Figure 1.--Partition and migration was not just a matter of Muslims and Hindus. The Subcontinent was very diverse and India continues to be so. A vey important minority were the Sikhs. Living in Hindu India is not without its problems, but most Sikhs saw with considerablevpresience that their continued existance as a people would only be possible with the Hindus. Most of the Sikhs in what was ghen Pakistan decided to leave. Here Sikhs after the partition line was announced are migrating to the Indian Punjab.

Inter-communal rioting broke out at independence as a result of partion (1947). Muslims fled from India and Hindus anbd Sikhs from Pakistan as vicious riots and communal rampages forced people from their homes. Peoples who lived together peacefully for centuries were suddenly caught up in inter-communal rioting, one of the great and least reported human tragedies of our time. Much greater attention has been given to events in Palestine at the same time involving much smaller numbers of people and deaths. These were terrified, for the most part impoverished people, forced from their ancestral homes. Partition set in motion the largest mass migration in history. Some 10-13 million people were set in motion--most of it on foot. These people including children and the elderly fled across the sudenly delineated borders. Many had to move long distnces on foot without any humamitarian support such as feeding stations or sanitary and medical facilities. It was beyond the capability of the security forces to contol. Thousands more died in violence as these collumns passing each other in opposite directions along major roads. And as they foraged for food and were set upon by villagers also inflamed by religious and national zealotry and protcting their fields. The situation was most severe in the western Punjab and Bengal which were cut in two by partition. The violence resulted in hundred of thousands of deaths, probably more than a million. There was no accurte accounting. While the deaths is often the headline story, much more was involved. Often omitted in the discussion is the huge numbers of women raped--in a traditional society often seen as a fate worse than death. Women in the refugee collumns were brutally raped, sometimes tortured. There were organized gang rapes and murdersd. And it should not be thoufgt that this ws done jusr by the othr religious groups. Actions by their fellow religionists seem even more common. Besides religious and national passions, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were all involved in undesguised criminality. Partition and the line drawn on the map unleashed an episode of mass depravity unmatched in recent history. Unlike other horific events, this was not organized carnage, but appeas to have been lrgely spotaneous. And the carnage would have been much worse had Ghandi not worked tirelessly to contain the volence. Many historians blame partition primarily on competition between elites vying for power. This narative is brought into question by the mass violence which seems to have spontaneously erupted among the population itself.

Indian Constituent Asembly (1940-45)

The idea for a Constituent Assembly of India was first proposed M.N. Roy (1934). Roy helped found the Indian Communist Party. He was an advocate of radical democracy. The Indian National Congress picked up on the idea (1935). he British were less interested in the idea, but presumably under the pressure of World War II as the Battle of Britain was underway and a posible German invasion was expected, the British accepted it (August 1940). A stable India and the Indian Army was very important to the British. Viceroy Lord Linlithgow made aroposal which became know as the 'August Offer', the expansion of the Governor-General's Executive Council and the establishment of a War Advisory Council. Linlithgow's proposal also offered giving 'full weight' to minority opinions and allowing Indians to draft a constitution. Progress was stalled durung the War as Congress demanded a British commitment to independence. The Indians objected to Britain's unilateral inclusion of India in the war without consultation Indian represebtatives. All Congressmen resigned from office. After considerable contemplation, Gandhi decided on a course of action. He declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom while that freedom was denied to India itself. As the war developed, Gandhi intensified his demand for independence, calling for the British to Quit India in a speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan. This was Gandhi's and the Congress Party's most definitive action designed to drive the British from India. The British arested Ghandi and important Congress leaders. This all changed with the NAZI surrender May1945) and the Labour victory in the British General Election (July 1945). Primeminister Clemet Atlee was committed to independence. Louis Mounbatten was appointed the last Viceroy to oversee the tranition to independence. The Cabinet Mission Plan involved holding elections for the first time to the Constituent Assembly (1946). The new Assembly drafted the Constitution of India. It was implemented under the Cabinet Mission Plan (May 16, 1946). The members of the Constituent Assembly were elected by the provincial assemblies by a single, transferable-vote system of proportional representation. The total membership of the Constituent Assembly was 389 members: 292 were representatives of the states, 93 represented the princely states and four were from the chief commissioner provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Mewar, Coorg and British Baluchistan. Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed (August 1946). Congress won 208 seats and the Muslim League 73 sears. With this election, the Muslim League refused any furth cooperation with Comgress and dembded partition. The political situation began to deteriorate.

