Main Issues of Separation of Pakistan and India

One of the most important developments after the Second World War was the partition of the Indian Subcontinent into the states now known as Pakistan and India. The financial toll of the War had been too much for the British to handle and they were now quickly vacating their colonies. But it was not always envisioned in this way. The British, along with the Hindus had always sought a unified India and refused all talks of partition vehemently. But it was the Muslims, under the guidance of their leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah that strived, fought, struggled, burned and died so that India was partitioned and a new country emerged on the map of the world: Pakistan.

The Early Years

In his early years, Jinnah, like Nehru and Gandhi had been a part of the Indian National Congress. A celebrated lawyer and a stern and confident individual, Jinnah was adamant that Muslims should join and support the Congress. Both Nehru and Gandhi also joined the Congress in their early years after returning from abroad to advance the transfer of some of the rights to the Indians. Gandhi had been campaigning in South Africa regarding the treatment of Indians there and Nehru had been studying at Cambridge. The rights which Congress demanded included a greater political representation for Indians in the running of their country, grant of some basic rights to the Indian masses and overall, a step in the right direction for Indians who had until now been considered second class citizens to the British.

Nehru and Gandhi, both Hindu, considered India as belonging to the Hindus where Hindus should form the central government due to their increased numbers. As India had been ruled for the past 1000 years by Muslim rulers, there was also resentment among the Hindus due to this factor. Nehru and Gandhi also sought to transform the Indian National Congress, envisioned as a platform for all the religious groups in India, into one advancing solely the rights and aspirations of Hindus. When Jinnah called for reform, he was shunned aside. This led to further disillusionment on part of Jinnah, who now believed that Hindus could not be trusted once the British left. Jinnah had worked to bring the Muslims and Hindus closer together, to see past their differences to unite against the British. At one time, he was even a member of both Muslim League and Congress. One of his greatest achievements towards Hindu Muslim unity was the Lucknow Pact, signed at the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru in which Hindus acknowledged separate representation in the legislative bodies for Muslims, separate electorates for Muslims and the agreement of unity among the Hindus and Muslims when speaking to the British.

By now, violence across the subcontinent had increased. There was the incident of killings at Amritsar in 1919 in which the British cold heartedly murdered around 400 people. These disturbances unnerved the British who introduced sweeping new measures to control the violence. First, the defense of India Act during the First World War and then the Rowlett Act in 1919 were introduced which caused outcry among the Indians. In August 1920, the Hijrat Movement and in August 1921, the Moplah Uprising further caused unrest and dissent . Gandhi started the Non Cooperation Movement to upheaval the British. Protests, strikes, boycotts and other nonviolent forms of resistance marked the times. Nehru led the movement in the Central provinces and was arrested. But Jinnah did not share Gandhi’s enthusiasm and did not join him in this regard. In spite of being peaceful, the movement resulted in violence and the Muslims were always the first victims of such incidents.

There was some falling out within the Congress party during this time as Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru’s father, made his own Swaaraj party. But Jawaharlal stood by Nehru and continued to support him

The Nehru Report and its Impact

In order to pay heed to the demands of the Indians, the British sent a commission under the leadership of Viscount Simon, a liberal member of the House of Lords, to get to know the demands of the Indians. But both Congress and the Muslim League boycotted the Commission and instead sought to draw up their demands by establishing a joint committee. The result of this Committee was the Nehru Report (1928). The Muslim League and Jinnah were devastated. Although it had been a joint committee, the demands of the Muslims which included increases political representation for Muslims in Muslim majority areas like Sindh, Bengal and the North West Frontier had been completely sidelined. This made further co-operation between the Hindus and Muslims impossible and further disillusioned Jinnah from his dream of Muslims and Hindus working together for a united India.Motilal Nehru had been a strong advocate of a single united India with no political distinction between the two. Separate electorates and representation, in his view would have further divided the Indian people. He also did not want to risk criticism from his fellow Congress members by granting the Muslims their demands. Whatever the reason, this incident was extremely damaging for Hindu Muslim relations and for a united India.

In response to the Nehru Report, Jinnah issued his famous Fourteen Points in March 1929. He demanded equal rights, opportunities and political representation for Muslims compared to Hindus. He also sought to protect the Muslims from further legislative attacks of the Congress by demanding several changes in the legislative framework. The Muslim League united in support of these demands while the Congress held firm to the idea of single India. Both the parties wanted an end to British Rule but there was no common ground on what should replace it. When Gandhi initiated another civil disobedience movement in 1930, it was criticized by the Muslim League as not only a movement for independence but also for establishing dominance over Muslims.

This lack of unity amongst the Indians made it difficult for the British to know what to do next. When a series of Round Table conferences called up by the British failed, matters became more complicated. Gandhi did not take part in the first conference and continued his noncooperation movement which led him to prison. In the second conference, he stood by the Nehru Report and refused to grants for the Minorities. This led to the failure of the conferences. In 1935, the British introduced the Government of India act which granted sweeping rights to the Indians . But both the Muslim League and the Congress opposed the act as it did not give India independence like they sought.

