Partition is a dark chapter in the history of India and Pakistan. Our independence came at a great loss. There was so much bloodshed that some think more blood was spilled during communal violence related to partition than in the freedom struggle itself. Women were raped, children were maimed, even old were not spared. There was chaos everywhere. The situation was so grim that everybody was fearing that this will result in civil war in both India and Pakistan and international community may have to enter to defuse the situation. Both the countries have evolved from that situation but even now the very mention of independence brings along with it the gory images of violence of partition. And ironically, it is one topic where both India and Pakistan seem to share same thought that Jinnah is responsible for it.
(Before writing any further, I would like to clarify that in this post, the terms Hindus and Muslims dont represent the whole of the community but those persons who are fanatics and though small in number, claim to be the voice of the community. They are the group of persons who are responsible for stereotyping of the respective communities.)
Firstly, I don't agree with this thought. Jinnah was a powerful Muslim League leader but he was not so powerful that he could have carved Pakistan on his own. Too much credit is given to him. Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, Sarojini Naidu, Rajendra Prasad and many more were equal to him in stature (if not higher). They all may have made efforts to stop him but the fact remains they all failed. Was Jinnah stronger than the British Empire? We could force Churchill to accept giving independence to India but not convince Jinnah to leave the idea of Pakistan? Couldn't we have given him (or Maulana Azad or any other Muslim) the post of PM to dispel his doubts of India turning into a Hindu state? Was the idea of a federal republic with less powers at centre even worse than partition?
In India, Jinnah is seen as a demon, who single handedly divided the country, who sowed the seeds of mistrust between Hindus and Muslims, who is responsible for all the ills being faced by us. This is one of the few topics wherein all the parties are united. (The only other topics I can think of are criminalisation of politics and perks enjoyed by politicians) The reason for this unison is very simple. Congress has to demonise him, otherwise it will have to accept that it, and more importantly Nehru, is also responsible for the biggest massacare in Indian history. Also, it would have proved quite troublesome to court Muslim vote bank. Hence, they blame Jinnah. It would seem that BJP should have taken this opportunity and tried to embarass Congress on this issue. But, even it chose to side with Congress on this topic. This dilemma of the right wing can be traced back to the time of Godse, when some RSS leaders helped him privately while disowning him publicly. The reason for this is that they sensed a chance to use this to polarise Hindus against Jinnah (read Muslims). They chose Communalism over Nationalism.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the very thought that India's esteemed leaders are also responsible for their existence as independent state is close to blasphemy. After partition, Pakistan was having problems in trying to unite itself. Its leaders chose hatred towards India as the binding material. In these circumstances, they could not place Nehru, Patel and Gandhi on the same level as the martyr Jinnah, who fought for Pakistan till end. Also, we need to understand that the very existence of India as a secular nation is a slap to the two nation theory. If Pakistan accepts that even Indian leaders are responsible for its independence, only than can they break free from the shackles of partition. Only then can they think about future. At present, Pakistan is united only while opposing someone, be it India, US or Musharraf. This negative approach towards nation building must end. And what better way to end it than to undo the first step of this approach.
I have read many articles and blogs wherein the question being asked is how does it matter now? The man died 60 years ago. Whether he was saint or satan doesn't change the things now. But I beg to defer. Partition resulted in not just massive loss of life but also the social fabric of the subcontinent was changed forever. There is still distrust between Hindus and Muslims. Both blame each other for violence. Muslims still consider that they are treated as second rate citizens of India. Hindus think that Muslims should go to Pakistan. This mistrust can only be reduced if both the sides accept that what happened was not because of any one party. They themselves are also responsible. I am not saying that if we accept that other leaders were also responsible for partition than there will be no more communal violence but atleast the general level of trust between the two communities will increase. Hindus need to accept that Jinnah is not the only one who divided our motherland. (Honestly, I don't get this concept of Akhand Bharat because never in our history where we united from Baluchistan to Assam, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari under a single ruler except when under the Britishers, at which time even Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar were part of British empire, so where exactly does this concept of Akhand Bharat come from?) Muslims need to accept that the fact that their parents didnt leave India even in those turbulent times shows how much they trusted their Hindu neighbours.
The main problem is that we as a nation shy away from debate. This topic is so important that we should have debates about this. But those debates will only benefit if we enter these debates with an open mind. Banning books, raising slogans or staging demonstrations does no good, it only raises the suspicions of the fence-sitters. If the leaders are so sure that Nehru or Patel had no role in the partition, then they should be open to debate.
I may be wrong. My ideas may be flawed. But I am certain about one thing, unless one heals the wounds of the past, one cannot progress to the future.
JAI HIND!!!