Proposed Transfer of Power: Plans (1946)

The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League were the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India proposed a transfer of power from the British Raj to the new Dominion of India. The Muslim Legue, however, demanded partition of the Raj between a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. Congress immediately rejected the Mulim League partition plan and insisted on a united India. The Muslim League remin intent on a Muslim homeland.

Indian Muslims

As Independence came to be seen as a real possibility, Muslim leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, became increasingly worried abou about the minority status of Islam in an independent India dominated by a Hindu majority. Rule by the British was one thing, rule by Hindus a very different matter. At the time of independence, there were some 100 million Indian Muslims. About 40 million renained in India, many in the south where migration was not a realitic option. The remaining 60 million either lived in the Muslim designated areas or decided they could not live under Hindu-majority rule. Congress was opposed to partition.

Bengal

The etnic and social conditions in Bengal were very complivated. Official statistics give Mulims a substantial majority -- Muslims (56 percent and Hindus 42 percent). The Muslim population, however, was highly concentrated in the eastern section of the province while Calcutta was mostly Hindu (Hindu - 64 percent and Muslim 33 percent). Britain introduced a provincial autonomy scheme, essentially a home rule plan (1935). Bengal was the only province with a Muslim League government elected under the election schme. There was strong, vocal opposition to the Muslim provincial government. This include opposition from Congress, the secular Communist Party, and Hindu Mahasabha (a Hindu nationalist party). The Mahasabha drew a lot of support from the wealthy Marwari trading community. They included mny immigrants from Rajasthan who dominated the economy of central Calcutta, along with important European expats. The result was that Calcutta was deeply divided between two groups and talk of partitin had enflamed tensions in sharply divided city. .

Direction Action Day (August 16, 1946)

Direct Action Day has become known as the Great Calcutta Killings. The Muslim League Council planned a peaceful demostration in Kolkata (Calcutta) which they announced as 'Direct Action' Day, esentilly a general strike. The purpose was to protest Congeress' rejection of partition and to show the British and Congress the support for Partition. The Muslim League feared that if British just pulled out before an agrement on partition was reached, Muslims would be at the mercy of India's majority Hindus. The planned demonstration quickly degenerated onto mass violence--the most deadly communal violence in the history of British India. It proved to a horrendous, bloody riots and mob mayhem. Hindu and Muslim Mobs battle each other pn the strets of Kolkata (Calcutta) in Bengal. It touched off what is now called The Week of the Long Knives. The level of violence proved beyond the ability of the police to contol, especially as they were largely unprepared for it. As farcas we can tell, unlike the sitution in Palistine, there was no organized program of violence executed by the Mislim League. The same seems true for the Hindus. The violence appears largely spontaneous. Some 4,000 people were killed. Mny homes abd shops were torched. An estimated 100,000 people found themselves homeless in Calcutta afyer only 3 days. The violence ws not limited to Calcutta. Rioting broke out i the surrounding regions of Noakhali, Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province. It was the beginning of the terrible violence resulting from independence and prtition. And both the British and Congress began to see that partitionwas unavoidable.

Independence: Partition (August 14-15, 1947)

