Monday, March 19, 2007

A note on the history of the Partition of India

"...before 1947 the "Hindus" were relentlessly and viciously vilified by Jinnah as being power-hungry for not agreeing to partition India into two independent states as he demanded (this appears to have been Jinnah's single-point political platform in this period). And yet, it is mystifying that after 1947, many have refused to acknowledge this patent fact about Jinnah, preferring to vilify "Hindus" and the Congress as power-hungry for agreeing to partition India into two independent states, while declaring Jinnah completely innocent of wanting any such partition.

The deep sense of tragedy, loss and of "failed" nationalism felt by countless millions in India after Partition occured could be a perfectly understandable reason for this "inconsistency" in the general public. Such an inconsistency is however not quite as understandable where informed historians are concerned, and carries the odor of intellectual dishonesty."

From here

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very clear and very well put. Thank you.
~savyasachi