Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Partition of India and Pakistan
Partition of India and Pakistan
Pair Activities
• Throughout this PowerPoint Lecture, there
are pair activities built in that you will be
completing with your partner next to the
slides on the lines.
• This is to help review key concepts, get you
thinking critically, and give opportunities for
clarification of main points.
1
Muslim conquest of World War II weakens Violence erupts as millions Continuing clash between
northern India in 1100s European colonial empires of Hindus and Muslims India and Pakistan over
cross the border between Kashmir
British imperialism in India Pressure from Indian India and Pakistan
nationalists increases Nuclear arms race as both
Nationalists organize the Gandhi is assassinated by India and Pakistan refuse
Indian National Congress Insistence by Muhammad Ali Hindu extremists to sign Non-Proliferation
in 1885 Jinnah and the Muslim
India and Pakistan become Treaty
League that Muslims have
Muslim nationalists form centers of Cold War rivalry
their own state
separate Muslim League in
1906 Rioting between Hindus and Establishment of the state
Muslims throughout northern of Bangladesh
India
Review: Religious Conflict and Partition
Religious Groups
• India had long had two main religious groups: Hindus, Muslims
• 1940, home to 255 million Hindus, 92 million Muslims
• Smaller numbers of Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists
Muslim Fears
• As hopes for Indian independence rose, so did religious tensions
• Some Muslims feared large Hindu population would dominate independent
democratic India, wanted separate nation to protect their rights
Muslim League
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah led Muslim League, worked for interests of India’s
Muslims
• 1940, Muslim League called for a partition, division of India, creation of separate
Muslim, Hindu countries
Pair Activity
• Next to each map, write down your
observations on the major locations
of Hindus and Muslims in South Asia
in 1909.
Map of Indian Subcontinent
Directions: Click
back and forth
quickly between
this slide and the
previous one.
Notice where
each group is
located.
Map of Indian Subcontinent
Task Predict what will happen after the
British leave India (decolonization). Do this next
to this slide. Explain why.
British Views on Independence
Why Britain Agreed To Independence
• 1. WWII Left Britain Broke, Weak, Needing To
Rebuild---
– No additional resources for maintaining colonies
• 2. Labour Party Came to Power ---
– More sympathetic to Indian desire for self government.
– Had been against colonialism for a long time and
believed that other countries should rule themselves.
• 3. Sacrifices Made By India During WWII---
– Over 2 million Indians fought in WWII for the British
– India raised food for soldiers at expense of its own
population, (Great Bengali Famine took over 1 million
lives)
Britain Now Wants to Withdraw
The aim of the British government was now to
have a peaceful and quick withdrawal from India.
They did not want to be caught up in any
violence so any withdrawal and the future shape
of India would have to be negotiated with the two
Indian parties.
They needed to get agreement from both, no
solution could be imposed as the British were too
weak to enforce it.
Independence, BUT?
• Britain agreed to grant India
independence by 1947 on one
condition: India had to have a
plan for dealing with the ongoing
religious issues between Hindus
and Muslims
Pair Activity
• Which of the reasons for why
Britain agreed to independence
for South Asia do you think was
the greatest motivator and why?
Idea of Partition
Idea of Partition
• The Muslim League had been the first to
come up with the idea of partitioning
India and in 1940 presented a plan to the
INC to partition after independence.
• The INC rejected the plan because
Gandhi believed Hindus and Muslims
could work out their problems.
Jinnah’s and Muslim League’s Goal
• Concern was the in a united India the Hindus would
have the majority and dominate the government
• Afraid the Hindus would severely interfere with the
Muslim ways of living as per the Quran---that the
Hindus would take away their social and religious
freedom
• Was the consistent betterment of Muslims marked by
developments in all the spheres of life...”our spiritual,
cultural, and economic consonance with own ideals
and according to the genius of our people.”
Indian Congress Party & Muslim League cannot
agree on 1 or 2 state solution
Gandhi on Partition
• “My whole soul rebels against the idea that
Hinduism and Islam represent two
antagonistic cultures and doctrines. To assent
to such a doctrine is for me a denial of God.”
• Pair Activity: What does Gandhi mean by this
quote? How does this relate to the issue of
partition?
Reasons for Partition
• 1. Ideological Divide: INC and Muslim League could
not agree on how the representative government of
independence India should be based.
