1. Questions about Partition and Independence
These are questions you MUST be able to answer before attempting the discussion questions scheduled for the next class

2. Central Questions WHEN was partition?
Was Partition a result of RELIGIOUS differences?
If not, then what WERE the main causes?
Who were the major players?
British
INC ML
Common people outside of elite politics

3. High Politics of Partition INC focus
What is 1935 Act? Why is it important?
What is Gandhi’s role in getting the INC to accept the plan to participate in (cooperate with the British) the provisions of the Act?
Why are the 1937 elections important?
What are its consequences? How does the INC respond? How does the ML respond?

4. High Politics: ML focus
What is the Lahore Declaration of 1940?
What is Ayesha Jalal’s argument about the ML’s Pakistan demand?
Till when do negotiations between the ML and INC continue?
What is the significance of the 1945 elections?
What is Direct Action Day? Consequences?

5. High Politics Mountbatten
What is the Mountbatten Plan, when is it announced, and how does it contribute to the violence of Partition?

6. Gilmartin Essay
What is David Gilmartin’s argument/thesis, and how does he support that?
Was the Muslim community a single monolithic community in British India?
What role did internal DIFFERENCES play in the lead up to Partition?
What role did the Pakistan demand play with regard to the differences within the Muslim community?
Was Pakistan imagined as a geographic entity?
What role did the creation of Pakistan as a geographical entity play in the violence around Partition?

7. Women and Partition
Why did women become particular targets of the violence?
What does this tell us about the place of women in the nationalist imaginations of India and Pakistan?
Look at Gilmartin AND your textbook for details
See, Ajaz Ashraf’s Interview with Urvashi Butalia for more details