What are the key factors that led to the Partition of India?

By

Win Nwe Oo

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Background History

3.0 Key Factors that led to the Partition of India and Pakistan

3.1 Dynamics of Politics- British, INC and Muslim League

3.2 Cultural/Communal Tension- Religious Differences6

3.3 Economic Inequalities and Rise of Communism

4.0 British India Partition Plan

5.0 Conclusion

6.0 References

7.0 Appendices
1.0 Introduction

The sunset of the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent signified the division of India
into two sovereign states. OnAugust 14- 15 1947, the presence of the British in India which was
around 300 years terminated with the conception of Pakistan as an Islamic States and India as a
Secular state .The socio-cultural and economic disparities between the two communities due to
the British strategic administration steered the tragic partition. The 1947 partition had an
immense effect on the South Asia political and social relations till the presence days (Khan,
2007).This essay will critically analyze the causes that prompt the partition of India and Pakistan
and the discussion of how the British unfurl the partition of India.

Figure 1 British India before Partition and Present day Demographics (Vajani, 2018)
2.0 Background History

The British came into India through the East India Company for trading purposes during the rule
of Mughal Empire in the 16th century as prior to that era known the rise of British colonization
and industrialization. Though the British presented peace and security, the local industry was
commercialized and the conventional Indian town life was scattered. The escalation of the Indian
Mutiny of 18571 insurgencies due to the monopoly of the company led to the establishment of
the direct of British Empire (Phillips, 2017).

The British Raj2 had ruled the India- subcontinent for nearly a century and India was the
imperative part of the British Imperialism3 . Even though the British brought structural changes4
in India, yet most of the Indians believed that the British deprived the resources and manpower
from India. The independence movement began due to the rights of the Indians being
misrepresented as not getting the equal pay as British workers and lack of depiction in the
government. The Indian National Congress was formed in 1855 to end the reign of British in
India and led by the famous nationalist such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The
Hindu was the dominant race of the party and thus led to the tension between Muslim and Hindu
in India. As the British dividing the India with the religions status as a grand strategy at the
Bengal and Punjab provinces, the Muslim League was formed .The Muslim League led by Ali
Jinnah was to quit the British rule as well as to divide the India to form the Islamic state
(Phillips, 2017).

1
Indian Munity 1857- also called Sepoy Munity Crsis or First Revolution of India whereby the sepoy(solider) took
arm against the East India Company
2
The British Raj – refer to the British direct rule in India. British came through India through East India Company
and rule for a century until the Sepoy Munity riots took place, whereby the British directly ruled India from then
onwards.
3
Imperialism - an action that involves a nation extending its power by the acquisition of inhabited territory
4
Structural Changes- refer to the changes of the structure such as transportation, education and governance
3.0 Key Factors that led to the Partition of India and Pakistan

India is ethnically and culturally diverse and has a long history which is the reason that triggered
the partition. As the colonies empire of Britain, India's political structure and trends was played
by Britain. Therefore, the way that British rule directly affect the political, social and economic
tensions between the Muslim and Hindus. Although the partition was rooted by the social and
cultural differences, the political factors elicit that cultural and religious tension between the two
communities.

3.1 Dynamics of Politics- British, INC and Muslim League

The 19th century was the marked of Indian nationalism as several movement began in Indi. After
the Indian Munity of 1857 insurgences, the British directly ruled India with the policy of “Divide
and Rule” by breaking up the unity between Hindu and Muslim so that it is impossible for
Indians to generate any revolution against British Empire. The confirmation of this approach
could be traced in the division of Bengal in 1905, the Punjab and Bengal Province with the
metric of religious majority. As per appendix 1, the indication of the division of Muslim majority
province which is eastern part of the Bengal. The tactics systematically stimulate the political
division between Hindu and Muslim which led to the formation of the Muslim party. With the
encouragement of British, the Muslim League was formed to defend the right of Muslim in 1906.
To make more break amongst Hindus and Muslims, in Morley Minton demonstration of 1909 the
British presented the different electorate for Muslim populace which pin point the disharmony
between Hindu and Muslim in India (Sandhu, 2009).

In 1916, India National Congress (INC) and Muslim League signed the Lucknow Pact to gain
greater autonomy in governing that was denied by the British. During the World War, Indianwas
supporting the British Empire in the war and severely smashed, because of this the congress
prompt calls of more self - administration whereby the Muslim League realized that despite
signing the Lucknow Pact for Indian greater political autonomy, Muslim were still
underrepresented especially in the minority’s province like Madras.The Montagu- Chelmsford
Reforms of 1919 was the first promised for self-governing of India by institutionalizing the
communal representation as a reserved seat. The Second World War was the turning point of the
politics between Muslim league, INC and British Empire as Muslim League supporting the
British and gain supporting from Muslim in India (Khan, 2007).

