Mahatma Gandhi used non-violent protests to resist the British power for independence. One his most famous protest was the Salt March of 1930. The march started in March of 1930 from mid-Gujarat to the Arabian Sea at Dandi. The Protest was to destroy the state monopoly by collecting the salt for their own use.
Other causes for the separation of India were due to Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He was the president of the Muslim League. Jinnah demanded there be a separate Muslim country. In 1937 the mandate for this separate Muslim country failed to attain many votes however, in 1946 75% of the Muslim voted for the separation of India and for them to have their own country. Because of this win for Jinnah and his followers in the election of 1946 the tension in India once again heightened.
With their being tension in Punjab and Bengal and also in Mumbai and Madras there was many conflicts from riots to communal killings. In August of 1946 Mohammad Ali Jinnah impelled Muslims in Calcutta to riot.
‘In august 1946, Jinnah had incited Muslims rioting in Calcutta, which in turn led to Hindu Violence against Muslims in Bihar, and the prospect of yet more to come elsewhere.’ (Stein 1998)
It was these riots etc that caused the separation of India. The British declared in early 1947 they would leave India due to the substantially increasing religious rioting throughout the whole of India.
On the 18th July 1947 it was promulgated that the India Independence Act would commence on the 15th August 1947 however, was rejected by Nehru originally due to the conditions it stated.
‘He refused to accept that power was to be passed from the Crown to several elected bodies in British-Indian provinces, with the understanding that assemblies of two of the provinces – Bengal and Punjab – could make further decision for internal partitions and that the six hundred or so princely states could choose to join Pakistan or India or remain independent’ (Stein 1998)
As this offer was rejected by Nehru and other Congress members the British decided to just partition India so that where there was a high Muslim population would become their country. The areas that became Pakistan in the east were Bengal and Assam, and in the west Punjab, Sind and Baluchistan.
14th August 1947 was they when India finally gained independence and east and West Pakistan was also born. As talked about previously East Pakistan is due to the conflicts in Bengal and West Pakistan was due to the struggles in Punjab. The partition of the country was an agreement between the congress, the League and the Parliament.
‘Mountbatten bluntly stated the terms of departure in a broadcast to all of India in June 1947: a separate dominion of Indian Muslims to include those territories in which they were a majority; partition of the Punjab and Bengal’ (Stein 1998)
Although Independence had been granted and the partition was in production it meant that the territory of 600 provinces was being decided of whether they would join India or Pakistan there was hardly any resistances due to the negotiations between the Princes and Mountbatten however there were two exceptions, Hyderabad and Kashmir.
‘Had the maharaja of Kashmir accepted the advice to accede before the 15th August to either Pakistan or India (the Nizam of Hyderabad, the other large state, also postponed decision) the gravest obstacle to future peace would almost certainly have been avoided’ (Watson 1974)
Here you can see that the maharaja of each province withheld until after and therefore caused major conflict. The main reasoning for postponing the offer was due to that the Maharaja of Kashmir was Hindu and ruled over a population of 77% Muslims in the province and the Maharaja of Hyderabad was Muslim and ruled mainly over Hindus. (Information from Stein 1998)
‘The outset of independence released the most tragic of these conflicts. Communal rioting, pillage, and slaughter among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs may have taken lives of as many as one million’ (Schweinitz 1983)
As you can see there was blood shed due to the partition although the congress may have agreed to it to solve the problems of rioting it made them worse.
‘Some five million Hindus and Sikhs moved eastwards out of Pakistan’ (Watson 1974) Due to the Partition those who were technically in Pakistan moved back to India and those Muslims who wished to move from India to Pakistan did so too.
Although after the British left India there was still continuous wars between Muslims against Hindus and Sikhs. In January 1948 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (aka Mahatma Gandhi) was murdered in an attempt to stop a religious war in Delhi, where in fact he was shot by a Hindu extremist, Nathuram Godse.
‘The resettlement of refugees was an added burden to both Governments as they faced economic Consequences of the partition’ (Watson 1974) More so to add to the aftermath of the partition India and Pakistan faced great economic struggle especially with Pakistan being a new country.
Many years have gone since independence where religious and political wars still take place such as the continuous struggle of power in Kashmir. East Pakistan was abolished in 1971 and became Bangladesh and thereafter India has remained as shown in maps below. ‘East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) seceded in 1971’ (EIU ViewsWire 2006) however, the struggle of peace in Kashmir is unforeseen.
‘The hostility between Hindu and Muslim had not been eliminated, but had been contained by the maintenance of law and order.’ (Schweinitz 1983)
The three maps above show how India was partitioned.
India: pre 1947 – [source]
India: post 1947 – [source]
India: 1971 – [source]
References
Schweinitz Jr., K (1983) The Rise and Fall of British India. London: Methuen & co. Ltd
Stein, B. (1998) A History of India. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd
Watson, F. (1974) India A Concise History. Singapore: C.S. Graphics
EIU ViewsWire (2006) EIU ViewsWire: Pakistan: Country Fact sheet [online] New York. Available from:
Roukis, GS. (2004) The British East India Company 1600-1858: A model of transition management for the modern global corporation. The Journal of Management Development. 23 (10) 938
