Partition of India

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Lore & Background

Pashtun politician and Indian independence activist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan of the Khudai Khidmatgar viewed the proposal to partition India as un-Islamic and contradicting a common history in which Muslims considered India as their homeland for over a millennium. Mahatma Gandhi opined that 'Hindus and Muslims were sons of the same soil of India; they were brothers who therefore must strive to keep India free and united.' The vast majority of Sunni Muslims of the Deobandi school, represented by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, regarded the proposed partition and formation of a separate, majority Muslim nation state (i.e. the future Pakistan) as a 'conspiracy of the colonial government to prevent the emergence of a strong united India'. Many Deobandis therefore helped to organise the Azad Muslim Conference, to condemn the partition of India. They also argued that the economic development of Muslims would be hurt if India was partitioned, seeing the idea of partition as one that was designed to keep Muslims backward. They also expected 'Muslim-majority provinces in united India to be more effective than the rulers of independent Pakistan in helping the Muslim minorities living in Hindu-majority areas.' Deobandis pointed to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which was made between the Muslims and Qureysh of Mecca, that 'promoted mutual interaction between the two communities thus allowing more opportunities for Muslims to preach their religion to Qureysh through peaceful tabligh.' Deobandi Sunni scholar Sayyid Husain Ahmad Madani argued for a united India in his book Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam (Composite Nationalism and Islam), promulgating the idea that different religions do not constitute different nationalities and that the proposition for a partition of India was not justifiable, religiously. Khaksar Movement leader Allama Mashriqi opposed the partition of India because he felt that if Muslims and Hindus had largely lived peacefully together in India for centuries, they could also do so in a free and united India. He reasoned that a division of India along religious lines would breed fundamentalism and extremism on both sides of the border. Mashriqi thought that 'Muslim majority areas were already under Muslim rule, so if any Muslims wanted to move to these areas, they were free to do so without having to divide the country.' To him, separatist leaders 'were power hungry and misleading Muslims in order to bolster their own power by serving the British agenda.' All of Hindustan, according to Mashriqi, belonged to Indian Muslims. In 1941, a CID report states that thousands of Muslim weavers under the banner of Momin Conference and coming from Bihar and Eastern U.P. descended in Delhi demonstrating against the proposed two-nation theory. A gathering of more than fifty thousand people from an unorganized sector was not usual at that time, so its importance should be duly recognized. The non-ashraf Muslims constituting a majority of Indian Muslims were opposed to partition but sadly they were not heard. They were firm believers of Islam yet they were opposed to Pakistan. In the 1946 Indian provincial elections, the Muslim League got the support mostly from Ashrafs, the upper class Muslims. Lower class Indian Muslims opposed the partition of India, believing that 'a Muslim state would benefit only upper-class Muslims.' The All India Conference of Indian Christians, representing the Christians of colonial India, along with Sikh political parties such as the Chief Khalsa Diwan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh condemned the call by separatists to create Pakistan, viewing it as a movement that would possibly persecute them. Frank Anthony, a Christian leader who served as the president of the All India Anglo-Indian Association, cited several reasons for opposing the partition of India. If India were to be divided, the regions proposed to become Pakistan would still contain a 'considerable number of non-Muslims, and a large number of Muslims would also remain in [independent] India' thus rendering the partition to be useless. Furthermore, the partition of India would jeopardise the interests of the minority communities. He held that the plan proposed by the All India Muslim League would cause the balkanisation of India that would lead to 'potentially 'emasculating' India' as a global leader. Anthony stated that India was unlike Europe in that 'India had achieved a basic ethnic and cultural unity.' Lastly, Anthony held that 'the division of India would lead to war between the two countries' and give rise to the spread of extremist ideologies. Critics of the partition of India argue that an undivided India would have boasted one of the strongest armies in the world, had more competitive sports teams, fostered an increased protection of minorities with religious harmony, championed greater women's rights, possessed extended maritime borders, projected elevated soft power, and offered a 'focus on education and health instead of the defence sector'. Pakistan was created through the partition of India on the basis of religious segregation; the very concept of dividing the country of India has criticised for its implication 'that people with different backgrounds' cannot live together. After it occurred, critics of the partition of India point to the displacement of fifteen million people, the murder of more than one million people, and the rape of 75,000 women to demonstrate the view that it was a mistake.