Under the pledged leadership of Ali Jinnah, Muslim League proposed the philosophy of Two
Nation theory which kept up that India is a state in light of Hinduism and that the political and
financial interests of Muslims of the country vary from that of Hindus. Thus, spike the Muslim to
create the nations which represent their interests of the culture, tradition and language. This
ideology to some extent developed the commonality as Hindu fundamentalist’s belief that
separation is required since the Hindu was the heritage ethnic groups of India. However,
Mahatma Gandhi and India National Congress initially rejected the idea of parting of India into
two dominions since they believed that unity is important to overthrow the British and formed a
peaceful state. The unavailability of the congress to settle with the Muslim League proposal also
upset the Jinnah as it left him held that there is no alternative left except partition. The Muslim
League demand for the reformation of the reservation seats with based on population and
redistribution of seats in central as one third of the seat so that Muslim get fair representation
(Ambedkar, 1945).

Nevertheless, the congress was persuaded of the partition due the “Direct Action Day” and the
communal riots per Appendix 2.With the deadlock settlement between INC and Muslim League,
Ali Jinnah on August 16, 1946 declared the complete strike which cause the massive riots and
killing in Calcutta between Hindus and Muslims. As appendix, this protest is also known as
“1946- Hindu and Muslim Riots”. This portrays that India was already torn apart with communal
conflict and if there is a consideration to obtain peace, partition is the only plausible solution
(Zehra, 2016).
3.2 Cultural/Communal Tension- Religious Differences
India is ethically and culturally diverse with rich history. Nevertheless, it had a long history of
religious tensions as Muslim expansion and rule for 300 years, threaten the Hindu way of life. As
one culture directly portray the one identity, cultural and religions are sensitive’s issues for most
Indians. Before the British invaded India, The Mughal Empire, an Islam kingdom was ruling
India in which Hindu despised Muslim since in ancient times India was a Hindus homeland. The
racial conflict between the Hindu and Muslim was more pronounced during the British Raj reign
as the British divide the Bengal and Punjab according to the religions. Despite being Indians,
there was always the racial tension between the Muslims and Hindus because of the religions
differences which comprised of the social differences. For instance, Beef was the staple foods for
Muslims while the Hindus preached the cows as gods. Muslim celebrated ‘Eid by slaughtering
the cow crated the communal incentive as showing that the differences are precisely hard to
compromise each other. Hindus like music while it is considering as sin for Muslims so it is
forbidden (Farah, 2011).

As the Indian National Congress was dominated by the Hindus majority, the constitution and the
governance were in the favor of the Hindus, the Muslims felt that they were not having enough
voice and representation as they were the minority groups. The changing approaches of Muslim
League demonstrate the solid political trends of this issue. The Muslims were feared that the
domination of the Hindu would interfere in their way of life and teaching as instructed in the
Quran. Nonetheless, Congress was frequently required with Hindu religious life, for instance by
proposing a prohibition of killing of cows. Muslim individuals from the Congress couldn't take
the dread away that a nation drove by the Congress would consequently imply that Muslims
would be a smothered minority forever The establishment of the Hindu Mahashaba embraced the
system of the Shuddic as the Hindu nation that led to the rise of the communalism5 between the
two ethnic groups which inspire to have a separate nation. This organizations advocate that the
interest and way of life of the Hindu and Muslim were differ and as India was predominantly
Hindu, they want to establish a pure Hindu nation in parallel with Muslim League. As both
communities see each other as differences culturally, it is impossible for them to coexist in the

5
Communalism - Communalism is a term used in South Asia to denote attempts to construct religious or ethnic
identity, incite strife between people identified as different communities, and to stimulate communal violence
between those groups.
homogenous state anymore. This contemplation led to the idea of demanding a separate state
whereby even in the means of violence separation must take place (Farah, 2011).

3.3 Economic Inequalities and Rise of Communalism

The economic disparity between Hindu and Muslim set off the communal feelings which later
developed into rivalry and violence. As Mughal Empire, a Muslim kingdom was ruling the India
before British came in, Muslim felt prolonged in the reign. They refused to compromise with the
British as they did not learn English nor accept their culture. In the early period of the British
rule, the policies and legislations such as in education and economic courtesy the Hindu more
than the Muslim. In a way to lessen the prospects of Muslim, English was replaced as a main
occupation in 1837 instead of Persian as the British believe that Muslims play a key part in the
Sepoy revolution. Due to that there is a huge socio-economic difference between Muslim and
Hindus in India as that particular time as majority of Muslims were working as farmers, labors
and made up of lower-class while the Hindu majorities are landlords.The blend of religious
interest with monetary interests made a politically unstable circumstance profoundly defenseless
to communalism publicity (Chakrabarty, 2004).

