Partition of India took place in the year 1947 after the British left. At this time the Hindu and the Muslim community played an important role for the partition of India into two parts when the Muslim community Pakistan and majority of Hindu community India.
This partition in the history saw one of the largest human migrations in the world. An estimate around 15 million people's leave affected from migration, starvation, disease etc.
Background of Partition:
The religious hatred between the Hindus and the Muslims gave spark to the partition of India and Pakistan before the British left India, which fueled the violence among the nation. The largest-ever migration was seen during this partition.
The religious hatred between the Hindus and Muslims did exist before the British came and established in India. But many Hindus Muslims and Sikhs also co-existed peacefully in India before independence. Divide and rule strategy was used by the British when they came in India and started their power in India.
They enforced specific measures such as scientific census in 1871 and the formation of separate electorate for Muslims which led to the formation of rigid religious identities.
These identities became more important than language or ethnicity and were used to ditch people against one another so that the British could consolidate their own power.
The uncertainty between the Muslims, Hindus Sikhs and Christians began to grow. This lead was one of the major reasons for the partition to the country. Indians had long wanted independence from repressive British rule.
Slowly the time passed and during the World War 1 the Britain introduced Defense Act of India which gave them in discriminate power to lock people up without trial and restrict freedom of speech and movement.
In 1919 the British soldiers massacred the unarmed Sikh men, women and children who had gathered to celebrate the Sikh New Year at Jallianwala Bagh.
Political players in India also played a major role in the partition like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.
As these two who were the leaders of Congress party which was a Hindu-dominated secular political party which spearheaded the independence movement as they wanted the united secular India.
On the other hand Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was the leader of the Muslim league. He also wanted independence but initially backed Hindu Muslim unity. But by the end of 1940s this changed and now he wanted an independent state for Muslim.
In 1939, the Britain dragged India into the World War II where most Indians when not happy with this. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi also refused to fight. The initiated the Quit India Movement in 1942, a movement to have the British leave India entirely resulted in Nationwide protest against British rule.
The end of World War II the Britain was cash-strapped then they realize that they could not afford to run India much longer. They decided that they would withdraw from the subcontinent but didn't put a date on it.
With talk of transfer of power tensions ran high in the country. Muslims were concerned that they would be vulnerable in Hindu majority country. On the other hand Hindus did not wanted the country to the broken up.
The Muslim league in Kolkata got in for a strike to demand for a homeland in August 1946. The protest went bad and sparked the Great Calcutta Killings around 4,000 to 10,000 people were killed in the riots. It also sparked riots and killing in the other parts of the country.
The British where afraid that this kind of violence may lead to civil war. They decided to speed up the process of handover and their hands of any potential conflict. The British PM announced that India would gain its independence no later than July 1948.
But all that changed when a new viceroy to India and minor royal Lord Louis Mountbatten who was appointed in March 1947.
His job was to resolve the issue of partition by negotiating between Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and try to get British out of the country as soon as possible.
In the year June 1947 he made and shocking announcement that the country would be partitioned. India would be independent by August 1947.
But Who Divided Indian Empire:
Cyril Radcliffe was the British lawyer who was tasked with breaking of India by taking into consideration the religious difference, railways and canals. Radcliffe drew the line which cut the states of Bengal and Punjab into two. He did not award the princely state of Kashmir to either country.
He later admitted that he relied on the outdated map and census reports because it was too hot to undertake the fieldwork in June.
Radcliffe finished two weeks before the independence the viceroy decided to keep the borders of the new country a secret till after independence. On 14th August 1947 Pakistan declared its independence and on 15 August 1947 India got its independence.
At that time, neither country knew where the borders were. The British Army, which had suppressed Indians and crushed revolt exited India after more than 300 years with hardly shot fired and only 7 casualties. But they left two countries with complete confusion.
Effects of Partition:
Partition unleashed a wave of bloodshed where one of the center flashpoints was Punjab. Citizens who found themselves in the wrong country had to flee from their ancestral homes, on foots, on bullock carts or by the trains.
More than 7 million people travelled from India to Pakistan, another 7 million people travelled from Pakistan to India. Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs killed one another.
Many of the refugees succumbed to hunger or thirst or were murdered along the way. Women’s were raped and abducted on the other hand some of the women's were killed by their father and brothers so that they wouldn't get captured.
Train carriages were turned into blood trains which carried refugees often arrived at their destination with corpses. Many more people lost their lives because of the poor condition and disease in the camps.
This massive and huge migration changed the demographic of South Asia forever. Partition separated many families and still after the 70 years of partition many families are divided.
Bitter rivalry remains between Pakistan and India. They have fought over 3 wars and one over East Pakistan which eventually became Bangladesh. Even today there are still in dispute over water and borders.
Written by: Rakhi Sharma
Edited by: Gourav Chowdhury
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