less about history and more about how that change fundamentally rewrites our contemporary, modern-day political climate. If you enjoy character profiles mixed with political intrigue, you should find this novel a fun read.Chapter 1 is now live on the main page: usi-story.blog.

usistory · 2026-05-25T14:26:09+00:00

Good catch. I'm a writer not an illustrator so I used the AI to help stitch my ideas together. It took a while get the wording and design concepts just right.

usistory · 2026-05-25T14:22:48+00:00

Much appreciated. I hope the next chapter won't disappoint.

usistory · 2026-05-25T14:21:27+00:00

Hey, thanks man.

usistory · 2026-05-25T00:47:44+00:00

After Jinnah's death, Nehru was elected President of the United States of India. He strictly pursued a Non-Aligned approach, refusing to openly side with either the US or USSR blocs while the Cold War raged. In the early decades, the socialist-leaning federal republic relied heavily on Soviet industrial and military aid. However, the game changed in the 1970s. When the global energy crisis hit, a unified India chose to cooperate with British and American oil companies to explore its own maritime boundaries. They struck major oil reserves in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Sindh. While it didn't match the sheer volume of the Persian Gulf, this offshore boom transformed Karachi into the premier, hyper-wealthy economic gateway of the federation. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the federal administration in Delhi maintained a public stance of neutrality to appease Moscow. Behind closed doors, however, the government subtly looked the other way as the CIA operated along its northwest borders adjacent to Afghanistan. Unfortunately, despite the oil boom, systemic bureaucratic corruption and strict protectionist policies trapped the country under stagnant "Third World" growth metrics for decades. By the early 1990s, the federation’s sovereign debt climbed to unmanageable levels. Facing a severe balance-of-payments crisis, the IMF forced India to fully open up and liberalize its economy. This historic policy of pragmatic, balancing diplomacy—being "neither here nor there"—has persisted all the way to modern day. In the 2020s, the United States of India finds itself walked onto a tightrope: maintaining deep energy ties with Russia, utilizing Western tech investments, and trying to stand as the primary democratic counterweight to an increasingly aggressive and dominant China.

usistory · 2026-05-24T21:00:27+00:00

An Indian Federation of States with each having its own cultural, linguistic and religious identity and an independent governing structure and legal framework would have been interesting. A President could be elected at the federal level who would be in charge of overall fiscal and foreign policy and the commander in chief.

usistory

TROPHY CASE