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2018 March | 2008 | Ithihas

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INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND PARTITION OF INDIA PART-IV
March 25, 2008 – 5:13 am
Blogroll
The Congress leaders while in public platform spoke of Hindu Muslim
facetsofindianhistory
fraternity adopted a totally different approach when it affected their
Sanatana Parishad
personal lives.
Thinkerspad
Inconsistent opinions of Congressmen
Archives When Moti Lal Nehru’s daughter wished to marry Syed Hussain, the
February 2018 editor of a newspaper Independent, Moti Lal Nehru threatened that he
January 2018 would commit suicide. Gandhiji later persuaded Syed Hussain to forget
October 2017 about his marriage and to leave the country. Similarly when Gandhiji’s
August 2017
son embraced Islam Gandhiji ostracized him and was reconciled to him
June 2017
only when he was brought back to the Hindu fold under Birla’s influence.
( Gauba K.L., The consequences of Pakistan, Lion Press, Lahore. 1946,
May 2017
p.10) There was a tendency in Congress circles to overlook the
March 2017
communal character of Muslim leaders. Especially an attempt was made
October 2016
to portray Syed Ahmed Khan and Mohammad Iqbal as nationalists, who
June 2016
later became communalists due to the influence of Britishers, that too
January 2016 Beck, the principal of Aligarh college. But both these persons were too
November 2015 strong willed to play in the hands of any Britisher.As early as in 1867
August 2015 Syed Ahmed Khan had said that he was convinced that these
June 2015 communities (Hindus and Muslims) cannot cooperate in any work.
February 2015 (Kaushik P.D., The Congress Ideology and programmes-1920-47, Allied
January 2015 Publishers Pvt Ltd, 1964, p.289) Iqbal, in an interview given to Bombay
September 2014 Chronicle in September 1931 said “In my college days I was a zealous
June 2014 nationalist, which I am not now. The change is due to mature thinking.”
May 2014 Jawaharlal Nehru in one of his letters to Padmaja in 1929 said-” I have
April 2014 never met Iqbal. He was always been one of the many problems I could
March 2014 not solve. How can a real poet be so extraordinary communal and
December 2013
narrow minded and earthly? And yet he happens to be both.( Lal
November 2013
Bahadur, Struggle for Pakistan, p.312) Though Gandhiji had said in
Harijan (January 6th, 1940) that it was Hindu’s cowardice that had
October 2013
made the Mussalman a ‘bully’ leading to Hindu Muslim riots, (Kaushik
September 2013
P.D., Op cit. p. 297) yet his advise to girls menaced with rape in the
August 2013
Punjab ( after Partition ) was to bite their tongue and hold their breath
May 2013
until they died.( Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at
April 2013 Midnight, Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd. 1998.p.479) Even with
February 2013 regards to partition, while Gandhiji said that it could happen only over
January 2013 his dead body, (Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at
July 2012 Midnight, p.115) at the same time he backed Rajaji’s formula which
January 2010 agreed for a separate state for Muslims after a plebescite. (Tara Chand,
July 2009 History of the Freedom Movement in India Vol. IV p.426) As early as in
June 2009 April 1942 the Congress working committee had declared that even
May 2009 though it was wedded to Indian unity and regarded any division of India
April 2009 as injurious to all concerned, it could not “think in terms of compelling
March 2009 the people in any territorial unit to remain in an Indian union against
February 2009 their declared and established will” (Bipin Chandra, Ideology and Politics
October 2008
in Modern India, Har-Anand, Publications, New Delhi,1994. p.76) In July
September 2008
1945, Nehru made his stand explicit in the context of Pakistan: “If those
areas which have predominant Muslim majorities are utterly bent on
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August 2008 separation no power on earth can stop them” and even more explicitly
July 2008 in August 1945: “If the Muslims insist on it (Pakistan) they will have it”.
June 2008 ((Bipin Chandra, Ideology and Politics in Modern India, p76) It was
May 2008 these types of inconsistent view and conflicting opinions which caught
April 2008 the masses unaware and ill prepared when partition actually took place,
March 2008 resulting in the genocide of the century.
February 2008
Was Partition unavoidable?

