Today marks the 74th anniversary of India’s independence from the British. A lot has happened in these 74 years – 4 Indo-Pak wars, the assassinations of 2 Indian Prime Ministers, terrorist attacks, 2 memorable Cricket World Cup wins, the scrapping of article 377 of the IPC and 370 of the Constitution and so much more. Indian history before 1947 was not very delightful, especially during the British rule. Millions of people died during the partition itself, and thousands more before that. The world witnessed a very strong upsurge in the Indian subcontinent. The revolutionaries included people as old as Mahatma Gandhi and Dadabhai Naoroji to people as young as Khudiram Bose and Bhagat Singh, both of whom died aged 18 and 23, respectively.
Dadabhai Naoroji & Mahatma Gandhi
14th and 15th August 1947, both, are extremely important dates in the Indian, Pakistani and to some extent, even British history. Although that year proved to be the year India and Pakistan achieved independence from the British after almost 250 long years of struggle, the price of freedom proved to be much heavier than what the two countries could bear. As the years inched by and the two dominant parties of the time, the The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress (INC), anticipated independence, they also knew that their freedom would come at a cost – the Partition. Ever since the Muslim League’s rise in 1906, the entire face of the “Indian” political game changed forever. Religion had now entered the politics of the region and independence was no longer the sole goal of the centuries-old struggle.
Bhagat Singh (23) & Khudiram Bose (18)
Around this time, along with the demand for independence, came yet another demand or rather condition, from the Muslim League –
“Along with partition, we need a separate nation altogether for the minority Muslims to survive in. This is the only way to assure that Muslims also get a fair chance to compete in the elections, so that they do not have to live as a minority in a Hindu-dominated country.”
The Muslim League’s demand
But this was not belief that the Muslim League had always held. In fact, for several decades before 1940, the leader of the Muslim League – Muhammed Ali Jinnah, called for and preached Hindu-Muslim unity. But in 1940, things changed. Jinnah and his party started demanding for a separate, Muslim majority country. And so, as the year of independence drew closer, the Indian leaders were already familiar with the storm that was heading their way.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Gandhi
The years preceding 1947, saw a lot of conferences and meetings being held between the Indian leaders and the British Crown. In almost all of these meetings, wherein Jinnah (or another representative of the Muslim League) was present, he made it a point to make the demand for Pakistan. In fact, most of the plans preceding the last Indian Independence Act (which finally granted dominion status to both India and Pakistan), were rejected either by the Muslim League, on the grounds that Pakistan as a separate country, was not mentioned in the Act, or by the Congress on the grounds that the act suggested the partition of the country into two separate countries. Finally, it was INC that had to reach a settlement. And so, the last and final version of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, suggested the partition of the country into two dominions, which would henceforth be known as – India and Pakistan.
Despite the several plans that were put in place in order to conduct as smooth a transition for the people of both the countries, violence was inevitable. Thus, came the bloodiest conflict in the history of both India and Pakistan – The Indo-Pak Partition of 1947. This, till date, is remembered by the world as one of the bloodiest events in history.
(Left to Right) – Louis Mountbatten (the last Viceroy of India and the first governor-general of the Dominion of India), Mahatma Gandhi and Lady Edwina Mountbatten
The areas which were affected the most by the partition, were Punjab in the North and West Bengal in the east. Punjab was split into two, with the western part of it aligning with Pakistan. Bengal, on the other hand, was already split into West and East Bengal in 1905, by Lord Curzon. However, East Bengal, a Muslim dominated state, decided to side with Pakistan while West Bengal, a Hindu dominated state, remained with India. Both of these states were in a horrible and heartbreaking condition following the independence of the nascent dominions.
The effects of the Partition of 1947
Statistics show that around 1.26 million people who left India for Pakistan, were found missing and around 0.84 million people who left Pakistan for India, were found missing. Trains brimming to the top with dead bodies were sent back and forth between India and Pakistan. All in all, the partition displaced around 15 million people and killed more than a million. Violent fights, massacres and massive riots took place between India and West & East (now Bangladesh) Pakistan in the span of a year.
The effects of the Partition of 1947
Although the British did finally leave India in 1947, what little they left behind was in a condition worse than the history of the subcontinent had ever witnessed. The seeds of dissent and hatred that the British had sown in all those years ago between the Hindus and the Muslims, had resulted in a massive loss of life, and a burning tension that still exists between the two communities. The Partition of 1947, will forever be etched in history as one of the most violent massacres and exodus in the history of the world.
The following video contains footage from the exodus of 1947. Some may find the content to be distressing. Caution is advised.
This article is in memory of all those who died in the bloody conflict of 1947, and those families who still grieve the loss of their homes and their loved ones.