Theme 13.Understanding Partition
Politcs, Memories, Experiences
Partition-A significant marker in the history of India and Pakistan
Partition was characterized by violence
Thousands of people were killed
Innumerable women raped and abducted,
Millions were uprooted,
Numerous people become refugees etc.
Migration of people across borders
People became homeless, lost all their property
They Lost their childhood memories
They were separated from their relatives and friends.
People were stripped of their local and regional cultures
Partition or holocaust?
The word holocaust was used by historians for the massive massacre incident in Germany by Hitler.
Scholars used the word holocaust for incidents happened during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947,
where millions of the people were killed, raped with women, plundered during the partition by the both side
of the people.
The word primarily means destruction or slaughter on a mass scale.
Survivors of Partition described the incidents as
Maashal-la(martial law)
Mara-mari(killings)
Raula or hullar(disturbance,tumult,uproar)
Types of stereotypes existed among people during the partition
The partition produced haters of Pakistan in India and haters of India in Pakistan.
Some people believed that Indian Muslims are loyal to Pakistan and not to India.
The Hindus had some of stereotypes about the Muslims such as Muslims are cruel, bigoted, and unclean
and invaders on India.
Hindus considered themselves as kind, liberal, pure and children of the invaded.
R.M.Murphy, a journalist has shown that similar stereotypes exist in Pakistan.
According to him, some Pakistanis feel that Muslims are fair, brave, monotheists and meat-eaters, while
Hindus are dark, cowardly, polytheists and vegetarian.
Some of these stereotypes pre-date partition. But they played a crucial and strong force during the partition.
Partition as a culmination of communal politics
Some of Indian and Pakistan historians believe that Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s theory that the Hindus and
Muslims in colonial India constituted two separate nations could be traced back to the medieval history.
Events of partition also connected to the long history of conflict between two groups from the medieval and
modern times.
But this view refuses the mutual cultural exchange and history of sharing.
It also negates the fact that people’s thinking is changed by circumstances.
Some scholars viewed that Partition was a culmination of a communal politics.
It started developing in the opening decades of the 20 th century.
The separate electorates for Muslims, created by the colonial govt.in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially
shaped the nature of communal politics.
Sujith.K,GVHSS Kayyoor,Kasargod Page 1
, The separate electorates meant that Muslims could now elect their own representatives in
constituencies allotted only for Muslims.
This gave inspiration for the politicians who had worked within the parties to give more sectarian slogans
and increase number of benefits that came out of it.
Religious identities thus acquired a functional use within a modern political system.
Issues during the 1920 to 1930 decade which grew the tension between Hindu and Muslims
During the 1920s and early 1930s, tension grew around a number of issues.
Muslims were angered by music before- mosque
The cow protection movement by Hindu
The Suddhi movement (bring back to Hindu) by Hindu
Hindus were angered by the rapid spread of tabligh (propaganda) and tanzim (organization) by Muslim.
Middle class publicists and communal activists tried to build solidarity with their communities.
They mobilized people against other community.
Communalism
Communalism refers to a politics that seeks to unify one community around a religious identity in
hostile opposition to another community. It seeks to define this community identity as fundamental
and fixed.
The provincial elections of 1937 and the congress ministries.
In 1937, elections to provincial legislatures were held for the first time.
Only 10 to 12% of the population had the right to vote.
The congress performed well in the elections and won with absolute majority in the 5 provinces out of 11
and formed the govt.in 7 of them.
It performs poorly in the constituencies reserved for the Muslims.
The Muslim League also performed very poorly and got 4.4% of the total Muslim vote.
The Muslim League could not win even a single seat in the NWFP.
It got only 2 out of 84 reserved constituencies for Muslims in the Punjab province and 3 out of 33 in Sind.
In United provinces, Bombay and Madras, Muslim League wanted to form a joint govt.with the congress
but congress rejected the offer.
This rejection convinced the League that the Muslims could be represented by the League only and the
congress was considered as a Hindu party.
Few were convinced by the projection of the League by Jinnah as a “sole spokesman” of Muslims.
Support for the League from the United provinces, Bombay and Madras was popular, but it had little
support from the provinces Bengal the NWFP and the Punjab out of which the future Pakistan was to be
carved out.
Attitude of the Congress party towards the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha
The congress ministries widened the rift.
The congress had rejected the League’s demand for a formation of joint govt.in the United provinces.
The League and the congress differed in the question of abolishing landlordism.
The congress did not gain anything from the “Muslim mass contact” programme.
The radical and secular approach of the congress party alarmed conservative Muslims and feudal Muslims
who had not won over the Muslim support.
