1947/8: Decolonization and Partition Flashcards
What began to develop in the cities of north India in 1946?
- Militia groups
- Extremist parties
What sort of people constituted the violent groups that developed and grew during 1946?
- Former soldiers
- Radical students
- Party activists
- Opportunist criminals
What activities did radical groups during 1946 get up to?
- Marching through the streets
- helping at political rallies
- patrolling cities and collecting weapons
- Played sports and socialised
Give an example of a Hindu militia group that grew during 1946?
Ram Sena
What sort of history lectures were given at meetings of the Ram Sena?
Histories of epic battles against Muslims as Hindus fought to protect the Motherland
Why does Yasmin Khan think violent groups were attractive?
“Militant groups provided easy answers to complex questions”
During the 1920s and 30s, and up to 1946, what was there a wide-spread belief in throughout all of India?
Non-violence, its effectiveness, and its moral superiority
Who is credited with spreading the efficacy of non-violence in India?
Gandhi
What does Yasmin Khan see as the feeling towards Gandhi’s non-violence tactics by 1946?
“a spent force”
What were the two main political parties in India at the time of partition?
- The Indian National Congress (or just the Congress Party)
- The Muslim League
What religion was the Congress Party predominantly?
Hindu
What religion was the Muslim League?
Islam
Which political party was largely identified with Gandhian non-violence prior to partition?
The Congress Party
What did the Congress Party do after 1946 with regard to the policy of non-violence?
They began to move away from it as a policy
Why does Yasin Khan think the Congress Party relinquished its commitment to non-violence?
“Fears of Muslim League assertiveness, uncertainty about the future and…the sheer size of the Congress Party”
Who were the three members of the Cabinet Mission?
- Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Secretary of State for India
- Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade
- Mr A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty
What were the three members of the Cabinet Mission colloquially known as?
The three magi
What were the three magi there to do in India according to Yasmin Khan?
“create a constitutional package for one united India and to plan the British handover of power”
When did the Cabinet Mission arrive in India?
March 1946
What was the result of the three months of negotiations conducted by the Cabinet Mission as they tried to find a compromise between the political parties of India?
They left empty handed
What was attempted after the failure of the first round of negotiations between the Cabinet Mission and the leaders of the Congress Party and Muslim League?
A new attempt at negotiations in May 1946
What was the result of the second round of negotiations that sought to arrange a temporary government and a smooth transfer of power?
They too failed
How does Yasmin Khan describe what happened after the failure of the second round of negotiations?
“politics spilled on to the streets”
What did the Cabinet delegation decide to do after two failed rounds of negotiations?
Present the people of India with a fait accompli
What was the fait accompli designed to do for Muslims?
Deliver Pakistan in spirit by devolving power to Muslims within a united India
What would the result of the fait accompli been for Pakistan in Yasmin Khan’s words?
“Pakistan as we know it today would never have come into existence”
What did papers of the Muslim league proclaim after hearing the fait accompli?
‘Pakistan rejected’
While many Muslims felt the compromise presented to them by the Cabinet Mission did not deliver in the promise of a Pakistan, what was the reaction by many Congress Party members?
They were aggrieved by the suggestion that any concession to Pakistan had been given
What did the Congress see the fait accompli as?
“as good as granting Pakistan”
In short, how did the Congress view the Cabinet compromise?
As the British bowing to League pressure
How did the Sikhs feel about the Cabinet fait accompli?
That they were completely overlooked
What would the Cabinet plan have created?
A three-tiered federation with a central government and then provincial governments underneath - but still an united India, not partitioned
What does Yasmin Khan see as the main reason for the failure to reach an agreement over British withdrawal from India?
“The bottom line was a failure of trust”
What does the writer Nasim Ansari see as the failure of the attempts to find a compromise?
“no one had any clear idea of what should follow independence”
What increased in frequency once the Cabinet Mission failed?
Urban scraps, riots, and stabbings
Memberships of which groups increased after the failure of the Cabinet Mission plan?
Militias
What does Yasmin Khan argue had happened between the two main parties by the end of 1946?
“a collapse of faith between the parties”
Which group wanted to see the creation of pakistan?
Muslims
Which group was at the forefront of pro-Pakistan thinking, and retrospectively claimed credit for its founding?
Students at Aligarh University
What increased the tension between Muslim and non-Muslim residents of the city of Aligarh?
- violent rhetoric
- rumours of trouble
- drilling of students in the streets
What did the president of the Aligarh Cuty Congress do that shows the depth of distrust towards Muslims?
He asked for arrangements to be made for people to register crimes at the local Congress office because the police station was in the Muslim part of town
Which group began gaining in members as a result of the activities of students in Aligarh?
