By: Win Nwe Oo
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Background History
3.0 Key Factors that led to the Partition of India and Pakistan
3.1 Dynamics of Politics- British, INC and Muslim League
3.2 Cultural/Communal Tension- Religious Differences6
3.3 Economic Inequalities and Rise of Communism
4.0 British India Partition Plan
5.0 Conclusion
6.0 References
7.0 Appendices
1.0 Introduction
The sunset of the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent signified the division of India into two sovereign states. OnAugust 14- 15 1947, the presence of the British in India which was around 300 years terminated with the conception of Pakistan as an Islamic States and India as a Secular state .The socio-cultural and economic disparities between the two communities due to the British strategic administration steered the tragic partition. The 1947 partition had an immense effect on the South Asia political and social relations till the presence days (Khan, 2007).This essay will critically analyze the causes that prompt the partition of India and Pakistan and the discussion of how the British unfurl the partition of India.
Figure 1 British India before Partition and Present day
Demographics (Vajani, 2018) |
3.0 Key Factors that led to the Partition of India and Pakistan
India is ethnically and culturally diverse and has a long history which is the reason that triggered the partition. As the colonies empire of Britain, India's political structure and trends was played by Britain. Therefore, the way that British rule directly affect the political, social and economic tensions between the Muslim and Hindus. Although the partition was rooted by the social and cultural differences, the political factors elicit that cultural and religious tension between the two communities.
3.1 Dynamics of Politics- British, INC and Muslim League
The 19th century was the marked of Indian nationalism as several movement began in India. After the Indian Munity of 1857 insurgences, the British directly ruled India with the policy of “Divide and Rule” by breaking up the unity between Hindu and Muslim so that it is impossible for Indians to generate any revolution against British Empire. The confirmation of this approach could be traced in the division of Bengal in 1905, the Punjab and Bengal Province with the metric of religious majority. As per appendix 1, the indication of the division of Muslim majority province which is eastern part of the Bengal. The tactics systematically stimulate the political division between Hindu and Muslim which led to the formation of the Muslim party. With the encouragement of British, the Muslim League was formed to defend the right of Muslim in 1906. To make more break amongst Hindus and Muslims, in Morley Minton demonstration of 1909 the British presented the different electorate for Muslim populace which pin point the disharmony between Hindu and Muslim in India (Sandhu, 2009).
In 1916, India National Congress (INC) and Muslim League signed the Lucknow Pact to gain greater autonomy in governing that was denied by the British. During the World War, Indianwas supporting the British Empire in the war and severely smashed, because of this the congress prompt calls of more self - administration whereby the Muslim League realized that despite signing the Lucknow Pact for Indian greater political autonomy, Muslim were still underrepresented especially in the minority’s province like Madras.The Montagu- Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 was the first promised for self-governing of India by institutionalizing the
communal representation as a reserved seat. The Second World War was the turning point of the politics between Muslim league, INC and British Empire as Muslim League supporting the British and gain supporting from Muslim in India (Khan, 2007).
Under the pledged leadership of Ali Jinnah, Muslim League proposed the philosophy of Two Nation theory which kept up that India is a state in light of Hinduism and that the political and financial interests of Muslims of the country vary from that of Hindus. Thus, spike the Muslim to create the nations which represent their interests of the culture, tradition and language. This ideology to some extent developed the commonality as Hindu fundamentalist’s belief that separation is required since the Hindu was the heritage ethnic groups of India. However, Mahatma Gandhi and India National Congress initially rejected the idea of parting of India into two dominions since they believed that unity is important to overthrow the British and formed a peaceful state. The unavailability of the congress to settle with the Muslim League proposal also upset the Jinnah as it left him held that there is no alternative left except partition. The Muslim League demand for the reformation of the reservation seats with based on population and redistribution of seats in central as one third of the seat so that Muslim get fair representation (Ambedkar, 1945).
