WHY DID INDIA AND PAKISTAN SPLIT IN 1947 ?

"This soiled morning, A morning wounded the night before ,What we were waiting for;This is not the awaited morning."-Written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in his famous poem.

He was talking about the morning of Independence.Where on one hand, legal holiday was on a daily basis to be celebrated in India, on the opposite hand, the country was ruthlessly partitioned. Between India and Pakistan. "Between August 1947 and March 1948, 4 and a half million Hindus and Sikhs are forced to migrate from Pakistan to India. 6 million Muslims must move within the wrong way. 10 million people are displaced within the partition of India ,1 million are dead."

But why did this Partition happen?

What were the explanations behind it? Come, let's try and understand these. If you ask people about the Partition, some people have very exciting stories to inform. a really famous story includes Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Edwina Mountbatten. The three of them studied within the same college in London. The Harris College. The story goes like this,They were in a very supposed love triangle.That's why Edwina Mountbatten requested her husband, Louis Mountbatten to Partition India into two countries in order that both Nehru and Jinnah may well be Prime Ministers. An exciting story to take care. But it's as authentic as a WhatsApp forward because if you think that about it even a bit bit you'd realise how stupid this story is Jinnah began studying law in Lincoln's Inn in 1892. statesman was only 3 years old then and Edwina wasn't even born. Edwina was born in 1901 and Nehru began his studies from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1907 and Edwina failed to attend college.

There are many rumours to be debunked, but let's keep those stories aside and let's speak about documented history.

What actually happened?

The country was Partitioned on 14th August 1947. But the choice to partition was made months before this. Like on 18th July, the King of england approved the plan of Partition when he approved the Indian Independence Act. Before this, on 5th July, Brits Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act. But even before this, on 3rd June 1947, Louis Mountbatten announced the commit to partition over the radio. it had been called the Mountbatten Plan. "My first course all told my discussions was, therefore, to urge the political leaders to simply accept unreservedly the cupboard Mission Plan of May the 16th, 1946. To my great regret, it's been impossible to get an agreement. to measure against their will, under a government during which another community has an authority, and therefore the only alternative to coercion is Partition."

Until the very end, there remained only two famous leaders that were completely against the Partition. one in every of them was nationalist leader and also the other was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Other Congress leaders like Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru had accepted this plan of partition on 3rd June. "Of land government's judgment on how power was to be transferred from British to Indian hands. With reservations, of course, the plan has had a decent reception. From Nehru for the Hindus, from Jinnah for the Muslims and from Sardar Baldev Singh for the Sikhs." the case that Sardar Patel was talking about was actually brewing for years at that time. This was the rationale why on 1st April 1947, Gandhi met Mountbatten. Desperately trying to avoid the Partition. Gandhi was so desirous to avoid a Partition that he offered the position of Prime Minister to Jinnah. Mountbatten approached Nehru. Nehru said that he failed to have any problems with it which it absolutely was offered to Jinnah before and Jinnah had already rejected it and when it had been offered to Jinnah again, Jinnah rejected the offer over again.

For Louis Mountbatten, the complete situation was too new understand because he had become the Viceroy in March 1947.When he came to India for the primary time, the then Prime Minister of the united kingdom, Clement Atlee had advised him to undertake to avoid the Partition. The Viceroy before Mountbatten was Archibald Wavell. He was the Viceroy of India from 1943 to March 1947.You'd be surprised to understand, Wavell was actually among the those that were trying to avoid the partition. He didn't actually want the Partition of India. His Simla Conference and Wavell Plan of June 1945, shows his efforts.

Our problem actually began with the Viceroy before Wavell. He was the individual that created the issues. rather than telling you the complete story in reverse, allow me to start from the beginning. many folks think that the reason for partition, was that Hindus and Muslims couldn't coexist. That the cultures of Hindus and Muslims were so different that they, historically, couldn't remain united. The those that believe this, also believe that the Muslim rulers were all evil. and also the Hindu rulers were, historically, all just. Against the Muslims, The wars fought within the Indian subcontinent for hundreds of years were supported religion. But none of those is true, friends. However, it's true indeed that some Muslim invaders were cruel rulers like, But it's equally true, friends, that the majority of the battles between rulers of that point, weren't thanks to religion, instead, they stemmed from greed for power.

