The Political Influences in the Great Partition of India

I wrote this paper last year for my English class, but I think that it is relevant and I wanted to share my views of the Partition of India through a political film. I attempted to uncover the truth of the entire situation. I hope you enjoy!

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August 14, 1947, midnight: one of the world’s largest countries received freedom, but at the price of partition. Should it be considered a price or a gift? The Muslims of India did gain their own sovereign state where they were free to practice their religion openly and potentially without the influences of Hindu practices. Muslims finally had a country they could truly proclaim to be their own. They would no longer have to be treated as second class citizens. Even India reaped some benefits, including population decrease which really helped the county stand up on its feet faster after freedom and stimulated economic growth by opening up more jobs. Nevertheless, the political ideals and actions of Louis Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah indicate the hastiness, immorality, and overall injustice of the Great Partition of India. 

     

First of all, British officials, two to be exact, decided the fate of an entire subcontinent over lunch. The carelessness about the future of India resulted in one of the darkest events in history: the violent and uneven division of India into the separate countries of Pakistan and India. The main representative of the British Empire, Lord Mountbatten was the Viceroy (royal official) for India. He worked with Sir Cyril Radcliffe to formulate the borders of the two new nations. According to the notes of Christopher Beaumont, private secretary of Radcliffe, “Mountbatten not only bent the rules when it came to partition – he also bent the borders in India’s favor” (Alastair). Beaumont also said that “he was ‘deftly excluded’ from a lunch between the pair [Mountbatten and Radcliffe] in which a substantial tract of Muslim-majority territory - which should have gone to Pakistan - was instead ceded to India” (Alastair). Furthermore, the British also wanted to divide India so that “they could easily establish intelligence and military base in Pakistan to stem the tide of revolution which by then had become a certainty in China” (Ali). These misdoings were supported by the fact that Lord Mountbatten was friends with Nehru as well as Gandhi to a lesser extent, who were both affiliated with India. Furthermore, thinking from a political standpoint, India was huge amount of territory with rich history beginning with some of the oldest civilizations in the world, and Britain most likely thought it advantageous to prevent the threat of a major power rising in South Asia. The divisions of provinces like Punjab, Bengal, and Kashmir between the countries due to Mountbatten’s decisions caused turmoil and madness so great that words cannot do it justice. Although the Partition caused an estimated death toll of about one million people, the casualties were considered wonderful when compared to the rape of an uncountable amount of women and consequently the destruction of their lives, as well as fires that consumed homes, lands, hopes, and dreams (Alastair).
     

Speaking of Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman associated with the Congress League. A strong supporter and follower of Gandhi, Nehru worked towards independence from the British diligently, but he differed from Gandhi in his uncompromising attitude, even at the brink of separation. His socialist tendencies, including a strong central government, were not well taken by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a supporter of a weak central government who was also a member of the Congress League, causing a clash between the two and subsequently causing the formation of the Muslim League by Jinnah (Ceeby). Furthermore, major Indian political leaders, Nehru included, might have desired unity in the public which they may have thought only existed through religious segregation. Overall, this political strife trickled down through the web of human connections until it caused the formation of a plague of hate in the hearts in the general population of India.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim politician often associated with the Partition and the formation of Pakistan. Originally a member of the Congress Party, after disagreements with Nehru, Jinnah formed the Muslim League which did not receive much support when compared to the Congress Party. Jinnah had great doubts and fears for the future of Muslims in India. Due to political underrepresentation, 

     

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the defeated Muslim League asked for the formation of a coalition Congress-Muslim League governments in some of the provinces. Nehru denied his request. The subsequent clash between the Congress and the Muslim League hardened into a conflict between the Hindus and the Muslims that ultimately led to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. (Ceeby)

Jinnah’s Fourteen Points added to this separation. The Fourteen Points articulated Muslims’ requests for the political setup of India after independence. Jinnah’s Points were rejected or rather ignored by the Hindu majority government. All of these events and many others accumulated until Jinnah could no longer compromise and a demand for a separate nation for Muslims was made (Nazariapak). But, despite the fact that the most prominent Muslim politician in India wanted a partition, not all Muslims agreed with him; in fact, religious Muslim leaders, collectively known as Ulma-e-Karaam, were strongly against the Partition. Furthermore, even as late as one year before the Partition, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs all lived in peace (BBC News). Roedad Khan, a Muslim, remembers “Hindus and Sikhs were living side by side, you know, living with us[…]Whenever there was any wedding in the family, I remember Hindus and the Sikhs bringing sweetmeats to my father, you know[…]We live very happily, very happily[…] ” (BBC News).

Overall, the Partition was a most definitely a mistake. Jinnah, Nehru, and Lord Mountbatten all ended up determining the fate of millions of people who had little say in the matter. It can also be concluded that if some of the political ties and attitudes of all three of the individuals had been different, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would be united today. Furthermore, the problems of Pakistan since 1947 clearly indicate the foolishness of Partition. The British withdrew from India leaving only hatred and tension behind. It almost seems like the India-favoring Mountbatten set up Pakistan for failure. Dividing Pakistan into two sections, East and West Pakistan, that did not meet caused much difficulty and the eventual break of East Pakistan from its other half into the new country of Bangladesh. Leaving the area of Kashmir divided between the countries caused much violence between Pakistan and India that continues on today. Poverty runs rampant in both Pakistan and India, as does corruption. There is a lack of unity within the countries which mirrors the sudden lack of unity caused in India in the Pre-Partition Era. Families that were torn apart during the Partition still thirst for one just a glimpse of a long lost husband, wife, mother, father, daughter, son, friend.

Notes

British India (United, Before Partition)


Independent Pakistan (East & West) and India

Current Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh

Works Cited

Ali, Asghar. "Nehru, Jinah and Partition." TwoCircles. Two Circles, 14 Aug 2009. Web. 15 Apr 2011. 

BBC News, , Prod. The Day India Burned. 2007, Film.
"Jawaharlal Nehru." Ceeby. Ceeby, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2011.
Lawson, Alastair. "Partitioning India Over Lunch." BBC News. BBC News, 10 Aug 2007. Web.
"Map of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh." Our India Story. Web. 29 Apr 2011.
"Map of Pre-Partition India." As Sunnah As Saheehah. Web. 29 Apr 2011.
Partition of India 1947: Division into India and Pakistan. N.d. Photograph. Vivian Folkenflik. Web. 22 Nov 2011. "Quaid-i-Azam's Fourteen Points (1929)." Nazariapak. Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2011.


Asalaam-O-Alaikum [May the peace and blessings of God be upon you].