Integrated Degree (Year 0) Empires, Nations and Lines on map Week 11: Conceptualising ‘nation’: Partition of India [1947]

Lecture Structure Historiography of partition and independence Devolution and Muslim politics The provincial elections and the growth of the Pakistan movement Muslim League and the Second World War Simla Conference 1945 Prelude to partition Direct Action Day Partition violence in Punjab and Bengal Partition and Independence

Historiography British officials and imperialist historians present the end of British rule in India as a well-organised, peaceful transition of power from the benevolent British to a now mature Indian leadership Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten (center), Jawaharlal Nehru (extreme left) and Mohammad Ali Jinnah (right) prepare for the transfer of power from the British Crown, 1947

Nehru and Jinnah address their new nations, 14th/15th August 1947 Historiography Indian politicians and nationalist historians see independence in terms of a nation claiming its true freedom from the British – see Indian nationalism as the most important factor in ending British rule in India Nehru and Jinnah address their new nations, 14th/15th August 1947

Historiography – partition Nationalist historians, in both India and Pakistan, continue to debate about the nature of the partition, which came alongside independence. They also try to seek for answers as to why and how partition became a reality. Pakistani nationalist historians continue to explain the growth of Pakistan movement, and the emergence of Pakistan on the ‘Two nation theory’, propagated from 1939 onwards. While Indian nationalists (historians and others) continue to conveniently blame British policies of ‘divide and rule’. Interestingly however, none of this explains the sudden popular growth for the demand of Pakistan and the actual violence which accompanied the partition.

Revisionist Approaches Jalal’s seminal work examined how Jinnah proposed to resolve the contradiction between a demand for a separate Muslim state and the need for a strategy which could safeguard the interests of all Indian Muslims. The book attempts to identify Jinnah’s real political aims, the reasons why he was reluctant to bring them into open, and his success or failure in achieving them. Ayesha Jalal, ‘The sole spokesman’ (Cambridge, 1985)

Popular experiences of partition

Devolution and Muslim politics 1919 Government of India Act DYARCHY - a division of the state’s responsibilities Central government retains control over some aspects of government but more day-to-day affairs are transferred to the provinces where Indians are to play a more significant role in government Just over 3% of population can vote. Separate Muslim electorate retained.

Indian Muslims

1935 Government of India Act Provincial autonomy AND Proposes an all-India federation including the more conservative Princely states

Federation under 1935 Act United Provinces

1937 election results AIML wins only 4.4% of the Muslim vote NWFP United Provinces Assam Sindh Bihar Central Provinces Orissa Bombay Madras

1937 election results NWFP PUNJAB United Provinces Assam Sindh Bihar Central Provinces BENGAL Orissa Bombay Madras

Members of the Muslim League in 1938 Nation vs. minority Critical for arguments about Hindu-Muslim parity Language of nation moves away from the idea of a Muslim ‘minority’ to ‘majority’. Members of the Muslim League in 1938

The Muslim League in World War II Britain look to support of Muslim League to challenge INC’s claim to speak for all India From 1940, British officials promise not to transfer power to any constitutional system whose authority is denied or rejected by “large and powerful elements in India’s national life”

Lahore Resolution (1940) The All India Muslim League in March 1940 passed the Lahore resolution, which says any constitutional plan must have: “geographically contiguous units…demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a 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”.

Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Lahore resolution with Jinnah and Liaquat Ali chairing the session

War time changes 1942 Quit India movement Dec 1942 – death of Punjabi leader Sikander Hayat Khan 1943-4 Bengal famine (2.1 million people died)

Popular support for ‘Pakistan’ March 1940, Lahore, March in support of League meeting and Pakistan resolution

The Gandhi-Jinnah talks 19th-27th September 1944 - Jinnah and Gandhi hold a series of talks in Bombay

Gandhi’s proposals

Transfer of power and partition Britain keen to protect the unity of India Want to transfer power NOT to provinces but to an all-India level power

Simla Conference 1945 The Simla Conference was a 1945 meeting between Viceroy and the major political leaders of India at Simla, India. Convened to agree on and approve the Wavell Plan for Indian self- government, it reached a potential agreement for the self-rule of India that provided separate representation to Muslims and reduced majority powers for both communities in their majority regions. Talks stalled, however, on the issue of selection of Muslim representatives. Seeking to assert itself and its claim to be the sole representative of Indian Muslims, the All-India Muslim League refused to back any plan in which the Indian National Congress, the dominant party in the talks, appointed Muslim representatives.

Nehru and Jinnah taking stroll during the Simla Conference, 1945

Simla Conference, 1945 At the Conference: Rajendra Prasad, Jinnah, C. Rajagopalachari and Maulana Azad

1945/6 Elections Congress wins 91.3% of non-Muslim vote across the country BUT only 4.6% of Muslim seats Muslim League win 86% of Muslim votes for central government and 74.7% of all Muslim seats in provincial assemblies

Cabinet Mission May 1946 - a Cabinet Mission arrive in India to discuss constitutional options aimed to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Government to Indian leadership. Mr. Jinnah negotiating with members of the Cabinet Mission. (Anti-clockwise Stafford Cripps.

Indian delegates at the Cabinet Mission meeting

Direct Action Day 16th August 1946 - Jinnah calls on Muslims across India to protest against the Congress’s position regarding the Cabinet Mission Plan. The result is the Direct Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, was a day of widespread riot and manslaughter between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Calcutta. More than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province. These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India.

Gandhi was successful in bringing partial peace during ‘Noakhali carnage’. Between October–November 1946, 5,000 Hindus were killed, hundreds of Hindu women were raped and thousands of Hindu men and women were forcibly converted to Islam.

British withdrawal 20th February 1947 Clement Attlee declares that the British will withdraw from India by June 1948 March 1947 –Louis Mountbatten appointed to replace Wavell as the Viceroy. Mountbatten quickly announces that the date for British departure will be pushed forward to August 1947

Lord Mountbatten preparing for the transfer of power.

The historic conference in New Delhi in June 1947 at which Lord Mountbatten disclosed Britain's "Partition" plan for India.

Congress vote for partition 3rd June 1947: members of the AICC vote to accept the proposal.

Partition violence

Mass migration UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition; it was the largest mass migration in human history.

Gandhi and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan in Bela, Bihar, after attacks on Muslims, 28 March 1947.

Why was Pakistan created? Summing up Why was Pakistan created? What about the role of the British? How did imperial concerns help to drive the creation of Pakistan? Two nation theory? How united were Indian Muslims? Did Jinnah push for partition while Congress opposed it? Dividing up a library at the time of 1947 partition [Photo: Life Magazine, August 1947]