In 1937, the congress leaders such as Maulana Azad asked its members not to join in the Muslim League In
1938; the congress declared that its members should not be part of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Sujith.K,GVHSS Kayyoor,Kasargod Page 2
Politcs, Memories, Experiences
Partition-A significant marker in the history of India and Pakistan
Partition was characterized by violence
Thousands of people were killed
Innumerable women raped and abducted,
Millions were uprooted,
Numerous people become refugees etc.
Migration of people across borders
People became homeless, lost all their property
They Lost their childhood memories
They were separated from their relatives and friends.
People were stripped of their local and regional cultures
Partition or holocaust?
The word holocaust was used by historians for the massive massacre incident in Germany by Hitler.
Scholars used the word holocaust for incidents happened during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947,
where millions of the people were killed, raped with women, plundered during the partition by the both side
of the people.
The word primarily means destruction or slaughter on a mass scale.
Survivors of Partition described the incidents as
Maashal-la(martial law)
Mara-mari(killings)
Raula or hullar(disturbance,tumult,uproar)
Types of stereotypes existed among people during the partition
The partition produced haters of Pakistan in India and haters of India in Pakistan.
Some people believed that Indian Muslims are loyal to Pakistan and not to India.
The Hindus had some of stereotypes about the Muslims such as Muslims are cruel, bigoted, and unclean
and invaders on India.
Hindus considered themselves as kind, liberal, pure and children of the invaded.
R.M.Murphy, a journalist has shown that similar stereotypes exist in Pakistan.
According to him, some Pakistanis feel that Muslims are fair, brave, monotheists and meat-eaters, while
Hindus are dark, cowardly, polytheists and vegetarian.
Some of these stereotypes pre-date partition. But they played a crucial and strong force during the partition.
Partition as a culmination of communal politics
Some of Indian and Pakistan historians believe that Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s theory that the Hindus and
Muslims in colonial India constituted two separate nations could be traced back to the medieval history.
Events of partition also connected to the long history of conflict between two groups from the medieval and
modern times.
But this view refuses the mutual cultural exchange and history of sharing.
It also negates the fact that people’s thinking is changed by circumstances.
Some scholars viewed that Partition was a culmination of a communal politics.
It started developing in the opening decades of the 20 th century.
The separate electorates for Muslims, created by the colonial govt.in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially
shaped the nature of communal politics.
Sujith.K,GVHSS Kayyoor,Kasargod Page 1
, The separate electorates meant that Muslims could now elect their own representatives in
constituencies allotted only for Muslims.
This gave inspiration for the politicians who had worked within the parties to give more sectarian slogans
and increase number of benefits that came out of it.
Religious identities thus acquired a functional use within a modern political system.
Issues during the 1920 to 1930 decade which grew the tension between Hindu and Muslims
During the 1920s and early 1930s, tension grew around a number of issues.
Muslims were angered by music before- mosque
The cow protection movement by Hindu
The Suddhi movement (bring back to Hindu) by Hindu
Hindus were angered by the rapid spread of tabligh (propaganda) and tanzim (organization) by Muslim.
Middle class publicists and communal activists tried to build solidarity with their communities.
They mobilized people against other community.
Communalism
Communalism refers to a politics that seeks to unify one community around a religious identity in
hostile opposition to another community. It seeks to define this community identity as fundamental
and fixed.
The provincial elections of 1937 and the congress ministries.
In 1937, elections to provincial legislatures were held for the first time.
Only 10 to 12% of the population had the right to vote.
The congress performed well in the elections and won with absolute majority in the 5 provinces out of 11
and formed the govt.in 7 of them.
It performs poorly in the constituencies reserved for the Muslims.
The Muslim League also performed very poorly and got 4.4% of the total Muslim vote.
The Muslim League could not win even a single seat in the NWFP.
It got only 2 out of 84 reserved constituencies for Muslims in the Punjab province and 3 out of 33 in Sind.
In United provinces, Bombay and Madras, Muslim League wanted to form a joint govt.with the congress
but congress rejected the offer.
This rejection convinced the League that the Muslims could be represented by the League only and the
congress was considered as a Hindu party.
Few were convinced by the projection of the League by Jinnah as a “sole spokesman” of Muslims.
Support for the League from the United provinces, Bombay and Madras was popular, but it had little
support from the provinces Bengal the NWFP and the Punjab out of which the future Pakistan was to be
carved out.
Attitude of the Congress party towards the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha
The congress ministries widened the rift.
The congress had rejected the League’s demand for a formation of joint govt.in the United provinces.
The League and the congress differed in the question of abolishing landlordism.
The congress did not gain anything from the “Muslim mass contact” programme.
The radical and secular approach of the congress party alarmed conservative Muslims and feudal Muslims
who had not won over the Muslim support.
In 1937, the congress leaders such as Maulana Azad asked its members not to join in the Muslim League In
1938; the congress declared that its members should not be part of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Sujith.K,GVHSS Kayyoor,Kasargod Page 2
