India’s partition, 75 years on

THIS WEEK, the world took note of the passing of 75 years since the partition of India, a profoundly traumatic event that was accompanied by large-scale religious violence, chaos and confusion and which triggered one of the worst refugee crises in human history.

When the British Parliament passed the 1947 Indian Independence Act on August 15 of that year, it did more than grant formal autonomy.

Eager, perhaps, for a quick transfer of power, it split India into two new dominions: India and Pakistan. In the process, it shattered the hope of Hindu-Muslim unity and changed the shape of politics in South Asia forever.

What was an expedient “solution” to communal tensions proved to trigger nothing short of disaster.

Upon partition, Hindus and Muslims from mixed communities rushed in opposite directions to new homelands created along religious lines. It is estimated that ten-20 million people were displaced.

Violence and bloodshed broke out and to this day there is disagreement as to how many people died, with the figure sometimes placed as high as two million.

What is incontrovertible, however, is that the entrenchment of divisions that took place in 1947 has had lasting consequences. The two countries, each in the throes of rampant waves of nationalism today, remain distrustful of one another.

The idea that nationhood can be sustained solely on religion has also generated no end of problems, particularly with ideological warfare becoming more and more fraught.

It is all a reminder of the truly complex legacy of British colonialism, which, even in its ostensible end, proved to be as damaging and toxic as at its height. As a global system of dominance, it thrived on the idea of divisiveness, riding a tiger to achieve its aims and to pursue self-interest. Though officials sometimes said they had at heart the interests of the people of the colonies, at all stages the latter were the ones who ended up paying the price.

These are lessons to hold on to today.

There is a rise, all over the world, in the rhetoric of division. In India, for instance, Hindu nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment have risen.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan there are reports of a tide of Islamic fundamentalism that punishes any act of dissent.

Partition did not pave the way to any utopia. It has only served to help both societies further down the road to possible perdition. The people of Kashmir, the disputed region between the two countries, are held hostage to militarism and militancy from both sides.

At a time when the removal of the “other” is being offered as the solution to our collective woes, India’s experience is a reminder that the real achievement would be living together as one.