Who Partitioned Indian Subcontinent? Muslims or British?: Lalit k kaul

 

Who Were Responsible For Partition Of Indian Subcontinent? British Or Muslims?

Lalit K Kaul

The Khilafat movement which began in 1919 culminated into Muslim separatism because it failed to achieve its political ends. It was a political campaign by Indian Muslims to protest British policies towards Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. The movement was started to defend the Ottoman Caliph as a symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India. The movement was led by the Ali brothers, Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali. It was initially supported by Gandhi's non-cooperation movement which saw it as the opportunity to forge Hindu-Muslim unity; Muslims’ leadership were only to betray the trust the Congress had reposed in it. It collapsed after the abolition of the caliphate in 1924. Anticipating its failure insofar as retention of Ottoman Caliph was concerned- the one to which Muslims in India looked up to as torch bearer/pillar of Islamic rule and hoped to establish Islamic rule in India with its help after British were gone- large scale rioting initiated by Muslims started beginning 1921 and extending up to 1926. The most infamous Moplah riots (1921-22): “Religious leaders spearheaded the Hindu genocide of 1921, which led to the massacre of thousands of Hindus, forcible conversions, rape of Hindu women and children and destruction of Hindu properties and places of worship, many call it Khilafat aftermath”. Because the possibility of establishing a Caliphate under Ottoman’s umbrella no longer existed, the hue and cry about incompatibility of Hindus and Muslims as far as their co-existing in independent India was raised and it was ultimately thrust through the events like Direct Action Day.

The beginning of the Demand for Partition of Indian Sub-Continent:

Muhammad Abdul Qadir Bilgrami in 1920 had advocated “the division of the Subcontinent between the Hindus and Muslims. He gave the outline districts fundamentally not too different from the present boundaries of East and West Pakistan (i.e. Bangladesh and today’s Pakistan).”

Three years later (in 1923), in his evidence before the Frontier Enquiry Committee, Sardar Gul Muhammad

Khan of Dera Ismail Khan put forward the partition of India plan by which the Muslims were to get the area from Peshawar to Agra. Muslims saw themselves as a nation entitled to build a just social order on the basis of Islam with a homeland of their own.

Sikander-Jinnah Pact

The Muslim League had failed to get any significant number of seats in the provincial election of 1937; it looked like the demise of Muslim League in the politics of Punjab. Jinnah called a conference of the Muslim League in Lucknow on 15-18 October, 1937. Sikander Hayat accepted the invitation, went to Lucknow, admitted the supremacy of Jinnah and signed the agreement which was called the Sikander-Jinnah Pact. One clause of its many clauses was that, “all Muslim members of Unionist Party to be advised to become the members of Muslim League”

British Intent and Jinnah’s Response:

In successive British efforts, notably the Cripps Plan of 1942 and the three-tiered Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 proposing three units of India, the British Government had been placing its emphasis on responsible rather than strictly representative government, and on the maintenance of the unity of India. Governor of United Punjab Jenkins’ strength was his knowledge of Punjab. He knew Punjabis inside out. He made no secret of the fact that he did not believe in the partition of India, particularly partition of Punjab.

On Feb 13, 1944 Wavell delivered his first speech in the joint session of central legislature and emphasized on “united country enjoying complete and unqualified self government as a willing partner of British Commonwealth”.

On Jan 28, 1946 the Viceroy addressing the newly elected Central Legislature said that the government was determined to establish a constitution making body and a new Executive Council as soon as possible, While Patel welcomed the speech, Jinnah opposed it and reiterated “Muslim league was not prepared to consider anything short of immediate recognition of demand for Pakistan”.

The idea of separate Muslim state within or without India was not a new idea though it got some prominence in the Muslim League annual session at Allahabad held in December 1930. In his presidential speech, Iqbal analysed the political scene and said: I would like to see the Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India. The League thus for the first time highlighted its policy of securing a “Muslim India” and declared emphatically that it would not be content with any of the constitution that fails to guarantee full Muslim representation on population basis in Punjab and Bengal.

In its 24th session held at Bombay on April 11, 1936, the All-India Muslim League while hesitatingly accepting the Government of India Act, 1935 emphasised that Hindus and Muslims were not “two communities’ but “two nations” in many respects.

On Friday March 22, 1940 in his presidential address Mohammed Ali Jinnah declared “ .. It is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has gone far beyond the limits and is the cause of most of our troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. ... They belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. ... They have different epics, different heroes,,, very often the foe of one is hero of other. By any definition “Mussalmaans are a nation” and “they must have their homeland, their territory and their state”.

Fazlul Haq moved the Lahore Resolution which said: “Resolved that it is the considered view of this session of Indian Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic principles, viz. That the geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, which such territorial adjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority, as in the North Western and Eastern zones of India, should be grouped to constitute independent States in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign”.