Reader's Guide

Organisations and prominent individuals opposing the partition of India included many political parties. The All India Anglo-Indian Association led by its president Frank Anthony 'vociferously opposed Partition.' The All India Azad Muslim Conference was an organisation headed by the Premier of Sind Allah Bakhsh Soomro, which represented the religiously observant Muslim working class; in one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in colonial India, it rallied in Delhi to oppose the partition of India. The All India Conference of Indian Christians opposed the partition of India, as well as the creation of separate electorates based on religion; it supported swaraj and helped to secure to rights of minorities in the Constitution of India. The All-India Jamhur Muslim League was erected 'in 1940, to oppose Jinnah's scheme of Pakistan'. The All India Momin Conference saw itself as articulating the interests of common, rather than upper-class Muslims and passed a resolution against the partition of India in 1940. It said: 'the Partition scheme was not only impracticable and unpatriotic but altogether un-Islamic and unnatural, because the geographical position of the different provinces of India and the intermingled population of the Hindus and Muslims are against the proposal and because the two communities have been living together for centuries, and they have many things in common between them.' The All India Muslim Majlis opposed the partition of India 'as impracticable'. The All India Shia Political Conference protested the idea of creating a Pakistan, being against the partition of colonial India. It also supported common electorates. Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan allied itself with the Indian National Congress and opposed the partition of India. The Central Khalsa Young Men Union declared its 'unequivocal opposition' to the creation of a separate Muslim state in northwestern India, as with other Sikh organisations. The Chief Khalsa Diwan declared its 'unequivocal opposition' to the creation of a separate Muslim state in northwestern India, as with other Sikh organisations. The Communist Party of India opposed the partition of India and did not participate in the Independence Day celebrations of 15 August 1947 in protest of the division of the country. The Indian National Congress firmly opposed the partition of India, though it later reluctantly accepted it after the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan. According to Congress it was unavoidable from India's side. Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadis was a member party of the All India Azad Muslim Conference, which opposed the partition of India. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was 'uncompromisingly against the formation of Pakistan', rejecting the idea of the partition and instead advocating for composite nationalism in a united India (cf. Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam). The Khaksar Movement opposed the partition of India and were 'outspoken critics of the Pakistan scheme'. The Khudai Khidmatgar stood out against the partition of India, using nonviolent principles to resist British rule in the country. The Krishak Praja Party condemned idea of a partition plan as 'absurd and meaningless'. Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam passed a resolution in 1943 declaring itself to be against the partition and 'introduced a sectarian element into its objections by portraying Jinnah as an infidel in an attempt to discredit his reputation.' The Sind United Party held that 'Whatever our faiths we must live together in our country in an atmosphere of perfect amity and our relations should be the relations of the several brothers of a joint family, various members of which are free to profess their faith as they like without any let or hindrance and of whom enjoy equal benefits of their joint property.' The Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh saw the idea of the creation of a Muslim state as inviting possible persecution of Sikhs, who thus 'launched a virulent campaign against the Lahore Resolution'. The Unionist Party (Punjab), which had a base of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, opposed the partition of India.

Did You Know?

• In 1941, a CID report states that thousands of Muslim weavers under the banner of Momin Conference and coming from Bihar and Eastern U.P. descended in Delhi demonstrating against the proposed two-nation theory, with a gathering of more than fifty thousand people.
• Deobandi Sunni scholar Sayyid Husain Ahmad Madani argued for a united India in his book Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam (Composite Nationalism and Islam).
• The All India Azad Muslim Conference, headed by Premier of Sind Allah Bakhsh Soomro, rallied in Delhi in one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in colonial India to oppose the partition.
• Frank Anthony, president of the All India Anglo-Indian Association, held that 'the division of India would lead to war between the two countries'.
• The Communist Party of India opposed the partition and did not participate in the Independence Day celebrations of 15 August 1947 in protest.