We all are prisoners of our experiences. These experiences come from family, school, social background, economics status and so on. Most of the personality is developed by the age eighteen. The books we read, the people we meet with, TV/media/internet during these budding years play a vital role in building our world view which sticks to us throughout our lives. Yes, we gain more experience with age but this initial period with to eighteen is formative.
It pains me when I see people blaming Nehru and Gandhi, maybe because my formative years were late eighties to nineties. During that period, the environment was not communally charged and Congress was in power. They had sanitized the textbooks to maintain communal harmony. Gandhi and Nehru were idolized and Congress had spent a lot of money in keeping the memories of the two leaders alive, probably at the cost of other founding fathers.
I spent my childhood in a small town, Abohar, about 20 KM from the Pakistan border across Bahawalnagar. There were a lot of people displaced by partition, living around our house. Mostly from Bahawalpur state, by late eighties they had settled well and were part of the society. Before 1947, this town had a mix of Hindu, Muslim population. I had heard from my grandparents as to how people lived together. Abohar was the last municipal town on the Indian side of Delhi - Bahawalpur-Sukkur railway track. There was no violence in town even after 15th Aug 1947 but when people started pouring in from Multan, Bahawalpur and Southern Punjab, the atmosphere started getting charged on the Indian side too. There were attacks on trains in Abohar too. I know of two persons whom people claimed had attacked the trains at the station. Both for looting and getting something from fleeing people. One incident my grandparents narrated was about a man who tried to loot money from Nawab of Loharu at Ellenabad station (my Nanaji's town). Nawab threw some jewellery at him to ward off but he bounced again and this time his men threw a spear (barchhi) and this man got injured in the eye. My great grandfather had saved two muslim girls and dropped them to the camp. His friends requested him to help them convert to Hinduism so that they could avoid migration. My great grandfather refused saying "meri aatma yeh manzoor nahi karti" and safely escorted them to camp at Kothi Faiz (near Railway Station). My grandmother would say that on Eid their Muslim neighbours would gift them uncooked mutton but they would quietly give away that to the workers (Hindus). I asked her, was it fair? She said that was the norm of those days but today (in the early nineties) she could have eaten their food. So my illiterate daadi knew that norms change with time. So I grew up in this environment listening to stories of migration from the elders. There was no hate towards Muslims or Pakistan.
My first 'encounter' with Pakistanis was when I went to IIT Delhi in the early 2000s. Computers were installed in common rooms in the hostel and we would get 30 min slots by turn. Yahoo chat was popular and people would enter different 'chat rooms'. I had chats with Pakistanis (not sure if they were really Pakistanis or someone masquerading) but I remember two instances where the person on the other side was cribbing how Nehru/Edwina/Mountbatten had unfairly taken away Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. I was like how does it matter, it's already more than 50 years and we all should move on. Looks like the Pakistani state and its psyche is still stuck in that victimhood mode and this is what they teach to their kids.
My corporate job has taken me to more than 10 countries and virtually I might have interacted with people from about 50 countries. I might have met more than 50 Pakistanis in Dubai, Saudi, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, US and more. There are many incidents worth mentioning in Dubai, Riyadh, Istanbul (maybe I can write multiple paragraphs on that). I have met hotel managers, waiters, drivers, corporate employees, house wives, CEOs. I must say all I have got from these individual persons is love and warmth. I think an individual Pakistani has more respect, love, and warmth for an Indian individual than vice versa. I fear that this might change. India is getting a lot of negative remarks now-a-days.
1. Could partition have been avoided?
I don't think so. Not at least in 1947. It was the result of events for about one century which culminated in 1947. The only person who could have avoided partition was Mr Jinnah but they way he had charged up the atmosphere in 1946 elections, Calcutta riots; it was not possible for him too.
2. Whom do I hold responsible for partition?
The British - 60%
Muslim Ashraf class - 30%
Divide and distrust among common people - 10%
I don't consider Congress responsible for partition.
3. Was the partition good?
I think yes - whatever India has achieved in 75 years could not have been achieved. Whatever people may say this is still Nehru's India and Ambedkar's India. Whatever India has achieved today is due to the institutional framework created by Nehru and the legal framework created by Ambedkar. Nehru and Ambedkar both were men with visions and they wanted to see India progressing in a certain way (Democratic, Just, Modern and Liberal). This vision was opposite to what Muslim elites and ulemas had been asking for. Parting ways was the only option.
4. Impact of partition on muslims -
I think muslims of the subcontinent have suffered the most due to partition. Nehru claimed that 95 percent of Indians were converted while Jinnah put this figure to 75%. My assessment is around 85-90% (i don't have empirical proof).
Taking 90% indians and 10% outsiders (arabic, turkic, persians) - what is the overall social composition Of muslims of the subcontinent. I say (taking terminology of Ziauddin Barani (Tughlaq period chronicler)) -
Ashraf 20% (10% outsiders and 10% hindu upper castes like rajputs, tyagi)
Ajlaf 60% (hindu middle castes like Jats, Gujjar, Arain, Julaha, Qureshi etc)
Arzal 20% (dalit castes converted to muslim like mochi, mirasi, hajjam, dhobi, halalkhor)
So, 80% are already historically disadvantaged people.
With Pakistan demand accepted, the rights of these groups (Ajlaf + Arzal) were forfeited. Pakistan was created by Ashrafs as only they were politically aware (including Sir Syed Ahmed Khan). Pakistan is in the hands of a few families and you know more about it.
Indian muslim leadership was also essentially Ashraf class and they never allowed the state to undertake social reforms among muslims. There is this noise about the Sachar Committee report. People claim that it says muslims' economic conditions are worse than the dalits. This is a lie. The report says that Dalit Muslims' (Arzals) conditions are worse than Dalit Hindus. And no one should be surprised. Dalit Hindus got quota in education and public employment, thanks to Ambedkar.
In the nineties Mandal commision recommended that Pasmanda (Ajlaf + Arzal) muslims be included in OBC category and provided reservation. But there is stiff competition and Muslim candidate are not able to stand up the other candidates. Still I would say India is better than Pakistan for Pasmanda. At least the state has tried to provide some affirmative action.
Dr Manmohan Singh brought PM's 15-point program targeted only for minorities. Government schools, colleges, hospitals were opened in Muslim concentration blocks, scholarships were provided to muslim students at various levels. Even Modi Ji has not halted these programs. Despite this it was found that it were the Hindus who were taking benefits of these schools/colleges because they are more forward looking, open and liberal (again thanks to Nehru-Ambedkar).
A case in point is the below study -
Muslim percentage is 72% but only 27% are appearing for exams (these are govt schools with very little fees) and only 5% share in getting 1st Division. The exams are held at the state level and the examiner doesn't know the name of the student while checking the answer sheet.