In a message to the Bombay Presidency Provincial Muslim League conference convened at Hubli on May 26, 1940, Jinnah said,” I am asked, will the British agree to the basic and fundamental principles of Lahore Resolution ...” . “Whether they agree or not we shall fight for it to the last ditch. I know that the British politicians, press and public are still holding on the conception of unity and one India, but I am convinced that it is a self-deception and complete ignorance of reality”.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 28th session of All India Muslim League at Madras on April 12-15, 1941 floated the idea of Dravidistan (one more independent state) as many non-Muslim leaders, essentially from South, were invited for the session. So, it is obvious that balkanization of Indian sub-continent was the prime motto of Jinnah.

All India Muslim League did not participate in Quit India Movement and Muslims across India were advised to keep off; so there were no communal riots, thanks to non-participation of Muslims. Jinnah on Aug 16, 1942 reiterated his faith in Pakistan as a peaceful solution of India’s constitutional problem in the interest of both the Hindus and Muslims.

On April 24, 1943 Jinnah publicly said in Delhi,” I say to Hindus, and the British know it better than anybody else, that the quickest way for the freedom of peoples, both Hindu and Muslim, is Pakistan.,,”

Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 7th December, 1945 said in Bombay, as reported by daily Dawn, Delhi, that the Labour Government was still in dark as to the crux of India’s constitutional problem and were trying to seek light through the circuitous method of sending out a British Parliamentary delegation under the auspices of the Empire Parliamentary Association. Mr. Jinnah suggested that the British Government should apply their mind definitely to the division of India and the establishment of Pakistan and Hindustan which meant freedom for Hindus and Mussalmaans.

Post Provincial Legislature elections on April 7, 1946 Jinnah convened a convention of Muslim League legislators at Anglo-Arabic College Delhi which lasted for 3 days. In his address Jinnah said,” ... I have no doubt that we are of one and only one opinion that we stand for Pakistan and we shall not falter or hesitate to fight for it, to die for it if necessary ...”

The Congress and Muslim league met in Shimla between May 5 and 12, 1946. The main point of difference between the two groups was that Congress wanted a United India and a Unitary National government and the League opposed it and wanted creation of Pakistan based on Two Nation theory.

Various alternatives provided by the Cabinet Mission were struck down by Jinnah and his League. The Mission left India on June 19, 1946. On July 29, 1946 the Muslim declared to resort to “Direct Action”. Jinnah called upon Muslims throughout India to observe Friday, Aug 16 1946 as Direct Action Day and which resulted in mass scale riots initiated by Muslims; the response of Hindus was such that at the end of the day more Muslims were dead than Hindus. Jinnah had sacrificed thousands of lives for his doctrine. This was the final blow that would partition the Indian sub-continent.

According to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Punjab was the cornerstone of the Pakistan scheme. Had the Punjabi Muslims not supported the League’s separatist demands, Pakistan could not have come into existence. Muslims felt that in independent India they would be subservient to Hindu rule, as democracy meant majority rule.

Jinnah’s Road Blocking Tactics forced British to contemplate partition of Indian sub-continent:

Atlee the Prime Minister was convinced that the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, had failed to bring about an agreement between the Congress and the League. He realized that the only solution lay in the partition of India into two sovereign states- Hindustan and Pakistan. On Dec 10, 1946 Atlee called Louis Mountbatten and made him Viceroy of India. In a meeting with Liaquat Ali Khan on April 3, 1947 the Viceroy charged that Muslim League was responsible for all the disturbances in several provinces in order to advance their demand for Pakistan. Discussions with Liaquat Ali revealed that League would accept even the smaller size of Pakistan rather than comprising of six provinces and Calcutta. Prior to it Nehru has asked for partition of Punjab and Bengal based on Muslim and Hindu majority districts.

Louis Mountbatten Stumped Jinnah:

He asked Jinnah as to how he would justify “the claim to thirteen districts in Punjab and eight districts in Bengal including Calcutta which did not have a Muslim majority? “Jinnah wanted to create Pakistan in the heart of India, which could never be agreed upon by Congress”. Mountbatten warned that the Muslim League had either to accept the Cabinet Mission proposals or take its Pakistan carved out of India by partitioning Punjab and Bengal. “Thereafter, Mountbatten asked Jinnah to put forward his arguments for partition. Jinnah reiterated Two Nation Theory, which implied that Muslim majority areas would go to Pakistan and Hindu majority areas would go to Hindustan and it was quite injustice to put Muslim majority areas at the mercy of Hindustan and vice-versa. On this Mountbatten pointed out that his remarks “applied also to the partition of Punjab and Bengal, and by sheer logic if I accepted his (Jinnah’s) arguments in the case of India as a whole, I had also to apply them in the case of these two provinces.” Mountbatten further told Jinnah “what was good for Muslims was also good for other communities.”

Jinnah was left with no option of his own and ended up getting a “Moth Eaten Pakistan”. The resonance of thoughts, on partition of Bengal and Punjab, between Nehru and Mountbatten made it possible.

Let the reader decide who was responsible for partition of India. The above proceedings debunk the theory that British divided India; at least in my opinion, that is.

References:

1. Role of Muslim League in Indian Politics from 1940 to 1947; Hakimuddin; Ph. D Thesis, AMU, 1990

2. Jenkins and Partition of Punjab 1947, Farah Gul Bakai, Quaid-i- Azam University, Pakistan, 2018