I want at least 250 to 300 words per questions and you also need the book South Asia in world history by marc Jason Gilbert and Gandhi his life and message for the world by Louis Fischer
14 Online Unit One Lecture Nation-Building: Partition of India and the ‘Nehru Era’, 1947-1964 Lecture Topics and Themes: I. Independence, Communalism, and the Partition of India The Idea: “Divide to Unite” Decision: Create Pakistan Actual Partition: Population Transfers, Communal Violence Territorial Problems: Junagadh, Hyderabad, Travancore, Jammu and Kashmir First India-Pakistan War, United Nations, and the Cold War The Challenge of Nation-Building II. Building the Nation in India: The Nehru Era, 1947-1964 Introduction: Building the Nation Nehru’s Vision: A Self-Reliant India Nehru’s Nation-Building at Home: Domestic Front Economy: Mixed Economy Political Realm: Building Democracy Social Issues: Contradictions and Frustrations Nehru’s Personality: Paternalistic and Pedagogical Nehru’s Nation-Building with Foreign Countries: India and the Cold War Non-Alignment Complex Relationship: India, America, Soviet Union, Pakistan, China III. Building the Nation: Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka I. Independence, Communalism, and the Partition of India The Idea: “Divide to Unite” We can talk of the partition at three levels [OnePP:1]. The first level of partition came with the Idea, i.e. the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan where Muslims and the ideals of Islam would hold sway. Between the years 1940-47 what the Muslim League envisaged was the independence of the Muslim majority regions in the northwest (Punjab and beyond) and north-east (Bengal). The plan entailed a minimal disturbance of borders and demographic distribution of Hindus and Muslims. Pakistan was believed to be the Muslim answer to supposed Hindu oppression. Responding to the rhetoric of fear, fear of Hindu domination, urban Muslims especially supported the idea of Pakistan. They were also enamored by the very possibility of creating a Muslim state at a time when Muslim power was at low ebb in the world. They were further energized by the rhetoric of nationalism: the strongest argument in favor of Pakistan was that when the Muslims were free and secure in ‘Pakistan’ and the Hindus in ‘Hindustan’ the two communities could collaborate more easily. “Divide to Unite” nourished the idea of partition. Decision: Create Pakistan The second level of partition entailed the decision to create Pakistan in Punjab and Bengal. By 1947, an increasing number of leaders, both Hindu and Muslim, were persuaded to believe that Partition was necessary or else there would be civil war between the Muslims and Hindus. But unfortunately, this belief soon came to be intertwined with the opinion that the minority would not belong in lands that would be designated Muslim or Hindu majority. This would result in the eviction of virtually all Hindus and Sikhs from West Punjab and East Bengal that would become Pakistan and the eviction of Muslims in East Punjab and West Bengal that remained in India. These population transfers will cause for unprecedented devastation and bitterness. Actual Partition: Population Transfers, Communal Violence In the third level of partition, the actual partition happened. By September 1947 millions of people were on the move in Northern India and the minorities were in panic. In Pakistan, Hindus and Sikhs packed railway platforms waiting for trains to bring them to India. Large numbers of Muslims also crossed in the other direction. The administrative problems were huge: coordinating the movement of great numbers of people, providing refugees with food, shelter and clothing, and trying to ward off the outbreak of epidemic diseases. Compounding these problems was the widening circle of terror and violence and the communal calls for revenge. So many Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs found themselves on the wrong side of the border and lay dead. This exchange of populations transformed the Partition into one of the greatest mass migrations in history. What was involved here was more than the drawing of new lines on a map, the unfurling of new national flags, and the installation of new national governments. This was the tearing apart of families, homes, villages, and communities; and the realization that this tearing apart was permanent and that it necessitated new borders, communities, identities, and histories. Territorial Problems: Junagadh, Hyderabad, Travancore, Jammu and Kashmir Serious territorial problems arose in respect to four states during the Partition. Junagadh was a coastal city in the Indian state of Gujarat [OnePP:2] and home to an important Hindu shrine, Somnath [OnePP:3]. It was also home to Girnar, a hilltop with marble temples built by the Jains [OnePP:4]. The place therefore was predominantly Hindu, but its local Muslim ruler, nawab Mohabat Khan, declared allegiance to Pakistan in 1947. Junagadh’s accession to Pakistan enraged the Indian leaders, especially Patel, who came from the same region. Moreover, the people of Junagadh, both Hindu and Muslim, had no affection for their Muslim ruler whose abiding passion remained his dogs, over 2,000 pedigreed canines! Popular agitation followed, in response to which the nawab fled to Pakistan along with a dozen of his favorite dogs. His deputy Shah Nawaz returned Junagadh to India. The Indian government, to ensure its legitimacy, organized a plebiscite in February 1948, the result of which showed that 91% of the electorate voted to integrate with India. An identical situation developed in Hyderabad [OnePP:5] where a local Muslim ruler, nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, held sway