Author: Yuvraj Sharma, III year of B.A.,LL.B, from NMIMS(Deemed-to-be-University), Hyderabad Campus.
Introduction
On August 15, 1947, India gained independence following a significant political and social battle. The British ruled India for a considerable time. Their early aims were to trade in India, but political and administrative ambitions were also established in due course.
The time after the First Independence War in India was a crucial period in the Indian Independence Movement. Many national and provincial leaders developed, and the Indians became more aware of their rights. Social movements also helped shape people's perspectives, strove to alter socially, and aimed to abolish ills such as analphabets and the caste system. Many social and religious figures laboured during this period to encourage the Indian society. Men like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Sri Aurobindo were among them. Bharathy, Subramanya. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Ahmed Khan Sir, Tagore Rabindranath and NaorojiDadabhai.
They propagate the message of self-confidence, remove societal problems, and free India from foreign rule. Lokmanya Tilak was one of those leaders who, in his judgement, was not particularly modest. He was arrested by the British. He claimed in court: "Swaraj is my birthright." This Swaraj notion later became a major strategy and philosophy in the following decades of the independence struggle of India.
In 1885, seventy-three Indian representatives convened in Mumbai at the request of Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British public servant. The Indian National Congress was founded. The representatives represented educated Indians in law, teaching and media professions. A few years before, the Indian National Association had been established by DadabhaiNaoroji. It united into a larger party with the Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress was not initially a highly active political party. It convened each year and gave the rulers of the British Raj a few proposals. The ideas relate broadly to civil rights and possibilities in government jobs for Indians. It only represented the educated and elite class of society, despite its claim to represent all Indians. But all Muslims couldn't be attracted. Many Muslims hate Hindu reformers who raised their voices against issues like religious conversion and cow’s murder. The cow is a sacred animal for Hindus not to be killed. A separate movement for Muslims was initiated by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and in 1875 a college was founded in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh State, India. This college was later transformed into Aligarh University in 1921. The college's goal was to give Indian Muslims modern education. By 1900, the Indian National Congress had become national parties, but not all sectors of Indian society, especially the Muslims, were represented.
The Evolution of the Indian Independence Movement
The British East India Company wields considerable power over India's internal affairs. India was the birthplace of nationalism in the mid-nineteenth century. The Indian National Congress, which was founded in 1885, bolstered it. The domineering and dismissive attitude of the British toward Indian feelings fueled the emergence of the national movement. Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh bhai Patel, and other national leaders have fought for human and political rights. The British were merciless in their treatment of individuals who struggled for Indian rights. Because of the British's divides and policies, the Hindis and Muslims split off and formed the Muslim League.
Extremists’ views among the Indian National Congress Members
The spirit of nationalism was sparked by rising fanaticism among Indian lawmakers in the early twentieth century. They supported some national leaders who took a moderate stance and attacked the British for their over-supportive attitude toward Indians and their dictatorship.
The Role of Mahatma Gandhi
In the 1920s, the movement was particularly forceful. Mahatma Gandhi started various anti-British movements. The Non - Movement for Cooperation (1920-1922 A.D.) This was followed by the Movement for Civil Disobedience. The independence movement lasted into the 1930s, but during World War II it gained tremendous ground. In war operations, the Indian National Congress cooperated with the British. The British were hoped to depart India after World War II. But the British didn't give up. Then in 1942 Mahatma Gandhi started the "Quit India Movement." The British finally realised that they had to leave India well.
The Muslim League
The Muslim League was looking for a separate nation, Pakistan. The League was anxious that the Hindus would be at the helm of independent India. Although it was planned that the authority between Hindus and Muslims would be split, as stated by the recommendation of the Cabinet Mission. However, the Muslim League's head, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was not on board. Direct action was urged by the League, which resulted in Hindu-Muslim upheavals. It happened in March 1947. Despite the civil war, Lord Mountbatten travelled to India and supported the partition of Punjab and Bengal. Gandhi favored no division, and urged that Jinnah be the leader of unified India. But this was not favoured by many nationalist leaders. The Indian Independence Act was eventually passed by the British Parliament, resulting in the formation of India and Pakistan. India is now an independent republic and a major political power in the world. It is the world's largest democracy. In spite of communal flare, it kept its secular identity.
