The Road to Independence and the Partition of India

Questions & Discussion

• Student Question on British Motivation: Why were the British pushing for a "Muslim state" or localizing based on religion?
      * Context of the 1935 Government of India Act: The lecturer explained that the Government of India Act $1935$ allowed for elections to create state legislatures and a "Chief Minister" executive. This represented a substantial increase in local self-government portfolios compared to previous acts.
      * Nationalist Response: Nationalist activists initially "dithered" on whether to participate. Many argued that participating would provide a "tacit approval" of a proto-constitution created by the British without Indian input. They eventually decided to run, treating the elections as a temporary measure toward full independence while maintaining their disagreement with the Act's framework.
      * British Strategy of Division: The British emphasized provincial and communitarian issues. They stressed that the concerns of people in Sindh or Punjab were hyper-local and different from those in Bengal, which is geographically far away (compared to the gap between Hungary and France).
      * Intentionality of the Divide: The lecturer noted that whether this was intentional to cause a divide is "complicated." India was seen as the "jewel in the crown," and from the British perspective, it was the center of the empire's power, military, and resources. Some officials acted out of a fear of losing control, while others were concerned with geostrategy—fearing the rise of Communism or Fascism (though in $1935$, the threat of Fascism was not yet fully realized in the UK parliament, as Winston Churchill's warnings were still a few years away).

• Student Question on Demographics: Was India a settler colony? How much of the population was considered "British" or mixed-race?
      * Anglo-Indian Population: The British population in India was described as "infinitesimal." There was an Anglo-Indian population (Britons born in India), but mixed-race populations resulting from relationships were rare or "secret."
      * Western Exceptions: There were individual exceptions, such as Western socialists, communists, or Quakers (some of whom had an "infatuation" with Gandhi). A specific name mentioned was the famous Indo-Hungarian painter, Amrita Sher-Gil.

• Student Question on Jinnah's Leadership: When did Jinnah take over the All India Muslim League (AIML)?
      * Timeline: Jinnah took over the AIML in $1934$, immediately preceding the elections provided for by the Government of India Act $1935$.

The Government of India Act 1935 and the 1937 Elections

• Electoral Structure:
      * Provided for separate electorates for Muslims.
      * Did not allow separate electorates for Dalits due to the Puna Pact of $1932$ between Ambedkar and Gandhi, which implemented "reservations" instead.
• The Competitors:
      * Indian National Congress (INC): The only party with a truly national presence. Originally a debating society for elites, Gandhi transformed it into a mass mobilization activist organization with huge networks.
      * British/Collaborators: Candidates fielded by the British were typically high-elites, princesses, or extremely wealthy landlords who aimed to maintain the status quo.
      * All India Muslim League (AIML): Not truly national, but the largest entity besides the Congress. They fielded candidates primarily in areas with large Muslim populations.
      * Regional Parties: Created to advocate for specific linguistic, ethnic, or regional issues in a parliamentary system that allowed many parties to run.
• Election Outcomes (1936-1937):
      * The Indian National Congress won a dominant victory across most seats, putting them in a position of strength at the central legislature.
      * The Muslim League fared poorly, winning only $4.4\%$ of the total Muslim vote, mostly through alliances with regional parties. In $1937$, the Muslim League felt "out in the cold."
      * In Muslim-majority provinces (Western Punjab and Eastern Bengal), the Congress also fared poorly, as victories went to local regional parties rather than the AIML.

The Rise of Communitarian Fear and "Hindutva"

• Fear of a "Hindu Raj": During the $1920s$ and $1930s$, fear grew among Muslims regarding a possible "Hindu Raj" (Hindu rule) under a Congress government that might commit atrocities against the Muslim minority.
      * This fear was rooted in the demo-graphics: Hindus outnumbered Muslims approximately four to one ($85\%$ Hindu vs. $12\%$ Muslim).
• The Malabar Rebellion Influence: In the early $1920s$, during the Khilafat movement, Muslim peasants in the Malabar region rebelled against Hindu intermediaries (who worked for the British state) and British officials. The resulting violence was brutal on both sides.
• Intellectual Shifts toward Hindutva: Following the Malabar violence, Hindu intellectuals in Pune developed ideologies similar to "Mein Kampf." They produced a work called Hindutva, arguing that India was the "natural fatherland and holy land" only for those whose religions originated in India (Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs).
      * Targeting of Minorities: Christians and Muslims were targeted as non-Indians because their holy lands were outside of India. Jews and Zoroastrians were considered too small/localized to be major targets.
• Constitutional Concerns: Muslims feared a strong central government because a representative democracy based on national demographics would always favor the Hindu majority. They preferred strong provinces to protect their local interests.