Partition could have been avoided, provided, the men in the Congress,
some, of great intellectual stature had tried to analyze the rapid growth
of Islam in the sub-continent and adopt remedial measure to counter
it.As the Census Report revealed, unabated conversion during British
regime proved beyond doubt that Islam was bound to grow in Bengal
whether the backing of political power was available of not. (Ram Gopal,
Indian Muslims. A Political History (1858-1947), Asia Publishing House,
1964. p.8) People dissatisfied with the rigours of a caste-ridden society
and a religion based on vulgar ritualism turned to the new faith which
promised common brotherhood, liberation from the offensive yoke of
the Brahman priests and some material incentives such as easy
appointments to government jobs. The process of conversion was
facilitated by the practices of Hindu society, such as the one that closed
the doors of the society to anyone who had been forcibly fed beef or
who had taken food or water from the hands of a Muslim, or any woman
who had been abducted by force and wished to return to her home and
faith but was denied that right. Islam also offered young widows, the
prospect of a normal and honoured life which, the Hindu society had
denied and imposed upon them a life of privation and indignity. (Nitish
Sengupta, History of the Bengali speaking people, p 67) Early Smriti
writers had stated that if a woman was criminally assaulted, she was not
to be socially ostracized and readmitted into the family and society after
some penance and purification. This procedure was followed in the
beginning in the case of women forcibly converted and violated. The
Devala Smriti went to the extent of declaring that women of this
unfortunate category should be readmitted to the fold of Hinduism even
if their violation was followed by pregnancy. This liberal viewpoint was
however given up by 1000 A.D. From that time onwards, Hindu women
once carried away by force into the fold of Islam had no hope of return
to the religion of their birth. They had to reconcile themselves with their
captors and live a miserable life, not much different from a concubine.
(Swami Madhavananda and R.C.Majumdar Edited, Great women of
India. Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta. P. 44) In Kashmir also the majority of
the people were forced to give up the religion of their forefathers in the
17th and 18th century under the rule of fanatic Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb. In the later part of the 19th century, a delegation of
Kashmiri Muslims went to Varanasi, to get the approval of Brahmins
there to return to Hindu fold, but the priests declined their request. Even
today most common family name in Kashmir is Butt, a distortion of
Bhatt, a Hindu surname common amongst the Brahmins in India. (Anil
A.Athale, Let the Jhelum smile again. Adithya Prakashan, Mumbai,
1997. p.33) The converts in Bengal remained as ignorant of Islam as of
Hinduism. “Some of them” says the Imperial Gazetteer of India Vol I
(1885) “have never heard of Mohammed; some regard him as a person
corresponding in their system of religion to Rama or Lakshman of the
Hindus. The Koran is hardly read even in Bengali and in the original
Arabic not at all. Many of those who have heard of it cannot tell who
wrote it. Yet any Muslim peasant is able to repeat a few scraps of prayer
in Arabic. This prayer gave him a sense of religion and he considered
himself as a member of a socio cum religious system, which he did not
have it when he was, a Hindu.( Ram Gopal, Indian Muslims. A Political
History (1858-1947), Asia Publishing House, 1964. p.9) In fact the
Jamait ul ulema was opposed to Pakistan, as it would affect its
propagation of Islam. Maulana Madani delivering a speech on 19th
September 1945 in Delhi on the occasion of the formation of the Azad

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Muslim Parliamentary Board to fight the last constitutional battle against

the demand of Pakistan said that at the termination of the Muslim rule,
there were about 25 million Muslims in India. Within a period of less
than a century their number increased up to 100 millions. The
missionary work of the Jamait has a great share in this increase. The
great object of an overall spread of Islam in the whole of India cannot
be realized by appealing to passion of hatred and antagonism. It is the
non-Muslims who are the field of action for the tabligh (spread of Islam)
and form the raw material for this splendid activity. ( Ziya ul Hasan
Faruqi, The Deoband School and the demand of Pakistan, Asia
Publishing House, 1963. pp.116-117) The above factors definitely reveal
that lack of social cohesion had weakened the Hindu society and
evangelists of various faiths had reaped its advantage. The Arya Samaj
was the first organization to recognize the need of Shuddhi, to bring
back into the Hindu fold, those people who had been forced to embrace
other faiths due to unavoidable circumstances.