All India Muslim League
Muslim League, original name All Inde Muslim League, political organisation leading the movement pushing for the creation of a separate Muslim nation when British India was divided (1947). The Muslim League was created in 1906 to protect Indian Muslims' rights. At the beginning, the British sponsored the League and generally favoured its control, but the organisationrecognised the Indian government as its poal in 1913. The League and its leaders, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, have called for Hindu Muslim unification throughout several decades in the united, independent India. The League did not advocate the establishment of a Muslim state apart from India's envisioned sovereign state until 1940. Because it believed that Hindus would govern an independent India, the League advocated for a separate homeland for Muslims in India.
The fight to split British India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations was led by Jinnah and the Muslim League. Pakistan's leading political party became Pakistan's league after the country's independence in 1947. In that year, it was known as the All-Pakistan Muslim League. However, as a modern political party in Pakistan, the League performed less efficiently than it did as a mass-based British India political party, and so steadily lost support and coherence. In the 1954 elections, the Muslim League lost power in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and the party shortly after lost control in Western Pakistan (now Pakistan). By the late 1960s, the party had disintegrated into various factions, and by the 1970s, it had all but vanished.
The Non- Cooperation Movement
The Non-Cooperation Movement has launched a new chapter in India's history. The Gandhian movement against the British began. The opening of the first no - co - operational camp represented a major change in Gandhi's fundamental attitude towards the British and a shift in public opinion throughout the country. This was the first public manifestation of the political action strategy that will dominate the Indian landscape in the next few years. This movement changed the path of the struggle for liberation substantially. Non – violence and non – cooperation on the Khilafat issues in India was initially employed but eventually became the protest many mistakes of the British regime and the demand for "swaraj" was inseparable from them. On 10 March 1920, Mahatma Gandhi presented a manifesto which properly endorsed Congress, developing his ideology of non-violent collaboration. Many considerations pushed Gandhi to take this audacious step: India supported the British people throughout the war, men, the money, and the materials in the worst moments in their history, with the expectation of improved government changes. But instead, India was paid back by the implementation of Rowlatt laws through coercive methods. Gandhi requested his countrymen a national Satyagraha and a hartal on 6 April 1919 to convey India's displeasure of the act.
Due to the restrictive tactics, the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre was the British Government's crowning act. Gandhi and Congress called for justice, but justice was refused. Gandhi, therefore, concluded that "the establishment of Swaraj is the only practical means of vindicating national honour and avoiding a repetition of the wrongs in future."
The National Indian Congress, led by Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries, issued the Puma Swaraj or Independence Declaration of India on December 19, 1929, vowing Congress and Indian nationalists to fight Puma Swaraj or rule India independently of the British Empire (in Sanskrit literally, puma, complete swa, "self" raj). " Gandhi hung the Indian flag in Lahore on 31 December 1929, today Pakistan. The Congress asked the people of India to mark the Independence Day on 26 January. Congress volunteers, nationalists and the people hung the flag of India publicly across India. Before the Indian Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, the Government of India Act 1935 and the Indian Independence Act 1947 were two major laws issued by the British. The day on which the Constituent Assembly of India approved our Constitution was repealed pursuant to Article 395 of the existing Constitution on 26 November 1949. We Indians have nevertheless not had the chance to establish our own constitution overnight. These were the days when important choices were taken in London on the Ale of the Indians. There was a slow awakening for at least 100 years, and it was India's unexpressed yearning to establish their own basic land legislation. In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi, clarifying Swaraj's significance, said Indians will design the Constitution of India. This was perhaps the initial desire to make the Indians a constitution for the Indians. Six years later, in 1928, the Nehru Committee headed by Moti Lal Nehru produced a constitution for India for the first time. A year later, the Congress adopted a resolution from the Poorna Swaraj in the Lahore session in December 1929. It was the same session in which the president of Jawaharlal Nehru was elected. Anglophile, aristocrat and only Motilal Nehru's son, 41 years old, had dedicated his efforts to the national struggle and he was by then the youngest president of Congress. He then became Gandhi's appointed successor to the leadership of the Congress. In this connection, please note that while the Pooma Swaraj Resolution was adopted by Congress in December 1929, it was one month later than the 26th of January 1930 that a Pledge of Indigenous Independence known as the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Having drawn out the Pooma Swaraj Resolution, Jawaharlal Nehru made a commitment of Mahatma Gandhi's "Declaration of Independence" in 1930 that reflects the essence of the American Declaration of Independence. After this promise on 26 January 1930 Indian National Congress announced Independence Day. The Independence Declaration reflects the agony and sorrow of the people of India and underscores Indian grievances against the British.