Groups calling for the protection of Hindu rights
What was the leader of the Aligarh University Student Union claiming to have done by the end of 1946?
Killed Hindus with his bare hands
What does Yasmin Khan see the events in Aligarh as being?
“a window on to the wider breakdown of state power that was occuring that year all over North India”
What did the call for Pakistan become to members of the League?
An identification with a cause, not just a call for a state
Who was the leader of the Muslim League?
Mohammad Ali Jinnah
What does Yasmin Khan argue Jinnah used Pakistan as?
To rally supporters, “taslismanic”
How does Yasmin Khan characterise Pakistan?
“Pakistan was an imaginary, nationalistic dream as well as a cold territorial reality”
When did the violence break out between Hindus and Muslims?
August 1946
What does Yasmin Khan see as the spark of the violence between Hindus and Muslims?
Jinnah’s call for a day of direct action or hartal to demonstrate support for Pakistan
What is a hartal?
A workers’ strike to protest a political action
Who was the most prominent figure of the Indian National Congress and first prime minister of an independent India?
Jawaharlal Nehru
Who carried out and instigated the violence as much as the militias?
Political leaders
What did Hindus fear if Pakistan became a reality?
Torture and repression from Muslims, provoking them to fight
What did rioters believe they had?
The blessings of political leaders, giving their actions legitimacy
How does Yasmin Khan charaterise Muslim’s ideas of Pakistan at the time of partition?
“all manner of ambiguous hopes and dreams”
How does Yasmin Khan characterise the Hindu interpretation of Pakistan?
“a total and sweeping threat which risked shattering the whole of Mother India”
What was the creation of Pakistan likened to by Hindus?
“dismantling the promise of a free India altogether”
In short, what did Pakistan symbolise to Hindus and Muslims?
Anti-freedom for Hindus; utopia for Muslims
What happened in Noakhali in October 1946?
A programme of ethnic cleansing and forced conversion was implemented by Muslims
How many people died in the violence at Noakhali?
5000
How were forced conversions to Islam carried out against Hindus in Noakhali?
Hindus were forced to consumed beef and cows were sacrificed in public, as well as temples and idols desecrated
Who was responsible for organising the pogrom in Noakhali in October 1946?
Golam Sarwar, an elected politician with links to the Muslim league
What was the effect of the violence between Hindus and Muslims?
It led to members of each religion identifying and defending their shared kinship with Hindus and Muslims elsewhere
Why did people from all political and religious backgrounds start to call for partition by the end of 1946?
They saw it as the only solution to the violent and polarising atmosphere within India at the time
What did the Punjabi government do in January 1947?
Tried to ban militias
How long did the ban on militias in Punjab region?
Less than a week, show the government’s weakness
Why was the ban on militias in Punjab so short?
It sparked even more protests and larger crowds of demonstrators
How does Yasmin Khan summarise the Punjab at the beginning of 1947, seeing it as characteristic of the other violent areas of India?
- “weak and partial government machinery”
- “armed gangs and militias”
- “anxious population” with hightened
- “expectations of freedom and terror of domination by the ‘other’”
What does Yasmin Khan argue Britain’s aim was at the start of 1947?
“London’s aim was to cut British losses, by leaving a united India if possible, a divided India if not”
What did Atlee announce in February 1947?
That the British intended to withdraw from India by June 1948
How does Yasmin Khan describe the implementation of the partition?
“foisted on a population entirely uninformed about its details and implications”
When the decision to partition came, what did Muslims in provinces where they were a minority realise?
That their home areas would not be included in the new Pakistan
What proved to be a problem as soon as the creation of Pakistan was announced?
The ambiguities surrounding what exactly Pakistan would be in reality
When was the plan to partition announced?
3 June 1947
Rather than 1948, what was the new partition deadline set down in the June 3 plan?
August 1947, so within 3 months
How did Hindus react to the June 3 plan?
They denounced it, seeing it as an assault to Indian nationalism
What did many politicians believe about the June 3 plan?
That it was temporary, and that India would be reunited again within a decade
What does Yasmin Khan argue british politicians in London did after the June 3 plan was announced?
“In London, politicians washed their hands of responsibility and showed vague, but uncommitted, concern”
When did Mountbatten take of the Viceroy of India?
March 1947
What did Mountbatten conclude within a month of arriving in India?
That partition was inevitable due to the political intransigence of the two sides in India
What did Mountbatten think about the course of events when he arrived in India?
That he was too late to change them, meaning partition was inevitable
Did Mountbatten arrive with a plan?
He claimed not to have
What did Nehru say about parition in 1960?
“we were tired men and we were getting on in years…The plan for partition offered a way out a we took it”