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One of the widespread misconceptions in regards to the Partition of India has been that not sufficient makes an attempt have been made to stop it by the management of the Indian nationwide motion.
Claims have even been made that had Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to Muhammad Ali Jinnah changing into the primary Prime Minister, the nation wouldn’t have been divided. However, historical past reveals that the fires of partition have been ignited by the British, and Congress leaders needed to conform to it solely as soon as it appeared inevitable.
Aditya Mukherjee, who taught Contemporary History at JNU for greater than 4 many years, speaks about how the British and the “communal parties” inside India pushed the nation to Partition.
What would you say have been the largest elements that led to the Partition of India?
The most necessary was the function of the British, which is surprisingly one thing no person is mentioning lately — we’re speaking in regards to the accountability of Congress, [Mahatma] Gandhi, Nehru, and so forth. It was the British who launched this complete concept of Indian individuals being divided on the premise of faith traditionally, which was not true. They first launched the concept of Hindu and Muslim intervals in Indian historical past for the Ancient and Medieval interval.
Number two have been the faith primarily based communal devices created by the British to weaken the Indian nationwide motion. The first such instrument was the Muslim League. And then got here the opposite communal events which additionally the British promoted, such because the Hindu Mahasabha, the RSS. They performed a component within the Partition, as a result of they divided individuals on the premise of faith. These events stood other than the Indian nationwide motion, and opposed the Congress, which was main the motion.
Could you elaborate on the function of the British within the Partition?
This began within the nineteenth century itself, when fashionable Indian nationalism began. The nationalist motion demanded that India must be run on a democratic foundation. But the British mentioned that it’s not doable in India, as a result of should you introduce the democratic precept, then the Hindu majority will rule over the Muslim minority. So, they created this notion of majority-minority on the premise of faith. And it’s on that foundation that the Muslim League was promoted, who opposed the Congress demand for democratic rights, and supported the British, aside from temporary intervals. In reality, when the Muslim League was fashioned, one of many British ideologues mentioned that so many million individuals have now been taken away from the fingers of the Congress.
The communal events have been seen as a bulwark in opposition to the expansion of the Indian National Movement. The similar function was performed later by the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha. As you recognize, the RSS opposed the Quit India motion, the Hindu Mahasabha truly fashioned governments with the Muslim League, versus the Congress, which had resigned from all governments through the Second World War.
Thus, blaming Congress for the Partition is a complete inversion of historical past. This was the celebration that attempted the toughest to maintain individuals collectively.
To what extent would you say the private dislike between Jinnah and Nehru led to talks between the Congress and the Muslim League breaking down?
Personal rivalries or dislikes have been by no means the difficulty right here, the difficulty was political. At a private stage, Jinnah was no fanatic Muslim. He married a Parsi, he ate every kind of meat. In his early years, he was liberal and a nationalist. But when his politics modified after 1937 [became extremely communal], naturally you would not play ball with him. In reality, Gandhiji as a determined measure had supplied Jinnah the PM publish, nevertheless it was Jinnah who refused. He knew it was one thing that was not doable.
As for Nehru, what must be saved in thoughts is that he was a quintessential democrat. He didn’t maintain private animosities in opposition to individuals who critiqued him or he wrote in opposition to and argued with.
He would reward Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his efficiency in Parliament, when he was truly critiquing him very sharply. Nehru’s autobiography was a critique of Gandhiji, but Nehru remained his staunch follower.
At what level can we are saying that Partition had turn out to be inevitable?
It grew to become inevitable within the interval publish 1945, particularly after the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946. Once the individuals had been communalised on a big scale, there was no coming again. There was no different method. This is why Gandhiji needed to give method on the finish. He realised that when individuals had been communalised, attempting to stop the Partition would have led to extra massacre.
That is why all people, individuals who their whole life had fought in opposition to the notion of Partition, needed to conform to it. In reality, the Indian nationwide motion had been based on the concept that the Indian nation is imagined not on the premise of 1 faith, one language, prefer it was in Europe. The Indian nation is imagined in a method that it celebrates range, all languages, all religions.
And this was confirmed by the truth that even after Pakistan was fashioned on the premise of faith, India didn’t turn out to be the counterpart or the mirror picture of Pakistan, it grew to become a secular nation. In the primary election after Independence, 94% of the individuals voted in opposition to the concept of India being a Hindu Rashtra. The communal events obtained solely 6% of the votes. Jawaharlal Nehru performed a essential function in saving the secular concept of India at a time when the communal frenzy had reached a peak resulting in the homicide of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu communalist.
In the run-up to Independence, what makes an attempt have been made to stop Partition?
It might be put the opposite method. The British put hurdles at each stage of a pure handover of energy to the Indian individuals as a republic.
The previous plan of the nationwide motion was primarily based on common grownup franchise, with every citizen having equal rights. It was this which was being constantly challenged by the British and by the communal events. They recognised teams as nations — the British recognised Muslim League as a celebration which represents all Muslims, even after they represented a microscopic minority of Muslims.
Similarly, Congress by no means represented solely the Hindus, because the British argued, it represented all the Indian individuals. Thus, as an alternative of stopping Partition, the British put hurdles, empowering the religion-based events with the intention to stymie the transition from Empire right into a democratic republic.
The withdrawal of the British from India was hasty. Why was that?
It is well-known that it was a really cynical departure, that the British didn’t take accountability. There is proof to indicate that when violence broke out, British officers and policemen have been saying, “You asked for it, now you got it. We told you that you cannot live together.”
So whereas the massacres occurred, there weren’t sufficient efforts to include them.
The simplest agent in opposition to the Partition violence was once more Gandhiji, who managed to include the bloodshed in Bengal because of his presence. Even Mountbatten [Lord Louis Mountbatten, last Viceroy and first Governor-General of independent India] needed to settle for this. He wrote to Gandhi that you’re a one-man boundary power, you’ve gotten carried out what we have been unable to with 1000’s of troopers in Punjab.
So, whereas Gandhiji is commonly blamed for the Partition, not solely did he all the time advocate in opposition to it, he didn’t even rejoice the liberty of India as a result of he was busy quelling communal violence.
About why the British withdrew in such a rush, there are plenty of causes. The scenario was changing into very grave they usually didn’t need to take accountability for what that they had began — the Frankenstein that they created over an extended time period, by dividing individuals on the premise of faith.
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