The kings and emperors fought amongst themselves for his or her greed for power. There's over enough evidence to prove this. Muslim rulers were fighting other Muslim rulers. just like the First Battle of Panipat between Babur and Ibrahim Lodhi. Both were Muslims. Similarly, the Battle of Patan of 1790. Fought between the Marathas and also the Rajputs. Similarly, 1576's famous Battle of Haldighati. Fought between the Mughals and Rajputs, clear this looks as if a non secular battle between Hindus and Muslims, But Akbar's Army General was Raja Man Singh, a Hindu. On the opposite hand, one among Maharana Pratap's Army General was Hakim Khan Suri, a descendant of Sher Shah Suri. While we witnessed religious fanatic rulers like Aurangzeb, On the opposite hand, we also witnessed several secular rulers like Let's forgot the verbalise erstwhile rulers, what about the people of the time?

There's a Sufi poet, Amir Khusraw. (a Muslim) He was born within the 1200s. Around 800 years ago. He wrote this about Holi. (Hindu festival celebrated with colours.) Oh, mother, there's most beauty and colour today, Oh, Allah, you're everywhere. My beloved's house is stuffed with colours. I's so colourful today. Today, if a poet dares to write down something similar, some people's sentiments will 'get hurt.' On the opposite hand, within the 1400s, there have been people like Kabir (a Hindu). Who was equally against extremist Hindus and extremist Muslims. Some worship Rahim (one of Allah's names) Some worship Ram (a Hindu deity) I, humble Kabir, am a worshipper of affection. and that i worship them both. And Guru Nanak always stressed about unity among all religions, within the time of Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan,in the courts of Mughals, not only Eid, Holi was also celebrated. They mentioned Holi as Eid-e-Gulabi. (Festival of Colours) and everybody could participate in Holi celebrations. There wont to be a large fair behind Red Fort.They called Diwali as Jashn-e-Charanga. (Festival of Lights)

Think about Tulisdas for an instant. He wrote the Ram Charit Manas. one among the main texts of Hinduism. He did so within the rule of Akbar. Akbar had Ramayan and Mahabharat translated into Persian. except for this, the Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, learned Kathak. (An Indian dance form) and he's famously known for staging Krishnaleela. Once, Holi and Muharram (a Muslim festival) happened to get on the identical day and since Muharram could be a day of mourning for the Muslims, the Hindus, as a type of respect, said that they would not celebrate Holi that day. When Wajid Ali Shah came to understand about this, he went out and openly celebrated Holi. you will find countless samples of Hindu-Muslim unity in our history, friends. But you are not told about those because a particular section of media and a few political parties have based their whole business-models on spreading hatred between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Anyway, let's move forward with our story. It'll take hours to list all the examples.

We'll jump to the Revolt of 1857. it absolutely was yet one more example of Hindu-Muslim unity. Many Hindu rulers and Muslim rulersfought together against the corporate rule. All of them accepted Bahadur Shah Zafar as their commander. After the Revolt of 1857, they Company's rule over India ended, and British Raj (Rule) was established. But this revolt had scared country plenty. They were afraid that if more such revolutions passed off then their rule would soon be over. That's why nation Raj adopted their famous policy of Divide and Rule. Remember that this was the time when Advaita Vedānta "Aham Brahmasmi"That everyone's equalThis feeling of equality was very prevalent among the Indians. to higher understand the Divide and Rule policy of British, we'll have to understand the muse of the Indian National Congress further. Congress was established with the assistance of British officer A. O. Hume. He was a really spiritual person. He had written a really daring report on the Revolt of 1857. He had written that thanks to British atrocities, the Revolt of 1857 actually befell because British people were ill-treating the Indians.This British officer had openly criticised the Viceroy. That's why he was demoted from his rank. Later, he resigned from his job. He wrote his famous poem, Old Man's Hope.Wherein he was trying to awaken the Indians to demand of a rustic of their own. To demand an Independent nation.

