Hi, Everyone! For a long time now I
have been thinking of posting this particular chapter of my book Burning for Freedom in small excerpts. I thought the January 26, the Republic day of India, might be a good time to give a thought to the terrible events that took place right before independence.
The year is 1946. Treachery and tragedy were running rampant on
Indian soil, beating a direct path to partition
and a free India. The Indian
National Congress had won the elections (Hindu electorate) with a landslide and
the Muslim League had captured the Muslim seats. Free India was to be handed
over in the hands of these two parties. Hindu Mahasabha stood nowhere in these
negotiations. While many may be aware of the gist of what took place, the
actual details are not commonly known. I had to read so many books to nail down
the nitty-gritty of it all. This chapter gives a quick run through of the
events from August 1946 to June 1947. If anyone is taken over by a feeling of
disbelief or feel that I am “re-inventing” history, click here
for the documentation.
Chapter
Sixteen
August 1946-June 1947
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fter the elections, Atlee sent three of his cabinet
ministers from London to sort out the Indian political mess. The need was
pressing. The Indian navy had revolted; the army, too, had refused to follow
orders at times. Britain had managed—just—to
curb them, but she needed to get out of India, fast! The wrangling and squabbling between the British, Congress,
and Muslim League commenced.
An agreement being impossible, the
Cabinet Mission announced a plan: formation of a Union of India, embracing all
the provinces and Princely States, which would deal with the foreign affairs,
defense, and communications along with the power to raise the finances required
for them; provinces to be divided into three sections—effectively representing
what could be West Pakistan, Hindustan, and East Pakistan; a provincial
autonomy to be established by vesting all other subjects and residuary powers
in the provinces; a Constituent Assembly to be formed to map out the
constitution of free India; and an Interim Government to be formed immediately
for the day-to-day running of the country in the transition period, while a
permanent deal was negotiated with Britain.
Both parties after a spate of
objections and qualifications agreed to go ahead, with reservations, accepting
the spirit of the plan. Jinnah put his Pakistan demand aside …! A tenuous,
very tenuous, agreement had been
reached. There was great hope of saving the integrity of India!
At this very, very delicate juncture in the politics of India, Nehru came out
with very unwise—to express it
kindly—statements in a press conference. He admitted: that in agreeing to
Wavell’s plan, Congress had done nothing more than start a process; they were
not bound by any provisos regarding minorities; there was no certainty about
grouping of the sections; and the union would have more say in the running of
the provinces than was suggested by the Mission.
In effect, he publicly refuted the
spirit of the Mission’s plan in toto …! What was the purpose of this move by the Congress leaders? Smashing
the hopes of an undivided, United India? Surely they weren’t naïve enough to
imagine that Jinnah would acquiesce meekly to this!
Even so, Jinnah did not immediately
break the tenuous bond of agreement; he approached Wavell and sought an
assurance that Britain would provide a guarantee against the treachery of
Congress. Wavell was unable to do any such thing. On July 27 the Muslim League
opted out of the Mission’s plan. Declaring that their goal for a Pakistan was back
on the table, they announced a policy of “Direct Action” to reach it.
The brutality of Genghis Khan would
not be a patch on them as they wreaked vengeance upon the Hindus, they
promised!
And indeed, they lived up to their
word—while the Viceroy, Nehru, and Gandhi lifted not a finger, official or
otherwise, to protect the helpless Hindus.
The next excerpt is on the Direct
Action.
Anurupa
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