The Indian National Congress had its Lahore assembly in 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru. Its significance: The Indian National Congress's Lahore session saw significant developments in the Indian national movement. During this session, the Congress made choices that had far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, when the Nehru Report was presented to the annual Congress of Calcutta in December 1928, the symptoms of the approaching Civil Disobedience Movement were clear. It was struck by the left's desire for only dominion status rather than ultimate independence. Independence of the India League The "India League Independence," led by Secretaries Jawahar Lal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose, and President S. Srinivasa Iyengar, was founded in 1928. The leaders of the Calcutta Congress were practically split between those who desired dominance and those who desired ultimate independence." If the report is rejected by the British Parliament, the Congress will call for complete independence and a nonviolent non-cooperation movement.
The deadline of one year has passed and the government has not given a satisfactory reply. Followed by the Lahore Congress Session chaired by Jawahar Lal Nehru. The most important resolution was that the report of the Nehru Committee has now expired, and the situation of the Dominion is not acceptable. A Poor Swarajya Resolution was enacted, and it meant complete independence for Swarajya. The Central and Provincial Legislatures had, because of this resolution, to be totally boycotted and all future elections boycotted. A Civil Disobedience Program was to be implemented. The deadlines of the Nehru Committee report expired on the midnight of 31. December 1929 and 1 January 1930 and the Independence Flag for India was unfurled by Jawahar Lal Nehri on the Ravi Riverbank in Lahore. The Working Committee of Congress met on 2 January 1930, and it was determined the 26 January 1930 as the Poorna Swarajya day should be marked because the PoomaSwarajya commitment was drawn up by Mahatma Gandhi on that day. The Quit India Movement, which is also known as the August Movement, was Gandhi's (independence) Civil Disobedience Movement. The campaign was accompanied by enormous demonstrations on non-violent lines calling for Gandhi's quiet retirement from India. " By his impassioned lectures, Gandhi stirred people by saying "any Indian who wants freedom and struggles for it must be his own guide ... Let each Indian consider himself a free man," Gandhi proclaimed in his ardorous address on the day the Indian quit movement was declared. In a few hours after Gandhi's speech, the British were prepared for this huge rebellion Most of the leaders of the Indian National Congress were quickly captured; most of whom had to spend three years in prison. Until the end of World War II. The British were receiving strong backing from the Council of Viceroys, Muslims, the Communist Party, princely states, the Indian military, and civil services throughout the course of this period. Most Indian businessmen have gained from expenditure during the war and so have not supported the Quit India Movement. Most students were captivated to Subhas and hence did not support Chandra Bose in exile, and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only Indian aid to him from abroad, forced at that time the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to acquiesce to Indians' requests. But the British declined to do so, saying this was only conceivable after the end of the Second World War. Isolated rioting erupted around the country, but the British soon detained and kept thousands of them in jail until 1945. Besides filling prison camps with rebels, the British also pursued and removed civil liberties, freedom of expression and press freedom. The reason the British could easily defeat the Quit India Movement was due to insufficient coordination and no clear action plan. Although the Quit India campaign remained significant despite its failings because the British realized throughout this movement that they wouldn't succeed in governing India long-term and started to think about methods to leave the nation in a dignified and peaceful manner. A further key cause for the Quit India movement's launch was the threat posed by Japanese soldiers of the Axis that closed on the north - eastern frontier of India in 1942. Indian leaders did not trust the capabilities of Britain to safeguard their country. In this picture, young people are carrying the tricolour in a procession
The 1929 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress was chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru. h. Its Importance: The Indian National Congress session in Lahore witnessed major advancements within the Indian national movement. The Congress took such decisions at this session with far-reaching implications. In addition, in this Congress, the signs of the imminent Civil Disobedience Movement were obvious when, in December 1928, the Nehru Report appeared before the Calcutta congress, the Left caught on the fact that it didn't want full independence and simply desired dominion. India League Independence in April 1928. "India League Independence" has been created with Secretaries Jawahar Lal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. Srinivasa Iyengar as Chairman At the meeting in Calcutta the leaders who sought domination and the leaders who desired independence almost split." If the British Parliament does not accept the report, the Congress would insist on complete independence and would mobilize a non-violent struggle for non-cooperation.
