Both India and Pakistan after independ-ence opted for the establishment of political economies dominated by bureaucratic middle classes - the evoluées in the colo-nial idiom - which at the level of political discourses were sustained by broad-based and inclusive conceptions of national identity based on secular nationalism. However, in both cases these conceptions were challenged by social strata which were kept out of the evolving systems of political power and patronage. While secular nationalism (especially in India) has had its successes in adapting to various challenges based on different concepts of identity, the originally petty bourgeoisie-based challenges of Hindu nationalism and Islamism could not be integrated into the larger framework of national identities. This paper traces the evolutionary trajectories of two major op-positional forces in South Asian politics which propagate culturally defined exclusivist concepts of identity and the underlying interactions of discursive and politico-economic processes and patterns.