Nevertheless, the congress was persuaded of the partition due the “Direct Action Day” and the communal riots per Appendix 2.With the deadlock settlement between INC and Muslim League, Ali Jinnah on August 16, 1946 declared the complete strike which cause the massive riots and killing in Calcutta between Hindus and Muslims. As appendix, this protest is also known as “1946- Hindu and Muslim Riots”. This portrays that India was already torn apart with communal conflict and if there is a consideration to obtain peace, partition is the only plausible solution (Zehra, 2016).
3.2 Cultural/Communal Tension- Religious Differences
India is ethically and culturally diverse with rich history. Nevertheless, it had a long history of religious tensions as Muslim expansion and rule for 300 years, threaten the Hindu way of life. As one culture directly portray the one identity, cultural and religions are sensitive’s issues for most Indians. Before the British invaded India, The Mughal Empire, an Islam kingdom was ruling India in which Hindu despised Muslim since in ancient times India was a Hindus homeland. The racial conflict between the Hindu and Muslim was more pronounced during the British Raj reign as the British divide the Bengal and Punjab according to the religions. Despite being Indians, there was always the racial tension between the Muslims and Hindus because of the religions differences which comprised of the social differences. For instance, Beef was the staple foods for Muslims while the Hindus preached the cows as gods. Muslim celebrated ‘Eid by slaughtering the cow crated the communal incentive as showing that the differences are precisely hard to compromise each other. Hindus like music while it is considering as sin for Muslims so it is forbidden (Farah, 2011).
As the Indian National Congress was dominated by the Hindus majority, the constitution and the governance were in the favor of the Hindus, the Muslims felt that they were not having enough voice and representation as they were the minority groups. The changing approaches of Muslim League demonstrate the solid political trends of this issue. The Muslims were feared that the domination of the Hindu would interfere in their way of life and teaching as instructed in the Quran. Nonetheless, Congress was frequently required with Hindu religious life, for instance by proposing a prohibition of killing of cows. Muslim individuals from the Congress couldn't take the dread away that a nation drove by the Congress would consequently imply that Muslims would be a smothered minority forever The establishment of the Hindu Mahashaba embraced the system of the Shuddic as the Hindu nation that led to the rise of the communalism5 between the two ethnic groups which inspire to have a separate nation. This organizations advocate that the interest and way of life of the Hindu and Muslim were differ and as India was predominantly Hindu, they want to establish a pure Hindu nation in parallel with Muslim League. As both communities see each other as differences culturally, it is impossible for them to coexist in the homogenous state anymore. This contemplation led to the idea of demanding a separate state whereby even in the means of violence separation must take place (Farah, 2011)
The economic disparity between Hindu and Muslim set off the communal feelings which later developed into rivalry and violence. As Mughal Empire, a Muslim kingdom was ruling the India before British came in, Muslim felt prolonged in the reign. They refused to compromise with the British as they did not learn English nor accept their culture. In the early period of the British rule, the policies and legislations such as in education and economic courtesy the Hindu more than the Muslim. In a way to lessen the prospects of Muslim, English was replaced as a main occupation in 1837 instead of Persian as the British believe that Muslims play a key part in the Sepoy revolution. Due to that there is a huge socio-economic difference between Muslim and Hindus in India as that particular time as majority of Muslims were working as farmers, labors and made up of lower-class while the Hindu majorities are landlords.The blend of religious interest with monetary interests made a politically unstable circumstance profoundly defenseless to communalism publicity (Chakrabarty, 2004).
Because of their low salary, the Muslims were dependent on Hindu moneylenders for survival. These financiers charged high rate interest, depleting the Muslims of much more cash. This created the unity and strong communalism among the Muslims in Bengal Province as they maintain a strategic distance from the trap set by the Hindu moneylender as an outflow of Muslim partnership. Moreover, Muslim those who lived in the Hindu owner farms have to pay more as in their family occasions like weddings. These backwardness of the role of Muslim trigger the Muslim League leader like Sir Ahmed Khan to further strengthen the representation of Muslims as it give birth to communalism as they have to compete with Hindu for better representations in politics and economics. The Hindu resent the progress of the Muslims ideology which initiated Hindu communalism like Hindu Mahashaba group. The vested awareness reinforce into communal violence with the administration of systematic British policies and communal leaders of Muslim League and Hindu Mahashaba (Chakrabarty, 2004).
