How was India partitioned? Important interesting facts related to this.

India was divided on the basis of the Indian Independence Act 1947, built on the basis of Mountbatten plan, a conspiratorial historical event that gave birth to Pakistan. The act said that on 15 August 1947, two autonomous investments will be made called the Dominion of India and Pakistan and the British government will hand over power to them.

With independence, the Dominion of Pakistan (later Islamic Jamhuria-e-Pakistan) was established on 14 August and the Union of India (later the Republic of India) on 15 August.

In this development, Bengal province of British India was mainly divided into East Pakistan and West Bengal state of India and similarly Punjab province of British India was divided into Punjab province of western Pakistan and Punjab state of India.

During this time Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma (now Myanmar) were also separated from British India, but are not included in the partition of India.

Similarly, the partition of Pakistan in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh are also not counted in this development. (Nepal and Bhutan were also independent states during this period and were not affected by this partition.)

India and Pakistan became legally two independent nations on the midnight of 15 August 1947.

But Pakistan’s power conversion rituals were performed in Karachi on 14 August so that the last British Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, Karachi and New Delhi could participate in both the rituals.  Hence Independence Day is celebrated on 14 August in Pakistan and 15 August in India.

Crores of people were affected by the partition of India. Nearly 5 lakh people were killed in the violence during the partition and about 1.45 crore refugees left their homes and took refuge in the majority sect country.

Partition background of India 

The British rulers of India always followed the policy of “divide and rule” in India. They divided the citizens of India into different groups according to the sect.

Some of his policies discriminated against Hindus and some against Muslims. By the 20th century, Muslims began to fear the majority of Hindus and Hindus began to feel that the British government and Indian leaders were trying to give privileges to Muslims and discriminate against Hindus.

Therefore, when the spirit of independence began to emerge in India, the leaders of both sects were competing in controlling the freedom struggle.

In 1906, many Muslim leaders formed a Muslim League in Dhaka. These leaders thought that Muslims had less rights than majority Hindus and that the Indian National Congress represented Hindus.

The Muslim League placed different demands at different times. In a speech by the famous Urdu poet Muhammad Iqbal at the conference of the Muslim League in 1930, for the first time raised the demand for a separate state for Muslims.

In 1935, the Legislative Assembly of Sindh Province raised the same demand. Iqbal and Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar asked Muhammad Ali Jinnah to support this demand.

By this time, Jinnah seemed to be in favor of Hindu-Muslim unity, but gradually he started accusing that Congress leaders were not paying attention to the interests of Muslims. At the 1940 Muslim League Conference in Lahore, Jinnah clearly stated that he wanted two different nations.

The religions, ideologies, customs and literature of Hindus and Muslims are completely different … one nation in the majority and the other in the minority, keeping the two such nations together will cause dissatisfaction and ultimately the creation of such a state Will be destroyed !!

Hindu organizations such as the Hindu Mahasabha were strongly opposed to the partition of India, but believed that there were differences between Hindus and Muslims.

In a speech at the Hindu Mahasabha conference in Allahabad in 1937, Savarkar said! Today, India is not a nation, there are two nations here – Hindu and Muslim.

Most of the Congress leaders were secular and opposed to partition of India on the basis of sect.  Mahatma Gandhi believed that Hindus and Muslims could live together and they should live together. 

He vehemently opposed the division: “My whole soul rebels against the idea that Hindus and Muslims are two opposing opinions and cultures. To approve such a doctrine is like denying God to me.”

For many years Gandhi and his followers tried not to leave the Congress to the Muslims and in the process the leaders of Hindu and Muslim hot parties became very irritated with them.

The British systematically promoted suspicion of both Hindu and Muslim sects. The Muslim League observed Siddhi Action Day in August 1946 and fierce riots broke out in Calcutta in which around 5000 people were killed and many were injured. In such an environment All the leaders were under pressure to accept the partition so that the country does not come into a state of complete war.

What was the process of partition of India?

The partition structure of India was called the ‘3 June Plan’ or the Mountbatten Plan. The boundary between India and Pakistan was set by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a London lawyer.

Hindu-majority areas were included in India and Muslim-majority areas were included in Pakistan.  On 18 July 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act which finalized the process of partition.

At this time, there were many states in British India, with which the British Government had entered into various agreements with the kings.  These 565 states were given the freedom to choose who they would like to join India or Pakistan. 

Most states chose the country on the basis of majority religion. There was a lot of controversy in the integration of the states whose rulers chose the country which suited the majority religion.

After partition Pakistan was included as a new member in the United Nations and India assumed the chair of British India.

How the division of property happened during the partition of India ?

The wealth of British India was shared between the two countries but this process began to drag on for a long time. Gandhiji pressured the Government of India to send the money to Pakistan early, while by this time the war between India and Pakistan had started and started a hunger strike to increase the pressure.

The Indian government had to succumb to this pressure and send money to Pakistan. On 22 October 1947, before Pakistan invaded Kashmir, Mountbatten advised the Government of India to give an amount of Rs 55 crores to the Government of Pakistan.

The Union Cabinet decided to postpone giving this amount in view of the attack but at the same time Gandhi started a fast unto death to get this amount immediately, as a result of which this amount was given to Pakistan against the interests of India.

Nathuram Godse cited Mahatma Gandhi’s work as one of the reasons for his assassination.

Riot riots at the time of partition of India

Many scholars are of the opinion that the British government did not handle the process of partition properly. Since the Declaration of Independence was announced earlier and the Partition was announced later, the responsibility of maintaining peace in the country came to the head of the new governments of India and Pakistan.

Nobody thought that many people would go from here. People were of the view that security would be provided for the people of minority communities in both the countries. 

But the new governments of the two countries did not have the necessary arrangements to deal with violence and crime. As a result, riots broke out and many people were killed and many people had to leave the house and flee.

It is estimated that about 5 to 3 million people died during this period, some in riots and some due to travel difficulties.

Critics are of the opinion that the short-sightedness of the early and immediate leadership of the British to transfer power early was responsible for the massacre and unrest that took place at the time of independence.

Various Info Conclusion