Because of their low salary, the Muslims were dependent on Hindu moneylenders for survival.
These financiers charged high rate interest, depleting the Muslims of much more cash. This
created the unity and strong communalism among the Muslims in Bengal Province as they
maintain a strategic distance from the trap set by the Hindu moneylender as an outflow of
Muslim partnership. Moreover, Muslim those who lived in the Hindu owner farms have to pay
more as in their family occasions like weddings. These backwardness of the role of Muslim
trigger the Muslim League leader like Sir Ahmed Khan to further strengthen the representation
of Muslims as it give birth to communalism as they have to compete with Hindu for better
representations in politics and economics. The Hindu resent the progress of the Muslims
ideology which initiated Hindu communalism like Hindu Mahashaba group. The vested
awareness reinforce into communal violence with the administration of systematic British
policies and communal leaders of Muslim League and Hindu Mahashaba (Chakrabarty, 2004).
4.0 British India Partition Plan

After World War II, there was a consideration of the British to transfer India independence.
Lord Mountbatten was allottedto settle with INC and Muslim League. The intercession was
known as the 3rd June Plan or Mountbatten Plan whereby India was torn apart with the
communal conflict at the particular time. Mountbatten's strategy was to divide India with the
thoroughgoing unity as he took contemplation of the Congress and unambiguously to make
Pakistan as small as possible so that withdrawal of British could be accomplished. The plan was
the favorable by all the parities since the communal crisis took over in different parts of India
and unification of the two communities under a homogenous state is the impossible realization
for both the congress and Muslim League (Nawaz, 2013).

Figure 2 Lord Mountbatten Meeting with the INC and Muslim League

In order to divide the sub-continent geographically, Cyril Radcliffe was allocated to draw the
line of separation and according to the mechanism of religious majority, economic resources and
strategic infrastructures like railways and ports. The line was known as the Radcliffe Line which
was criticized for the causes of the unending territorial disputes and mass migration. On 17
August 1947, the delineation line was announced between India and Pakistan on the day of the
partition. An act was endorsed by Britain to liberate India from the administration of British
acknowledged as “India Independence Act 1947”. It was an act that partitioned the British India
into two dominions India and Pakistan with the establishment of assigning the Viceroy for both
the states and till the states enact its own constitution (Nawaz, 2013).

Figure 3: Radcliffe and 1947 Partition of India

5.0 Conclusion

The existence of the British in India ended followed by the massacre and riots. A large number
of individuals moved to that they trusted would be a more secure area, with Muslims heading
towards Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs toward India. The partition elicit the refugee’s crisis
whereby thousands die by diseases in the camp. As women regarded as the honor of the
community, crime against women such as rape, assault were rampant. Just a few months after the
independence, both state start a precedent relations by engaging in the war fight for Kashmir and
later followed by the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971. As bothstates was torn apart by the
refugees crisis and shackled economy, the continuous engaging in the war make is worse as it
molded the development, social integration and relations between the India and Pakistan in the
presence days.

Right after the independence, India and Pakistan had shaped strategic relations however the
impacts of the distractors partition and regional clashes sort of overwhelmed the conciliatory
relationship. Despite the fact that India and Pakistan share memorable, social and geographic yet
their relationship has been loaded with threatening vibe and doubt.
6.0 References

Ambedkar. (1945). Pakistan Or Partition Of India. Bombay: Thacker and Comapny Limited.

Chakrabarty, B. (2004). The Partition of Bengal and Assam, 1932-1947. London:

RoutledgeCurzon.

Farah, A. A. (2011). Why was India Partitioned at Independence? E-International Relations .

Khan, Y. (2007). The Great Partition: The Making of Pakistan and India. NEW HAVEN AND
LONDON: Yale University Press.

Nawaz, G. (2013). The British Plan of the Partition of the Punjab in 1947 . Pakistan Journal of
History and Culture .

Phillips, S. (2017). Why Was British India Partitioned in 1947? Considering the Role of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Faculty of History,University of Oxford.

Sandhu, A. H. (2009). Reality of 'Divide and Rule' in British India. Pakistan Journal of History
and Culture , 63-69.

Vajani, P. (2018, 7 11). Indian nationalism. Retrieved from SlideShare:

https://www.slideshare.net/priyanshivajani/indian- nationalism-60198894

Zehra, R. (2016). Direct Action Day: When Massive Communal Riots Made Kolkata Bleed. The
Hunt .
7.0 Appendices

Appendix 1: Partition of Bengal 1905- British Divide and Rule

Figure 4: Partition of Bengal 1905

Appendix 2: Direct Action Day