4.0 British India Partition Plan
After World War II, there was a consideration of the British to transfer India independence. Lord Mountbatten was allottedto settle with INC and Muslim League. The intercession was known as the 3rd June Plan or Mountbatten Plan whereby India was torn apart with the communal conflict at the particular time. Mountbatten's strategy was to divide India with the thoroughgoing unity as he took contemplation of the Congress and unambiguously to make Pakistan as small as possible so that withdrawal of British could be accomplished. The plan was the favorable by all the parities since the communal crisis took over in different parts of India and unification of the two communities under a homogenous state is the impossible realization for both the congress and Muslim League (Nawaz, 2013).
Figure 2 Lord Mountbatten Meeting with the INC and Muslim League |
In order to divide the sub-continent geographically, Cyril Radcliffe was allocated to draw the line of separation and according to the mechanism of religious majority, economic resources and strategic infrastructures like railways and ports. The line was known as the Radcliffe Line which was criticized for the causes of the unending territorial disputes and mass migration. On 17 August 1947, the delineation line was announced between India and Pakistan on the day of the partition. An act was endorsed by Britain to liberate India from the administration of British acknowledged as “India Independence Act 1947”. It was an act that partitioned the British India into two dominions India and Pakistan with the establishment of assigning the Viceroy for both the states and till the states enact its own constitution (Nawaz, 2013).
Figure 3: Radcliffe and 1947 Partition of India |
5.0 Conclusion
The existence of the British in India ended followed by the massacre and riots. A large number of individuals moved to that they trusted would be a more secure area, with Muslims heading towards Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs toward India. The partition elicit the refugee’s crisis whereby thousands die by diseases in the camp. As women regarded as the honor of the community, crime against women such as rape, assault were rampant. Just a few months after the independence, both state start a precedent relations by engaging in the war fight for Kashmir and later followed by the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971. As bothstates was torn apart by the refugees crisis and shackled economy, the continuous engaging in the war make is worse as it molded the development, social integration and relations between the India and Pakistan in the presence days. Right after the independence, India and Pakistan had shaped strategic relations however the impacts of the distractors partition and regional clashes sort of overwhelmed the conciliatory relationship. Despite the fact that India and Pakistan share memorable, social and geographic yet their relationship has been loaded with threatening vibe and doubt.
6.0 References 1
Ambedkar. (1945). Pakistan Or Partition Of India. Bombay: Thacker and Comapny Limited.
Chakrabarty, B. (2004). The Partition of Bengal and Assam, 1932-1947. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
Farah, A. A. (2011). Why was India Partitioned at Independence? E-International Relations .
Khan, Y. (2007). The Great Partition: The Making of Pakistan and India. NEW HAVEN AND LONDON: Yale University Press.
Nawaz, G. (2013). The British Plan of the Partition of the Punjab in 1947 . Pakistan Journal of History and Culture .
Phillips, S. (2017). Why Was British India Partitioned in 1947? Considering the Role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Faculty of History,University of Oxford.
Sandhu, A. H. (2009). Reality of 'Divide and Rule' in British India. Pakistan Journal of History and Culture , 63-69.
Vajani, P. (2018, 7 11). Indian nationalism. Retrieved from SlideShare: https://www.slideshare.net/priyanshivajani/indian-nationalism-60198894
Zehra, R. (2016). Direct Action Day: When Massive Communal Riots Made Kolkata Bleed. The Hunt .
Appendix 1: Partition of Bengal 1905- British Divide and Rule