The 1937 elections further proved the divide between Hindus and Muslims. The Congress won a sweeping majority and established government across all of India including the Muslim majority areas. The election had been fair but it was the treatment of Muslims under Congress that made them realize what would happen to them if the Hindus were left in control once the British left. On the political front, the Congress completely ignored the Muslim League and refused to add any Muslims to the government unless they joined the Congress. Congress flags flew from public buildings and a Hindu nationalist song, Bande Mata ram became the new national anthem. This anthem encouraged the expulsion of Muslims from the subcontinent. A Basic Education Scheme, introduced by Gandhi removed religious education and replaced Urdu with Hindi as the medium of instruction. One Local Board in the Central Provinces instructed the pupils which included Muslim boys to bow down to the portrait of Gandhi. Muslims living under Hindu rule felt harassed. They saw these moves an attempt by the Hindus to negate their culture and identity. Here was the evidence that even with legal safeguards, Muslims could not trust the Congress to safeguard their rights. The arrogant, hardline attitude of the Congress after the 1937 elections convinced more Muslims that Quaid e Azam, as Jinnah was now popularly known was not wrong in his judgment of threats to them under Congress Rule.

World War Two and its Impact on India

When World War 2 broke out, the difference between the Congress and the Muslim League became more evident. In reaction of Britain not consulting the Indians before leading India to join the war effort, Congress resigned from the government and continued to oppose the British war effort. The league, on the other hand, was pleased with these developments and declared this the ‘Day of Deliverance’. It provide limited support to the British during the War, claiming that they did not want Nazi Germany to win. The British then sent Sir Stafford Cripps with a promise for Independence once the war was over. But this offer had come too late. The Muslim League saw Cripps’s proposals leading to a Hindu majority imposing a new Indian Union and denying the rights of Muslims whereas Gandhi wanted immediate power. Both the parties rejected the proposals. Gandhi started the Quit India Movement, which Jinnah saw as a ploy by Congress to gain full control once the British left. This movement cause severe bouts of violence unseen in India since the last twenty years.

In 1944, Gandhi and Jinnah met several times to discuss what would happen once the British left. The talks ended in a stalemate as Gandhi still claimed to be representing all Indians including Muslims and wanted independence first, then consider partition. He argued that Muslims could not be called a nation by any means and that they are not at all distinct from the rest of India. M.A. Jinnah knew that Congress could never be trusted to uphold its promise once the British left and wanted the issue of partition to settle before the leaving of the British. He argued that by any canon of International Law, the Muslims were a nation as they had a lifestyle completely different from those of the Hindus. The Quaid had called for a separate Muslim homeland called Pakistan earlier during the Lahore Resolution of 23 March 1940.

The Wavell Plan at Simla proposed an executive Council with equal number of Muslim and Hindu ministers . But as the Sikhs and other Scheduled Casts would most definitely vote with the Hindus, the Muslims would never be able to share power and the Government of a United India would be dominated by Hindus. Highlighting this reason, the Quaid proposed that Pakistan was a necessity. Another Cripps Mission in 1946 failed again and highlighted the irrevocable differences between the Jinnah and Gandhi. The Quaid, through everything, had been adamant about the creation of Pakistan and rejected any other proposal that did not safeguard a separate Muslim homeland. Giving into his demands, the British agreed to this. Lord Mountbatten, the final Viceroy of India, announced the creation of two states, Pakistan and India and the division of the assets between them . He, however, also added that the two nations could in fact join together once more into a United India by mutual discussion. Both the Congress and the Muslim League seized onto this demand. For Muslims, this meant Pakistan was now a certainty. On the other hand, Congress argued that Pakistan would not work and would soon collapse. India would be united once more and their dream would become a reality. Pakistan and India were finally born on the eve of 14th August 1947 with their followed by horrific acts of violence as rival communities tried to reach their respective designated homelands.

Pakistan and India

So irrevocable differences between the Muslims and the Hindus led to the partition of India. Both the communities, while united in opposition to the British and being brothers of the Land offered stark comparison in everything else. Hindus considered the cow, a sacred animal while for the Muslims, it was a slaughter animal. This led to several incidents of religious and communal violence (which continue even to this day in India). Their religion, their food, their culture, their language, their festivals, their calendar, their clothing, their outlook on life, everything was completely different. As Nehru and Gandhi had argued, this did not mean that Muslims were a separate nation. They were converts and the children of converts. This, for Gandhi and Nehru, made the Two Nation Theory completely baseless and false. For Muslims, however, this meant a complete difference from Hindus and under International Law, they were fair in their demand for a separate homeland.

Whatever the case, it is evident that ideological differences on part of the leaders (Jinnah, Nehru and Gandhi) led to a divided India. Oppression, on part of the Hindus and their refusal to share power and accept the ground reality led to the growth in demand for a separate Muslim homeland. Had it not been for the suppressing attitude of the Hindus, the idea for Pakistan might not have caught traction. In addition, it can be argued that the two state solution has worked out pretty well for all parties involved. Although there are still bouts of severe communal violence, both Pakistan and India are stable states with a promising future. Had the partition been carried out without haste, the issue of Kashmir would have been resolved and there would have been relative peace between the two nations.