People across the country though rejoiced at the prospect of a long overdue independence, did not quite understand what Partition meant, where the border between India and Pakistan would lie and whether they’d be forced to leave their homes, being minority religions on either side. This plan was subsequently broadcast to the peoples of India through the radio and newspapers in English and vernacular languages. Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, along with legislative members of the dominant groups - Indian National Congress represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Acharya Kripalani Muslim League represented by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Liaqat Ali Jhan, Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar and the Sikh community represented by Sardar Baldev Singh – came to an agreement about a concrete plan for the independence of British India. (Sc 1) JIndia – the announcement of Indian independence and subsequent Partition called the Independence of India Act, 1947 or the Mountbatten Plan. She is a multidisciplinary artist and a historian with a particular interest in the workings of memory and material culture.Ĭlick here to order Aanchal Malhotra’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast. ![]() Once home in England he destroyed all of his papers that related to the event we now remember as ‘Partition.’Īanchal Malhotra lives in New Dehli. Hearing about the commotion, the massacres and the hundreds of thousands of refugees, Radcliffe refused his fee. ![]() This is known, till date, to be the largest mass-migration in the history of the world. An estimated 14 million people left their homes- on foot, in caravans, clutching their few belongings. The news set a rapid process of migration in action. As the monsoon heat soared and the land was soaked with torrential downpours, millions learned just where Radcliffe had drawn his line. At his daily prayer meetings in July, Mahatma Gandhi was arguing against the idea of division, ‘The very creation of two nations is a poison, the Congress and the Muslim league have accepted this, but a vice does not become a virtue merely because it is accepted by all.’īy the middle of August, Radcliffe’s work was done. This hamstrung the work of a man who had little understanding of the cultural complexities he had been sent to resolve. Radcliffe fell ill upon his arrival in India. As riots flared across the Punjab, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, an English lawyer who had never set foot in India before, was sent to draw what would become known as ‘The Ratcliffe Line.’ The most pressing question at that time was where this border would run. ‘At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom’, said Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India in his Tryst of Destiny speech. These nations would come into existence on 15 August, with India to be a secular nation and Pakistan a homeland for Muslims. Their lands were to be divided into two nations: India and Pakistan. ![]() On 3 June 1947, the citizens of the subcontinent received part of the answer. But how should the British leave the Indian subcontinent after such a long period of colonial rule? Should the territory be divided? How could this be done? In the immediate aftermath of World War Two it became clear that the Raj was no longer sustainable. ![]() 15, families who witnessed the death and destruction during partition recalled the tales of horror.īrothers Santa and Niranjan Singh were lucky to survive the crossing from their village of Bhasin on the Pakistani side of the new border to their current home in Sarangra in India.In this superbly-evoked episode of Travels Through Time, the Indian writer Aanchal Malhotra takes us back to the cavalier, chaotic and catastrophic sequence of events surrounding Indian Independence in the summer of 1947 *** *** 14, 1947.Īs India prepares to mark 70 years of independence on Aug. REUTERS/Mohsin RazaĪ mass migration followed, marred by violence and bloodshed, as about 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, fearing discrimination, swapped countries in an upheaval that cost more than a million lives.ĭuring the chaotic transition, train cars full of bodies arrived at railway stations in the twin cities of Lahore and Amritsar in the province of Punjab, which was split roughly down the middle at partition on Aug. FILE PHOTO: Pakistani rangers (wearing black uniforms) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) officers lower their national flags during a daily parade at the Pakistan-India joint check-post at Wagah border, near Lahore November 3, 2014.
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