– Should a certain number of seats be set aside for
Muslims, Sikhs, etc…to ensure that the all the religions
were represented
– Should it just be completely open…which would mean
that since most of India was Hindu, almost all of the
government positions would be filled by Hindus and not
the other religious groups
Reasons for Partition
• 2. British Treatment of Hindus and Muslims:
– The British had followed a divide-and-rule policy in India.
– Even in the census they categorized people according to
religion and viewed and treated them as separate from
each other.
– They had based their knowledge of the peoples of India
on the basic religious texts and the intrinsic differences
they found in them instead of on the way they coexisted
in the present.
– Encouraged Indians to see religion as the key defining
feature of their identity
Reasons for Partition
• 3. British Feared the Muslims:
–The British were still fearful of the
potential threat from the Muslims, who
were the former rulers of the
subcontinent, ruling India for over 300
years under the Mughal Empire.
–Since Jinnah and the Muslim League
pushed for two states, the British went
in that direction.
Reasons for Partition
• 4. Mistakes Made by INC:
– Congress made several mistakes in their
policies which further convinced the
League that it was impossible to live in a
undivided India.
– One such policy was the institution of the
"Bande Matram," a national anthem which
expressed anti-Muslim sentiments, in the
schools of India where Muslim children
were forced to sing it.
Reasons for Partition
• 5. Recent Riots and Acts of Violence:
– Calcutta Riots: Jinnah decided it was time to push for a
separate Muslim State by using mass (large groups of
people) protests.
– The 16th of August was to be Direct Action Day. – A
strike by Muslim workers and a meeting of 100,000
through the streets of Calcutta.
– It started when the Muslim League members asked the
Hindu business men to close their stores and the
Hindus retaliated.
– When the Hindu owners opened their stores they were
beaten and they fought back in their defense.
Reasons for Partition: Riots and
Violence Continued
Jinnah had wanted a peaceful demonstration but
trouble flared up leading to three days and nights of
rioting and killing.
6,000 killed, 20,000 injured, 100,000 homeless.
The violence spread to other areas, Gandhi was
horrified and travelled to areas of conflict to call for
peace.
This made any chance of togetherness and unity
between Muslims and Hindus seem impossible.
Pair Activity
• Rank in order of importance from
number one being most important to
number five being least the five
reasons for why Britain created two
nations in South Asia.
• Next to each ranking, explain your
thinking/why.
Work of Lord Mountbatten
Lord Mountbatten against the backdrop of the
count-down to Indian Independence
Lord Mountbatten – Vice-Roy
February 1947
• He was sent to get agreement on a one state
government within the British commonwealth.
• The British Prime Minister wanted Britain to
withdraw by June 1948.
• It was hoped a deadline would push the parties into
agreement.
Lord Mountbatten
• Developed a good relationship with Gandhi
and Nehru
• Did not have a good relationship with Jinnah
who felt that Mountbatten favored the Indian
National Congress
• After some time, Mountbatten became
convinced that a united India was impossible
Mountbatten’s Reasons for Two States
1. His first weeks in India showed him the gulf between Hindus
and Muslims could not be bridged.---riots in Punjab and the
North-West Province
2. Gandhi’s fasts and pleas could not stop the religious violence
3. He realized that the violence of 1946 had left bitter scars on
the population.
4. Realized the Indian National Congress and Muslim League
would not agree on how to handle one state---result in chaos
5. Realized that independence should be as soon as possible and
suggested August 28, 1947
The Mountbatten Plan
June 1947
These two maps show how India was divided after gaining independence from the
British in 1947. The first shows India under British rule, before the partition. The
second shows how the region was divided after gaining independence and the
breakaway of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from West Pakistan (Pakistan today)
in 1971 through the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Effects
Effects
• During the split from India, there was a mass
migration of over 15 Million.
• The Muslims were going to Pakistan as the
Hindus were leaving for India.
• The creation of Pakistan was tumultuous,
resulting in chaos, riots, deaths & crimes
against humanity.
• This deepened the rift between Muslims and
Hindus.
Migrations
• Based on the 1951 census of displaced
persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan
from India.
• And 7, 249, 000 Hindus and Sikhs went to
India from Pakistan.
• All of this happened IMMEDIATELY after the
partition.
Migrations
• About 11.2 million or 78% of the population
transfer took place in the West, especially in the
Punjab region.
• 5.3 million Muslims moved from India to West
Punjab in Pakistan.
• 3.4 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan
to East Punjab in India.
Refugee Trains in India 1947
Violence