Shuddhi as a means to strengthen Hinduism

The word Shuddhi simply means purification. At first, the term was used
to apply to efforts by Arya Samajists and others to reconvert Hindus
who had become Christians or Muslims. Traditionally a Hindu who
converts to Christianity or Islam becomes an outcaste, and there is no
mechanism whereby that individual might be restored to caste upon
reconverting. Arya Samajists were among the first reformers to try to
change the situation, to develop a system through which Hindu converts
to other religions could become Hindu again. The motivation behind this
initiative was not just sympathy for individual outcastes. Arya Samajists
understood Hinduism to be hobbled by its own exclusiveness. While
Christianity and Islam were able to proselytize and draw others into
their community, Hinduism could not even take back reconverted Hindus
much less accept converts. From 1884 to 1894 at least eighteen local
Arya Samaj chapters sponsored Shuddhi ceremonies; whereby Hindus
who had converted to other religions were accepted back into the Hindu
fold. (J.E.Llewellyn, The Arya Samaj as a Fundamentalist Movement. A
Study in Comparative Fundamentalism, Manohar Publishers &
distributors, New Delhi, 1993. p.99)The real expansion of Shuddhi came
when it was used to make the Untouchables into caste Hindus. On 3rd
June 1900 a large number of low caste Rahtias from the Jalandhar area
were declared to be no longer Untouchable through a Shuddhi ceremony
sponsored by the Lahore Arya Samaj. By the 1911 census three to four
thousand Rahtias had become “purified” caste Hindus. From 1903 the
Sialkot Arya Samaj worked with the Untouchable Meghs. By 1911 there
were 30,000 Arya Meghs. The program with the Meghs was not limited
to the Shuddhi ceremony. The Sialkot Samaj also supported the
establishment of an industrial training school and grammar schools for
the “purified” Meghs.The Arya Samaj believed that political agitation
was futile because a nation, which considered millions of human beings
as untouchables, had no business to talk of liberty and democracy. The
Vedic magazine of the Samaj argued that Indians were subjected to
foreign rule because of their moral weaknesses and that without the
necessary religious and social reforms, political subjection of Indians
was bound to continue and that the expulsion of the English could only
result in a change of masters for Indians. (Sankar Ghose, The
Renaissance to Militant Nationalism in India, Allied Publishers, 1969.
p.39) Even the intellectual giant, Lala Hardayal had observed that the
future of Hindu race and Hindustan rest on Hindu Raj, Hindu Sangathan,
Shuddhi and conquest and Shuddhi of Afghan and the Frontier,
otherwise it is useless to win Swaraj. (Ram Gopal, Indian Muslims
.pp.124-125) The Congress under Gandhiji created a lot of awareness
among the masses, the need for the removal of Untouchability resulting
in the passing of legislation to abolish it. Similarly the Congress could
had have taken a positive stand towards Shuddhi to consolidate the
Hindu society.(concluded)

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By S.Srinivas | Posted in essays | Comments (0)

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND PARTITION OF INDIA -PART III

March 10, 2008 – 12:01 pm

In 1937 elections to Central and Provincial assemblies under the 1935

Act were held and the Congress won majorities of seats in six provinces.
In N.W.F.P it constituted the largest single group with 19 members out
of 50-member assembly. A similar situation existed in Assam where 33
out of 108 belonged to the Congress party. The Congress High
command committed one of those political mistakes which cost the
nation dear when it decided that the Congress would form ministries
only in those provinces where it had an absolute majority in the
assembly, and would not join hands with any other party.

In Bengal when the governor John Herbert invited Sarat Chandra Bose
as the leader of the single largest party to discuss the formation of a
ministry, he declined the offer. Fazlul Haq, the leader of the Krishak
Praja Party, requested Kiran Shankar Roy, the leader of the Congress
assembly party to join him to form a coalition government under his
leadership. Sarat Chandra Bose who led an unofficial Congress group
was inclined to agree and requested Abul Kalam Azad, the Congress
President for permission to join hands with Haq taking into account the
special situation in Bengal. This ides was said to have the support of
Subash Chandra bose. But the Congress High command turned it down
despite repeated requests. Haq turned to Muslim League, which

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promptly seized the initiative when it agreed to join the coalition under
Haq’s leadership. (Nitish Sengupta, History of the Bengali speaking
people, p.422) It is said that Gandhiji was unduly influenced by
G.D.Birla and Nalini Rangan Sarkar, both representing Indian business
interests. Birla as leader of the Marwari business interest strongly felt
that a political unity between the Muslims and Hindus in Bengal would
threaten Marwari domination over the trade and economy of Calcutta.
According to a letter written by Subash Chandra bose to Gandhiji dated
21-12-1938 even in the case of Assam, Maulana Azad opposed Subash’s
proposal for a coalition ministry and if Sardar Patel had not come
forward to support Subash, Gandhiji would not have accepted his
(Subash) views and no coalition ministry would have been formed in
Assam. Azad was against a coalition in Sindh too while Subash and
other members of the Congress working committee were in its favour.
According to Maulana Azad Muslim ministries should be accepted where
Muslims are in a majority even though those ministries are blatantly
communal. (Nitish Sengupta, pp.423-424)

Resignation of Congress Ministries.