The Partition of India was the difficult process of dividing the subcontinent along sectarian lines as India ahieved indpendence. Congress wanted a united India, but Muslims fearful of Hind rule demanded a sparte tate. The issue began to surfce years bfore independence. India was not a united state before the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual creatioin of the Btitish Raj. Thus for the first time in history India meaning the sub-continent was united. This did not create a religious problem at first, because Mulims and Hindus were not ruled by a Mulim or Hindu-dominated national government. The Indian National Congress (INC) was organized and met for the first time (1885). From the beginning it was dominated by majoriy Hindus. The first major problm surfced when When the British attempted to divide Bengal along sectarian lines (1905). The INC organized huge protests against the division plan. This resulted in the formation of the Muslim League (ML). And as the issue of independence advanced, the ML sought to safeguard the rights of Muslims in the Raj and in any future independence negotiations. The idea of Pakistan or a separae Muslim state did develop until fairly late in the independence movement. And some historians speculate that the early demands for a separate state were really just a 'bargaining chip' to gain more power for Muslims in a Hindu majority state. The goal being a loosely federated India with a degree of autonomy for Muslims and the possibility of Sharia Law. Only in the late-1930s did the idea of an independent Pakistan emerge as a real goal. As Parition was carried out, northeastern and northwestern predominantly Muslim sections of India after difficult negotiations became the Pakistan, while the southern and majority Hindu regions section became India, albeit with a huge Muslim minority. Unresolved at the time of independence and parition was the status of Khasmir. And independence was a disjointed affair. Pakistan celebrated its independence on August 14. India celebrates independence on August 15. And notably, the border between the two now indepebdent states was not announced until August 17. The actual boundary line was hurriedly drawn by a British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe. He not only had virtually no knowledge of Indian affairs, but he was working with out-of-date maps and census materials. Many Indians were shocked by the result, especially those living near the new border. Not only were farms and families separated, but whole communities were divided. Delaying the announcement of the border until power was transferred meant that the rioting and refugee flight which followed became the responsibility not of the British Government, but of the two independent Indian governments.

Inter-Communal Rioting

Inter-communal rioting broke out at independence as a result of partion (1947). Peoples who lived together peacefully for centuries were suddenly caught up in inter-communal rioting, one of the great and least reported human tragedies of our time. Much greater attention has been given to events in Palestine at the same time involving much smaller numbers of people and deaths. Besides religious and national passions, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were all involved in undesguised criminality. Partition and the line drawn on the map unleashed an episode of mass depravity unmatched in recent history. Unlike other horific events, this was not organized carnage, but appeas to have been lrgely spotaneous.

Population Movement (1947-48)

Congress eventually acceoted a partition plan. No one, however, expected a large population movements. The officials involved could not have been more wrong. Independence and the coomunal rioting that ensued set in motion some 14.5 million people seeking safety in an increasingly chaotivc amd lawless communities. The British were gone, the ne. And the new Indian Goverment was completely unpreapred and illequipped to dael with an una nticipated security crisis--the largest mass migration in human istory involving increasingly histile communities. Destitute Muslims fled from India and Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan as vicious riots and communal rampages forced people from their homes. These were terrified, for the most part impoverished people, forced from their ancestral homes. Partition set in motion the largest mass migration in history. Some 10-13 million people were set in motion--most of it on foot. These people including children and the elderly fled across the sudenly delineated borders. Many had to move long distnces on foot without any humamitarian support such as feeding stations or sanitary and medical facilities. It was beyond the capability of the security forces to contol. Thousands more died in violence as these collumns passing each other in opposite directions along major roads. And as they foraged for food and were set upon by villagers also inflamed by religious and national zealotry as well as protcting their fields. The numbers do not begin to describe the human tragedy and suffering experienced by these people. The physical savagery was inconceivable. One of the refugees provides the terrifying human perspective, "Now before our eyes lie dried tracks of blood, cut up human parts, charred faces, mangled necks, terrified people, looted houses, burned fields, mountains of rubble, and overflowing hospitals. We are free. Hindustan {India} is free. Pakistan is free, and we are walking the desolate streets naked without any possessions in utter distress." [Manto]

The Punjab and Bengal

The rioting and violence had begun in Calcutta, part of Beggal (August 1946). The violence then was just a taste of what began with independence. The situation was most pronouned in the western Punjab and Bengal which were cut in two by partition. Most of the worse violence took place in the Punjab. Many Punjabis felt they had no choice but to migrate, moving to the sector alloted to each religion/county. Muslims moved east and Sikhs and Hindus moving west. Bengal was also divided, part of which became East Pakistan--modern Bangladash. Far fewer people in the east outside of western Bengal felt the need to migrate and violence remained at a far lower level.