It was followed by the Congress Session in Lahore, which was presided over by Jawahar Lal Nehru. The most crucial resolution was that the Nehru Committee's report would be delayed, and Dominion Status would not be accepted. Swarajya signified complete independence, and a Poorna Swaraj Resolution was enacted. Gandhi inspired people by declaring, "All Indians who want freedom and struggle for it must be their own guide.... Let every Indian feel himself a free man," in his stirring address "Do or Die," delivered on the day the Quit India Movement was announced.
In the Lahore sessions of 1940 A.D., Muslims for the first time stated their demand for Pakistan in plain and simple terms, proposing the creation of a Muslim state by merging the northwest and the central regions. Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded the establishment of an independent nation in the north-west and east of Pakistan during the Madras session in 1941 A.D. Pakistan The Indian politicians were also in support of Pakistan. Since 1947, the Muslim League and the Muslim League approved first the idea of the cabinet mission, but shortly Muslim League refused to participate in the Interim Govt. On July 16, 1946, the Muslim League commemorated the Day of Direct Action. Hence the Hindu Muslim uprisings erupted across the country. An inter in Govt and the leadership of this Govt was founded. Pandit Nehru was awarded however the league did not acknowledge the Govt interim. In communal riots in various regions of the country, a great number were ultimately slain by the British Govt, who declared their departure from India by AD in June 1948 in February 1947, and Lord Mountbatten was dispatched to India to find an end to the Indian difficulties. On March 27, 1947 A.D., the League commemorated Pakistan's Independence Day. D., the people of Punjab and Bengal resorted to bloodshed and property destruction. 'The Interim Government, therefore, the Indian leaders accepted Pakistan's proposal and thus put before the Congress or the League the draught Pakistan plan, also known as the June Plan or Mountbatten Plan.' As a result, the Act of 1947 A.D. was enacted. The English government was approved, and On August 15, 1947, India was separated into two sovereign states: the Indian Union and Pakistan..
Aftermath of Partition
Independence, population transfer and violence: In the months immediately following the partition massive population exchanges took place between the two newly established states. "In 1947, the population of indivisible India was approximately 390 million. After division, 330 million Indians, 30 million in West Pakistan, and 30 million in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)." Once the lines had been created, almost 14.5 million people crossed the border and anticipated the religious majority would have relative safety. The Pakistan Census of 1951 identified 7226,600 displaced people in Pakistan, probably all Muslims from India entering Pakistan. The 1951 India Census also included 7,295,870 displaced persons, ostensibly all Hindus and Sikhs who had relocated from Pakistan to India shortly after Partition. Both figures add up to 14.5 million. The enumeration contained a net gain in population after mass migration because both censuses were held around 3,6 years after the split. Approximately 11.2 million (77.4% of displaced people) were in the West, the majority of whom were Punjabis: 6,5 million Muslims moved to West Pakistan from India, while 4,7 million Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from West Pakistan, resulting in a net immigration of 1,8 million to Western Pakistan (now Pakistan). The remaining 3,3 million displaced people, or 22.6 percent, were in the east: 2,6 million went from East Pakistan to India and 0,7 million went from India to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The newly formed administrations were unfit to handle with such migrations, and there was massive carnage and death on both sides. Estimates of deaths vary, reaching 200.000 with low estimates and 1.000.000 with high estimates!