over a large Hindu population. Geographically speaking, it would have been ridiculous for Hyderabad to accede with Pakistan. But the ruler prevaricated. In September 1948, with no decision forthcoming, Indian troops rolled across the state border. Pakistan protested, but in the face of this police action, the ruler joined India. He was rewarded for his final submission by being made the governor of Hyderabad. Travancore, [OnePP:6] located at the southern tip of India, questioned the right of the Indian National Congress to succeed Britain as the paramount power in India. This region boasted of thriving maritime trade and newly discovered reserves of monazite, from which is extracted thorium, used in the production of atomic energy and atomic bombs. However, in July 1947, the ruler, Ramaswamy Aiyar, became a victim of a knife attack. Stunned by this attack, and from his hospital bed, he announced his accession to India. The state of Jammu and Kashmir came with many complications [OnePP:7]. First, the state was marked by a great deal of diversity. The province of Jammu was distinguished by its low hills and large areas of arable land, and by its sizeable Hindu population. In contrast, the Valley of Kashmir, which lay to Jammu’s north, and which was distinguished by its beautiful lakes and slopes, and by its arts and crafts, had a substantial Muslim population. To the Valley’s east are the high mountains of Ladakh, bordering Tibet and peopled mostly by Buddhists. The Muslims living here are Shia rather than the Sunnis of the Valley. Thus, the Muslims were divided amongst themselves as well. Second, the state was ruled by a Hindu king Hari Singh. The anomaly of a Hindu ruler with a large Muslim population was compounded by the fact that unlike Junagadh and Hyderabad, Kashmir was contiguous with both India and Pakistan. Typical of his breed, Hari Singh spent his time at the racetrack or hunting. The king’s extravagant lifestyle and neglect of his people was particularly questioned by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, an educated Muslim from the Valley, who despite his high qualifications was unable to find a government job in Kashmir, for the state administration was dominated by Hindus. Instead, he became a teacher, and spoke out on behalf of his fellow Muslims. Abdullah was a witty and compelling orator, and with a height of six feet four inches, came to be known as the Lion of Kashmir. During India’s freedom struggle, Abdullah had made the good acquaintance of Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru himself was a Kashmiri, his family members were Kashmiri teachers. Both Abdullah and Nehru hit it off instantly. Both were impulsive, and they both were committed to Hindu-Muslim harmony and to socialism. Abdullah was against both the Hindu ruler for his royal feudalism and Pakistan which he dismissed as a theocratic state that could never assure equal rights for all. Abdullah reflected the relaxed Islam of most Kashmiri Muslims. Ruler Hari Singh despised the Indian National Congress and the friendship of Nehru and Abdullah, and so he could not think of joining India. But his Hindu identification prevented him from joining Pakistan. This Himalayan drama reached a climax when in October 1947 Islamic partisans from Pakistan rolled into the Kashmir valley in their trucks. Most of these raiders were tribal Pathans who had been pushed across the border by Pakistan, which also supplied them with rifles and ammunition. Pakistan disclaimed any involvement in the invasion, insisting that it was a spontaneous rushing of Pathan Muslims to the aid of co-religionists persecuted by a Hindu king and a Hindu administration. The raiders created havoc in the state with looting, killings, and rape. The Islamic partisans attacked Hindus, but they also attacked Muslims. Indeed, by attacking all, the raiders lost sight of their principal objective, assuming there was one, that they were fighting a holy war. A panicked Hari Singh asked the Indian government for military assistance. India informed him that it could assist only if the state was part of India. On the night of October 26, 1947 Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession with India. Indian planes now began airlifting troops into the state capital of Srinagar to resist the intruders. First India-Pakistan War, United Nations, and the Cold War The news that Indian troops had landed in Srinagar infuriated Pakistan. Pakistan’s leader, Jinnah, described Kashmir’s accession to India as based on fraud and violence, despite the fact, that the violence had come from raiders who were Pakistanis. Jinnah ordered his troops to march into Kashmir. Pakistan left the task of actual fighting to the raiders with whom they remained in close contact. The first Indo-Pakistan war had begun. Neither side officially declared war, but there was enough fighting. Particularly striking were the incredible sights of amity between Hindus and Muslims as they together defended themselves from the raiders. Abdullah’s insistence on interfaith harmony made him immensely popular with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and with Indian leaders as well. Pakistan, however, called Abdullah a traitor. By 1948 Pakistan had secured for itself an arc of mountains around the Kashmir valley (known as the Northern Areas) plus the western end of the valley (Azad or Free Kashmir). India held the rest of the state. [OnePP:8] Unfortunately for India, and quite reflective of India’s diplomatic inexperience at that time, India registered its complaint with the United Nations under the disputes act rather than the act of aggression. In other words, the UN Security Council recorded the problem as India-Pakistan Dispute.