The Congress committed a big blunder by resigning from the ministries

in 1939 on flimsy grounds. Its main grouse was that the government
had not taken it into confidence before involving India in the Second
World War. By this act, the Congress not only lost power, but also gave
way for Muslim League to form ministries in Assam and N.W.F.P. After
the resignation of the Congress ministry in Assam, Sir Sadulla formed a
League ministry there after succeeding in the game of intense horse-
trading with the members of the legislature. He was able to strengthen
the roots of the League deep in Assam by his policy of allowing the
Muslim migrants of East Bengal to settle indiscriminately in the
province. In N.W.F.P. after the Congress ministry went out, Sardar
Aurangzeb Khan headed a Muslim League ministry with the support of a
few independent Hindu and Sikh legislators. Gradually the League
started gaining ground in the Frontier Province, which was evident from
its success in four by-elections that followed soon after. (Sailesh Kumar,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the creation of Pakistan, pp.227-228)

The Quit India Movement.

But the biggest blunder committed by the Congress was to launch the
Quit India movement at a time when Britain was in the brink of the
Second World War. Though the Cripps proposal conceded the right of
Indians after the cessation of the war to frame a new constitution on
dominion status with the right to secede from the empire, the Congress
insisted upon immediate establishment of a cabinet form of government
at the Center, with almost all departments of administration transferred
to the representatives of the Indian parties and with the Viceroy as a
mere figurehead, shorn of all powers. (Tara Chand,.Vol. IV.pp.344,452-
453.) As the government did not agree to the Congress demands, on
July 14th 1942 the Congress approved a resolution that if the British did
not withdraw its rule from India it would launch a non-violent struggle.
On August 8th the Congress met at Bombay and in a resolution decided
to launch a mass non-violent struggle. (Tara Chand,pp.373,375) The
movement was not only violent but also did not achieve the desired
goal. The British never forgave the Congress for putting them in grave
jeopardy by launching the Quit India movement when the going for
them in the war was tough. This grudge was further deepened by the
war reducing England to a second rate European power that was in no
position to hold on to their Indian empire, the loss of which they realized
would further weaken their international standing. (H.N.Bali, India’s
Wounded Polity, p.99)

Anti-Congress forces rally

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The government decided to rally anti-Congress parties, particularly the

League with a view to weaken the Congress. The governors of the
Muslim majority provinces obliged Jinnah by contriving the installation of
Muslim League ministries and the removal or dismissal of the non-
League governments. In Bengal governor John Herbert forced Fazlul
Haq to resign and appointed Nazimuddin of the Muslim League as
Premier on April 24, 1943. In Sindh Allah Bakhsh, a non-Leaguer
expressed disapproval of the repressive policy of government. The
governor under Section 51 of the 1935 Act dismissed him and Ghulam
Husain Hidayatullah of the Muslim League was asked to assume office in
October 1942. (Tara Chand,.Vol. IV pp.388-390)After his return from
London in September 1945 Viceroy Wavell announced elections to the
Provincial assemblies with a view to convene a constitution making
body. The Congress leadership’s demand for freedom assumed distinctly
strident notes as Nehru and others plunged in electioneering, touring
the country frantically. Nehru’s speech in Lahore set the tone and tenor
that was qualitatively different from the Pre-Quit India days. “India is on
the brink of mighty revolution. Therefore, to vote for the Congress is to
vote for the freedom that is coming soon. By your vote you have to
declare whether you stand for freedom or slavery. The elections will
decide the fate of the Red fort and the Vice regal lodge. Those who try
to go against the great gushing torrent of Indian nationalism will be
swept ashore lifeless as a log of wood.” As Wavell’s secret dispatches
show, the government didn’t take kindly to what was regarded as
arousal of masses for violent action. Those whose responsibility it was to
maintain law and order read into the speeches of the Congress leaders
(particularly Nehru) something far more than election speech. It is most
likely that finding the Congress stand hardening by the day as the 1945
elections approached, the British government finalized their plans for
the division of the subcontinent to sow the seeds of permanent discord
with a view to teaching, as it were, a bitter lesson to India’s freedom
fighters. (H.N.Bali, p.70) (to be continued)

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