Punjab
The Indian state of East Punjab was founded in 1947 by the division of India between India and Pakistan in the erstwhile British province of Punjab. The largely Muslim western section of the province became Punjab province of Pakistan; India's East Punjab state became the primarily Sikh and Hindu caster part. Many Hindus and Sikhs lived in the west, and many Muslims live there, and the fears of all those minorities are so great that many people are displaced, and many intercommunal violence have been experienced in the partition. At the crux of the difficulty were Lahore and Amritsar: The Boundary Commission did not know where to put them- to make them into India or Pakistan. The Commission agreed to give Pakistan Lahore while Amritsar became part of India. Some of Punjab's areas, including Lahore, Rawalpindi. Multan and Gujrat had a big Sikh and Hindu population and were attacked or slain by numerous citizens. On the other side, cities like Amritsar, Ludhiana, in eastern Punjab. Gurdaspur and Jalandhar had a preponderance of Moslems, thousands of whom had been murdered or emigrated.
Partition of Bengal (1947)
The Bengal Province was divided into two parts: West Bengal, which is controlled by India, and East Bengal, which is owned by Pakistan. After the 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation, East Bengal was renamed Eastern Pakistan and eventually became Bangladesh's sovereign republic. While the Muslim majority of Murshidabad and Melda districts were given to India, Khulna's Hindu majority and the majority of Buddhists were given to Pakistan.
Sindh
Hindu Sindhis should stay in Sindh after the partition, as the relations between Hindu and Muslim Sindhis are cordial. At the time of partition, there were 1400,000 Hindu Sindhis, the most of them lived in cities like Hyderabad, Karachi, Shikarpur, and Sukkur. However, India perceives a better future in a Muslim country, owing to a definite future in a Muslim country and, in particular, a sudden flood of Muslim refugees from Gujarat. Many Sindhi Hindus have decided to leave India, primarily in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajputana (Rajasthan), and other parts of the country, although difficulties have been worsened by Muslim refugee riots in Karachi and Hyderabad. Around 776,000 Sindhi Hindus have moved to India, according to the Indian Census of 1951. " Unlike Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs, Sindhi Hindus did not experience large-scale riots, despite the fact that their whole province was transferred to Pakistan and they felt like a homeless population. Despite this exodus, a sizable Hindu Sindh population still exists in Pakistan's Sindh province, with a total population of 2.28 million according to the Pakistani census of 1998.
Conclusion
The partitioning of India was not due either to the apparently inevitable clash between Hindus and Muslims or to any inherent inability of Islam to co-exist with other religions. This was partly owing to British imperialism's policies that encouraged the economically strong and politically ambitious classes of both communities, sometimes in an open and often spiritual mask of impartiality and conflict of interest. The basis of the division was a distinct animosity between the two main subcontinent communities. Tribe, nation, caste, religion, and class seem to serve two psychological goals by categorising people into a set of identities that are mutually exclusive. The first is to increase one's sense of well-being in the anarchistic world by placing one's own group at the centre of the world, superior to others, while the shared grandiose, reinforced by tales, myths, and rituals, appears to demand for a belief that other groups are inferior. Group politics are ethnic groupings that use ethnicity to make political demands for changes in their position, economic well-being, or educational possibilities. You want a large say in the political system as a whole, or power over a portion of the country, or a country that is entirely yours. As a result, a country may be considered either a unique ethnic community or a politicised ethnic community with recognised political group rights. The prospects of the Punjab League were constantly in doldrums due to the Unionist Party. The prospects of the League declined even further after the collapse of the Jinnah-Sikander Hayat Khan Pact in 1944. During 1945-46, in Punjab, communal politics burst into the villages and their passions were excited and stimulated by Pakistan's messtre; the cry of Allah-o-Akbar, Pakistan ban kerahega, arose in the Punjab political meetings. Ultimately, the suggestions of the Cripps and Cabinet Mission Plans brought about Direct-Action Day and were not won in a large scale in Pakistan, but people in both lens sades were tormented with killings. Loss of families and by the volume and severity of this tragedy Common disturbances because community ideology develops in societyThe communalism removes distinction within the community and highlights the intrinsic unity of community with other communities. communalism Communalism nurtures politics of hatred of a Tuther Hindus in the case of Muslim Nourtures Communalism and Muslims 'in the case of Communalism This hate nurtures politics of violence. As an ideology, communalism refers to the belief that people who belong to one religion also share common socio-economic, political, and cultural interests.
Bibliography
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