Indian National Congress became a central organisation for Indian Nationalism. Congress demanded that Indians, educated Indians, should tend a greater share within the Government. The Viceroy then was Dufferin. He gave his approval for the primary session of Congress. Initially, he wasn't bothered by Congress. But soon, he realised that the activities that Congress was up to was a threat to British Raj. So he became wary. He requested Congress to focus their sessions and meetings on non-political social reforms. But the Congress failed to throw in the towel. So Viceroy Dufferin adopted other techniques to smother the influence of Congress. He approached the rich to ask them to withdraw their patronage from the INC. He made a rule that no government employee could participate within the meetings of Congress. He also considered taking the assistance of the loyal, pro-British people. one among them was the educationalist, Syed Ahmad Khan and also the other was linguist Shiv Prasad.Both of them were told to begin an anti-Congress movement within the country.

So around 1887,

Syed Ahmad Khan started giving speeches.Then, Congress was demanding that the ICS exams be conducted in India.Indians have a say within the budget made by Brits Government.That the Indians could influence the budget, a minimum of to an extent.Syed Ahmad Khan completely opposed of these demands and advised people to remain faraway from Congress. Not a giant deal.But what matters the foremost is that this is often where he started talking about the Two-Nation theory. He told those that Muslims were in peril. Claiming that the Hindus would start to agonize the Muslims once country leave. but this, French, Portuguese and German invaders would come to India and abuse the Indians. That's why, he claimed, it might be better for the Muslims that the Muslims support Brits and therefore the British Rule. Though Syed Ahmad Khan had pushed for the trendy education of Muslims, in 1875 he established a university that's now called the Aligarh Muslim University. But his instigating speeches and anti-Congress movement had a severe result.

By the first 1900s, a bit of elite Muslims within the country believed during this Two-Nation theory very strongly. due to this, in 1906, All India Muslim League was founded. Obviously, British wanted to fan the Divide and Rule policy, that the British supported this All India Muslim League additionally. All India Muslim League demanded separate electorates for the Muslims from Viceroy Minto. Congress was strictly opposing it.

Then, the Congress leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was opposing it too. the identical Jinnah that later supported the Partition. But till now in time, Jinnah was completely against separate electorates. He believed that this may result in the country being divided into two. By this time in time, people like Sarojini Naidu, considered Jinnah an envoy of Hindu-Muslim unity. But land saw another opportunity of using Divide and Rule here and that they approved separate electorates. Giving separate electorates to Muslims meant that there would be some reserved seats that only Muslim candidates could contest elections and only Muslim voters could pick out that election. the British Raj approved this by the Indian Council Act, 1909. this is often also called the Morley-Minto reforms. But the British didn't stop here. The Indian Council Act, 1919 was passed later wherein similar representation was given to the Sikhs, Europeans and Anglo-Indians. Their Divide and Rule policy was prospering.

More cracks began to form. Among the assorted religions within the country. This led to atiny low section of Hindus setting out to feel paranoid. They started feeling that nothing was being in deep trouble them. That their interests are being overlooked. That's why, the same as the All India Muslim League, a Hindu League was formed. it absolutely was named the Akil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. it absolutely was founded by Madan Mohan Malaviya. After this, in 1925, someone named Keshav Baliram established another Hindu organisation. it had been named the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The RSS. Where on one hand, some Muslims were believing the 'Muslims are in danger' narrative on the opposite hand, some Hindus started fearing that the 'Hindus are in peril.' one more reason behind it absolutely was that the history taught within the schools by land, the history presented to the people, was a distorted version of history.

The British showed how the Hindus were resisting the Muslim rulers in history. In 1909, an Indian Medical Service officer, light colonel U. N. Mukherjee wrote some letters during a Kolkata based newspaper. He titled the letters, "Hindus: A Dying Race!" In these letters, he spoke of his fears, about how Hindus were in peril. That the Muslim population was increasing rapidly which after some years, the Hindu population will dwindle. Same things that we still get to listen to from some people even after 100 years. He was afraid that the Muslims would take over the full country. On the opposite hand, some Muslims were scared that the Hindus would take over the country. This was the rationale, friends, Fear.

That within the next few years changed into riots.In the 1920 religious riots started happening between the Hindus and Muslims. These riots weren't quite common initially, The 1920s was the time when the riots started coming to the forefront. What role do Savarkar and Hindutva play here? Why and the way does Jinnah take a U-turn later? That finally ends up in the Partition.

The foundational reasons that led to the Partition. From where did these cracks start forming.