THE PARTITION : india gained independence from the british raj over six decades back. while mahatma gandhi was the orchestrator in this struggle, he decided to not partake in governance of india. almost naturally, the choice fell in the lap of jawaharlal nehru. nehru was a charismatic leader and a great visionary. he steered as best as he could. however , nehru was an aristocrat by nature, a rather tender man and a great writer and poet. given these fine virtues, he was somewhat wanting in hard action or a bit of ruthlessness which was so much the need of those times. this set the scene of the partition of india. mohammad jinnah with his lincoln-like features, was ambitious and tough. ultimately, the congress and the muslim league could not reach a power-sharing formula for a united India, leading all parties to agree to separate independence for a predominately hindu India, and for a muslim-majority state, to be called pakistan. jinnah died at age 71 just over a year after pakistan gained independence from the british raj. this was a definitive stage in the history of india. on this fulcrum swung the swing with a genteel nehru on one side and a tough jinnah on the other. agreed that by hindsight, everyone is wiser ,yet only if nehru could leave the matter in the lurch for some one year, there would not have been the stand of jinnah . and in the absence of a like force, the partition could possibly have been aborted. this definitive moment could have been THE moment of an entirely new chapter in india’s history. in diplomacy,our day to day dealings, in governance…..and whatever have you, quite often not doing anything is actually doing something great. this delicate moment was sadly missed and the massive genocide, the hatred and spewing of venom between two communities, the painful displacement of families…….took place and to date this sentiment still exists between the two countries and the two communities. it is quite likely that you have read ‘Freedom at Midnight’ by larry collins and dominique lapierre. If not, please do read at your leisure. It will give you so much insight. © dr a jindal 13/08/2013 ( an appeal to the readers : this is an attempt on my part to draw from the history of freedom of india.while I have maintained extreme caution in accuracy, i request you to correct me wherever I may have gone wrong.)
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 06:05:07 +0000
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