The Conceptual Evolution of "Pakistan"

• Two-Nation Theory: Muhammad Iqbal (famed poet) and other reformers conceptualized that Hindus and Muslims were two equal "nations" (referring to "people," not necessarily a territory).
• The Term "Pakistan": Coined by Chaudhary Rahmat Ali, a student at Cambridge.
      * Literal Meaning: "Land of the Pure" (Pak meaning pure, Stan meaning land).
      * Acronym: P (Punjab), A (Afghan/Northwest Frontier Province), K (Kashmir), S (Sind), and "than" (for Baluchistan/The States).
• Vagueness of the Concept: In the $1930s$, "Pakistan" was a valueless term with no agreed-upon meaning. People used it as a symbol for various compartmentalized ideas of independence, but no one understood exactly what it would look like.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Vision and the Path to Partition

• Jinnah’s Political Identity: A secular, sophisticated lawyer. He was a moderate, a smoker/drinker, and married outside his religion. His concern was the "problem of the minority" in a post-imperial world, similar to debates in Europe following the dismantling of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires.
• Jinnah’s Parity Strategy: Jinnah's secret ideal was a single country ("India") composed of two equal states: Pakistan and Hindustan.
      * Reciprocal Protection: Pakistan would have a Hindu minority and Hindustan would have a Muslim minority. The two states would hold each other's majorities "in check" to prevent the domination of one group.
      * Rejection of Parity: Hindu liberals rejected this as undemocratic, arguing that an $80\%$ majority should not have equal power to a $10\%$ minority.
• 1945-1946 Elections: The Muslim League won all seats and $75\%$ of the vote in seats they contested. However, this was often a vote for "opposition" against the sitting regional parties rather than a clear mandate for partition.
• Legislative Referendum: In a final vote on partition, the legislators in Muslim-majority areas of Punjab and Bengal actually voted "No" on partition. It was the legislators from the Hindu-majority districts of those same provinces who voted "Yes," sealing the division.
• Lord Louis Mountbatten's Plan: Initially, the British set an exit date of June $30$, $1948$. Mountbatten moved this up to August $1947$. Jinnah pleaded not to make the partition plan public, as he felt he was getting a "moth-eaten" Pakistan (sovereign but not the parity-based India he envisioned).

Jinnah’s Constituent Assembly Speech (August 11, 1947)

• Address to the Minorities: In his first speech to the new state of Pakistan, Jinnah addressed the Hindu minority first, saying "You are free to go to your temples."
• Secular State Vision: He argued that religion, caste, or creed had nothing to do with the business of the state. He promoted a "fundamental principle" that all are equal citizens of one state, comparing the future of Pakistan to the resolution of Catholic-Protestant conflicts in England.
• Legacy: Jinnah is viewed as a brilliant but arrogant visionary whose inability to clearly communicate his complex "parity" idea led to a result he did not entirely want.

Partition Literature and the Violence of 1947

• "Toba Tek Singh": A short story by Saadat Hasan Manto (uncle of historian Aisha Jalal). It uses an insane asylum as a metaphor for the insanity of partition.
      * Bishan Singh: The protagonist who dies in the "no man's land" between the two new borders, unable to understand how his home (Toba Tek Singh) can be in one place and then suddenly another.
• Scale of Violence: Massive communal killings occurred leading up to partition, particularly in Calcutta (Direct Action Day).
• Gandhi’s "Finest Hour": While his peers considered him past his prime, Gandhi single-handedly stopped the Calcutta killings by staying in a Muslim home and fasting to the point of near-death. This "one-man boundary force" stopped millions from killing each other through the "bond of love."
• Gandhi’s Flaws: Despite his saint-like political status, the lecturer noted Gandhi's problematic experiments with celibacy in the $1940s$, where he slept naked with young female assistants to prove he had defeated sexual desire, often ignoring the lack of agency these women had in the situation.

Jawaharlal Nehru and the New Indian State

• Background: Nehru was Gandhi's "left hand man" (politician to the left of Gandhi). He was the first Prime Minister, serving from $1946/1947$ until his death in the mid-$1960s$.
• The Nehru Family:
      * Motilal Nehru: Nehru's father, a fabulously wealthy, gregarious, Anglophile lawyer in Allahabad.
      * Anand Bhawan: The family mansion, described as "palatial" and comparable to "Downton Abbey." It featured a massive library, indoor swimming pool, and horse stables. The house was divided into a Western half and an Indian half, each with dedicated staff and decor.
• Parliamentary Structure: India became a parliamentary democracy with two houses:
      * Lok Sabha: The "People's House" (Lower House), filled by direct election.
      * Rajya Sabha: The "Council of States" (Upper House), with members elected by state legislatures or nominated by the President for six-year terms.
      * The President: A figurehead and constitutional protector, similar to the British monarch but not hereditary.