As India celebrates ‘Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ that is 75 years of it’s Independence. Let’s learn about how the partition of India took place. How over a piece of paper just by few data points that too inaccurate it was decided that who will live in which part of the country. The new country was carved out of whole of India on it’s western side and a new Nation Pakistan was born. Pakistan celebrates 14th August as it’s Independence day as Lord Mountbatten referred official date for Pakistan and 15th August was chosen for India. India observes 14th August as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’. Millions of people were displace in the midnight by Cyril Radcliffe after which India- Pakistan border is named.
Partition means the division of something into parts; this is the history of the partition of India that took place in August, 1947. British rule in India lasted from 1857 to 1947. British rule was known as "crown rule" in India. In August, 1947, India won independence from British rule and was divided into two nations: the Hindu-majority India and the Muslim-majority Pakistan. East Pakistan became Bangladesh later in 1971 in Bangladesh liberation war when Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw MC (Sam Manekshaw) lead and liberated Bangladesh from cruelty of Pakistan government.
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One of the major reasons was the two nation theory, which was given by Syed Ahmed Khan, who said that Hindus and Muslims were too different to be in the same country. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who later became the first Governor-General of Pakistan, was the principal supporter of the division.
The British policy to divide and rule; led to the division of the country. The Britishers wanted to leave India as soon as possible after World War 2 as they saw rising nationalism in India and non-cooperation from the masses to their rule. British PM Clement Atlee announced in British Parliament after winning the elections that the British government has decided to leave India and since the seeds of differences were sown by the British earlier to rule over Indian subcontinent they found an opportunity to leave India by dividing (As is the case with Israel- Palestine’s as well)
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Thousand of people had to leave their family and homes to rush over just to save themselves from communal mob or see their close family which was sent to the other side.
The Arya Samaj accepted the Shuddic system, which led Muslims to have second thoughts. Hindu Maha Sabha shouted a slogan in support of the creation of this country in addition to accusing the Congress of being an anti-Hindu organisation. Muslim league understood quite early that if they have to rule they would need a separate nation which was false but Mr. Jinnah made sure no agreements reaches with then congress party and eventually our leader agreed to the separate nation called’ Pakistan’.
Other reasons are communal violence in Bengal and Punjab; fail in compromise attempts again and again.
The British used the idea of partition to create opinion differences among the people and to secure their position.
The partition of India was announced by Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, on June 3, 1947, at a session between the Muslim League and the Congress.
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What was the impact of this partition?
This wasn't as good as expected. Millions of people became refugees. People moved from one country to another in an unplanned manner.
Women were abducted or killed by their own family to save their family honors.
Many people were killed; riots; mass scale destruction; abduction; forced conversion; sexual violence occurred on a large scale.
People were forced to leave their homes to migrate to another nation; this was the largest forced migration.
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The partition had poor economic impact on the nations. A significant situation was caused by a combination of rising unemployment, unchecked prices, and a lack of basic foods and necessities.
The region of Jammu and Kashmir and other states whose boundaries are shared by both nations were particularly affected by the partition since pieces of it were given to both countries however Pakistan occupied some what is known as POK(Pakistan occupied kashmir) , which repeatedly went to war in an effort to seize the entire province.
Partition had a huge impact on a large number of people, both mental and physical.
Families were divided; people lost their friends to the other side of the border, building a whole new and different life, causing a lot of trauma. It caused a lot more destruction than one could ever imagine.
Through histories, refugee artefacts, personal artefacts, letters, photographs, and authentic documents from that era. The displaced families and their emotions are still alive and people still miss their family members that they lost or displaced during the Partition.
It wasn’t pleasant for anyone and we only hope that people who have their families each side get to see each other and Pakistan hopefully stops attacking India in its failed attempts and take care of its citizens and economy especially.
Jai Hind!.
Content by - Himanshi Upadhyay
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