Causes

Many historians blame partition primarily on competition between elites vying for power. This certainly was part of it, but Soyj asia has more than a millenium of conflict between Hindus and Muslims. There have been long periods of moderation of tolration s well as periods of bigotry and religious oppression long before the arruval of the Brutish. This narative is brought into question by the mass violence which seems to have spontaneously erupted among the population itself. The British are also blamed for spped with whivh they finally exited India. Of course befire indepebdence they were blamed for not quiting India fast enough. The actual culability in moral resonsibility for what trnspired is reasonably shared between the British, Congress, and the All India Muslim League.

Result

The violence resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Not one has any real idea of the numbers killed. Some estimates are as low as 0.2 million. Other estimates areas are as high as 1 million. We have seen some estimates as high as 2 million daeths. The most commonly used figure is 0.5 million deaths There is, however, no accurte accounting. The staggering magnitude of the population movement was a factor in the unbelievale mass violence and slaughter occurring on both sides of the new border. border along communal lines. Estimates of the number of deaths range around roughly 500,000, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 1,000,000. [White] While the deaths are often the headline story, much more was involved. Often omitted in the discussion is the huge numbers of women raped--in a traditional society often seen as a fate worse than death. Women in the refugee collumns were brutally raped, sometimes tortured. There were organized gang rapes and murdersd. And it should not be thought that this was done just by the othr religious groups. Actions by their fellow religionists seem even more common.

Ghandi

Some blame Gandhiji for his inability to stop partition of the country and to control communal violence. This seems unfair. Hhandi was for a united India wuth Muslims and Hindus living together in peace. After Direction Action Say, in became uncreasingly clear that this was not possible. If any single person was to blame it was Jinnah, but in fairness, it is unclear to what extent he led the demand for partition or was sinmly following the demands of the Muslim League. No one person can be blaned for what occurred. india was a vast, complex society. Congress in their rush for control failed to preceave the threat and have to share in the resonsibility for what occurred. The failure had to be shared by entire leadership of Congress and the Muslim League. No single person could have stopped the partition or the violence, but no one worked so tirelessly to do so than Ghandi. And as bad as it was, the carnage would have been much worse had Ghandi not worked tirelessly to contain the volence. Gandhi, having vowed to spend the day of independence fasting and spinning, was in Calcutta on where he prayed (August 15, 1947). He personally confronted rioters and worked with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy to stop the killing. His teachings and the efforts of his followers as well as his presence, surely prevented even more mob violence and killing than actually occurrd. [Seip]

Refugees

Both India and Pakistan were left with huge refuge problems and few resources to deal with the needs of the displaced people, often arriving with just the clothes they were wearing on their backs. The refugees represented a huge population exchange. There were cross border movenents in both the east and west. The Muslim population in sothern India mostly stayed in place. An estimated 14.5 million decided to cross the newly created borders. The numbers moving in each direction were approximately equal. Some 7.2 million Muslims fled to Pakistan while 7.3 million Hindus and Sikhs sought refuge in India. Women were a special case.

Aftermath

The refuges wee recting to both preceived and actul threats. Communal rioting foirced Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims to fleet, esecially in border areas and ares where they wr a minority. It is impotant to see what hppened after partition. Most Hindus in Pakistan that initially stayed eventully migrated to India. This is because Pakiran did bit evolve as a secular state. Gradully elements of Sharia Law were introduced in he country's lefal syste,. This meant by dfinition that non-Muslims were descriminatd against both by law and in a range of extra-legal situations. India took a different approch. Confess created a secular state. Thus while there was Hinfu majority, all Indians were equal before the law. he result is that India hs the largest Muslim population in the world.

Sources

Manto, Saadat Hasan. Manto (1912-1955) was a popular Urdu short story writer and a rising screenwriter in Bombay at the time of Partition (1947). He is best known for the short stories he wrote after migrating to Lahore in the new state of Pakistan. No other author captured the emotions and experiebces with such force as Manto.

Seip, Jens Lauritz Arup.

White, Matthew. "Secondary Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century".

Created: 12:19 AM 10/8/2014
Last updated: 9:16 PM 1/18/2015