LEKHANAGALLU

Pangs of Partition

On 8 July 1947, A British barrister arrived in India. He was given just a couple of days notice to leave for India. It was his first visit to India. There was barely enough time to gather some information about the country, which was alien to him. He had no clue about the history, geography, people, or places of the country he was visiting. Hurriedly he gathered some information to read onboard the military plane that was taking him to India. His stay in India was strictly for five weeks only. At any cost, he was told to return on or before 15 Aug 1947.

The enormity of the task allotted to him and the aftermath of what he did in India came to light to the utterly shocking world only two days after his departure from India. What he did after coming to India resulted in the loss of millions of lives; crores of people lost their homes, belongings, property, friends and relatives. The survivors ran a helter-skelter to unknown places to save their lives. Such was the task allotted to this stark stranger to this country; he was to divide India and create a country for Muslims called Pakistan.

In the year 622, Prophet Muhammed carved out Madina to be the exclusive habitat for Muslims. Now for the second time in the history of the world, 1325 years later, an exclusive country for Muslims was taking birth.

The special guest who came to India to execute this cruel, inhuman, merciless mission was...Cyril Radcliffe. A total stranger to this land was assigned the task of dividing this land of diversity to appease a community and to please a few leaders. Was it just that? No, there was a huge conspiracy behind this. A sinister design to break India into many fragments had been hatching for a long time...much earlier than Radcliffe's arrival into India.

Who was behind this?

For well over two hundred years, Britishers looted this country and transferred the stolen treasures, diamonds, gold, silver, and silk to their country. On the return voyage, the ships were loaded with salt bags and missionaries. Salt bags to retain the stability of the ship and missionaries to destabilise India, destroy the minds of Indians, their culture, traditions and most importantly, their Dharma. The farewell gift Britishers gave to the land that made them rich was to leave it bleeding so that they get a safe passage to run away before they were chased in hot pursuit by the aggrieved fighters.

Why did they do it?

Post World war ll, Exhausted England decided to let go of its control over the countries which were not profitable to them anymore. War was a big economic blow to them. Jordan and Palestine were already granted freedom. It was already decided that India, Ceylon and Burma would be next. This was also a pre-condition for the participation of Indian Soldiers in the war. Thousands of Indian Soldiers died in the war fighting for the Britishers. Around this time, some political changes took place in Britain. Richard Atlee won the elections and became Prime Minister. Atlee always favoured granting freedom to India. Then who opposed granting freedom to India? Yes, there was one Bigot who hated India to the core.

He was referred to as 'British Taimur', he was also called British bulldog...and he had lost the elections and Prime Ministership, and he was like a wounded wild animal. The devil behind the sinister design of breaking India was not expecting this...not expecting to lose elections.

His name was Winston Churchill.

Churchill hated India, more so Hindus; he made no bones about it. He called Indians beastly people with a beastly religion. While he was the Prime Minister of England, he had already prepared a map of splintered India. He was personally in communication with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Kings, Nawabs and Vassals of many provinces like Indore, Junagadh, Jodhpur Bhopal, Kashmir and others, instigating them to break free from India. He also became a mentor for the Muslim groups and actively supported them to demand a separate region for themselves free from Hindu's clutches.

In London, a young lawyer became his favourite amongst the Muslim groups. Churchill saw in him the cunning ability to argue his point convincingly and win the case; yes sir, this is the man I can use to break India into splinters....so thought Churchill. But that young man was not interested in anything political. He was known as, Whiskey drinking, pork-eating, cigar-smoking party pooper. His name was Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Now, who was this Jinnah? What was his background? Was he a descendant of Arab lineage? A Punjabi Pathan?A Bengali Muslim? No, none of that. Then?

Then, let's travel into history a little deeper..

Lavapuri (present Lahore) was the capital of king Lava, one of the 132 Hindu kings who ruled Kashmir for several centuries. His army had some of the best sword fighters called 'Lohanas'. For centuries they remained loyal to the Kingdom in western India. In fact, because of these brave warriors, the western borders remained free from invaders until the 13th century. Finally, when the invasion began, they moved to other parts of India, fearing conversion to Islam. One such Lohana family settled in Kathiawad, Gujrat. Premji Bhai Thakkar was a trader. His son Punja Bhai Thakkar was a little greedy. He somehow wanted to make quick money. Lohanas were very religious people, and they were strict vegetarians. The community was shocked when Punja Bhai started the wholesale fish trade. The family was boycotted from the community. The infuriated Thakkar shifted his business to Karachi and, in a fit of anger against the community, got converted to Islam.

He renamed his young son 'Muhammad Ali Jinnah'. What a paradox, For Centuries Lohanas were the defenders of our country's integrity and heritage, an offshoot of the same tribe leads the fight to break India and form a separate Nation for Muslims.

Churchill effectively used this successful yet hothead of a lawyer to break India. Although out of power, Churchill still managed to bulldoze his way through the British Parliament and meddle with the affairs in India. Therefore he sent his high schoolmate Cyrillic Radcliffe to do the honours on his behalf.

'Saare jahaan se accha Hindustan Hamara...' any patriot is sure to get goosebumps even now whenever one hears or sings this song. Poet Iqbal Ahmed composed this song with so much love for the country. A few years later, the same poet joined Jinnah demanding a separate Nation for Muslims. So, Churchill was successful in instigating Muslims through Jinnah. Churchill knew another secret about Jinnah, which not many were even aware of. Jinnah was sick and dying. TB was an incurable disease those days, a chronic patient that he was, probably would live for a year or so; Churchill had to hurry through his agenda.

To add fuel to the fire was the behaviour of Gandhi, Nehru and other Congress leaders towards Jinnah. They completely ignored him and snubbed him, which further infuriated Jinnah. When the agitation started getting violent, then the Congress leaders got alarmed. It was too late already. A lot of bad blood had already flown among communities.

Post World war ll, Exhausted England had already decided to let go of India, for it was no more a milking cow. The tremors were already felt in the military. British Navy officers and sailors were beaten up by the Indian sailors for insulting them. Warning bells were ringing for the British military echelon. The retreat from India is not going to be easy. The fear of imminent attack by the soldiers of INA was also considered by the Britishers.

The division of India came as a relief to the British military. In any war, the final phase is called the 'Withdrawal Phase', and it is highly complicated and beating a retreat can be very chaotic. The home-bound retreaters could be easy targets for the Indian fighters, pent-up anger amongst Indian soldiers was a lurking danger. The merciless division of the country kept the Indian soldiers fighting amongst themselves, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, while the British military withdrew to safety.

What happened post Partition has been the subject of many books, documentaries and movies. The horror portrayed in these ventures is entertainment to those whose lives were not involved in Partition, but for the millions who got caught up in the whirlpool, it's an indelible experience of enmity, deceit and sorrow.

Breaking India is an international sport to the vested interest even today. Stakeholders in this are many. Why are they doing it?

Fear of India becoming a strong nation is hurting someone?

Fear of economic dominance, religious integrity, and the military might seem to be unsettling certain vested interests.

Remembering the lessons of history seems to be more important now than ever before. "Breaking India" forces are coming together in an unholy alliance just to oppose "Making India".

Jaya Bharat