Many factors contributed to the decision of the partition of India in August 1947. In order to determine which was the most important I will be assessing several different factors. The factors I will be assessing will be the Partition Plans, religious differences and the political leaders and whether or not India had a new beginning after the British left.
1947 was a significant year for India as it was the year the British powers left India and declared that it would be an independent country from Britain. Partition was not only the independence of one country from British rule, India, but it was also the beginning of a new country, Pakistan. Pakistan was split into two lands- East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan as shown in the map. It was formed to provide a separate land for the Muslims of India and was split to prevent any more bloodshed between the Hindus and Muslims. The partition of India resulted in the ‘world’s largest human migration’ ever in history as around 14 million people crossed the borders to get into India and Pakistan. More than 6 million Hindus and Sikhs crossed the border from West Pakistan to India and over 8 million Muslims crossed the border from India into West Pakistan. The crossing of borders reportedly cost around two million lives as people were injured or had died on their journeys to their chosen country.
The partition of India had occurred for a multitude of reasons. The first reason being the difference in religion. In 1947, the was a large majority of Hindus with a 82% of the population at the time being Hindu. The Muslims were the second largest religious group with a meagre 12.1% compared to the Hindu masses. The Muslims felt that they should have their own land and this was hugely supported by All-India Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. A second factor as to why partition occurred was because of the differences in political parties. During the British Raj India became increasingly modern in their thinking and had begun to have more western ideologies, a significant one being the want to self govern their own countries. This resulted in two nationalist groups emerging, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
There were three key figures that were voices for the masses about the situation which would determine if and how India would be partitioned. The key figures were Mahatma Ghandi, and Jawaharlal Nehru who fought for India to be one and Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was the leader of the All-India Muslim League who fought for India to be partitioned and for the creation of Pakistan. The three leaders spoke to the Viceroy of India who at the time was Lord Mountbatten; they discussed the plans for what was to happen to India once it was to become independent. At the time Lord Mountbatten was in India to bring a hasty end to the British rule. Cyril Philips had stated that ‘British determination to go on ruling India had faded’ which ultimately led to Britain letting go of its jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Originally Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be made of the whole of Punjab and Bengal, but Ghandi and Nehru opposed and fought for India to be one country. Lord Mountbatten eventually caved in and sided with Jinnah however, much to Jinnah’s dismay, he did not grant him the whole of the Punjab and Bengal. Lord Mountbatten had left the development of the new borders to British Lawyer Cyril Radcliffe a man who had never visited India and worked in secret. His creation of borders led to Punjab and Bengal being split almost in half, it was rumoured that he had created the borders by using out dated maps and an out of date census which inaccurately represented the religious population in those areas. When the new boundaries were formed on the 14th of August 1947 millions of people fled the country when they realised that they were on the ‘wrong’ side of the border.
It has been said that it was not one single event that caused the 1947 partition pf India but was a series of unfortunate events dating back to the 1800s which had first sown the seeds for the divide of India. It was mainly due to the policy of divide and rule by the British, which drew a large divide between the two religions which had once trust and fought wars together. However, it could also be said that the two religions may have trusted each other and become allies because their common enemy was the British Raj which they had wanted to take down, so it may be difficult to assess how genuine the support between the two religions was. The British took advantage of their trust and divide and rule was introduced which caused common distrust between the Hindus and Muslims. As the Muslims believed that they were a minority and were not equally being represented in the civil services sector. This discontent, along with a push from the British, ultimately led to the creation of the Muslim League in 1906 which aimed to focus on the problems the minority Muslims living in India would face.
Independence for India did not always involve partition, as a matter of fact the brief given to Mountbatten by Prime Minister Atlee and the British government was clear. Partition was to be avoided. Politicians were anticipating an attempt by Russia to expand into South East Asia after the end of the Second World War and thought there may have been a long drawn out armed conflict if they were to acquire India. In the case of the Russian acquisition of India, then it was essential to Britain that India would co-operate and maintain effective contact with the pacific commonwealth. This is why it was important more than ever for India to be united, to prevent the Russian occupation in India. Mountbatten used his charismatic personality to talk to important ministers and politicians consulting with them about the future of India. However, his flattering and charming demeanour did not work on Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Mr Jinnah was frosty toward Lord Mountbatten as he accused Lord Mountbatten as being ‘anti-Muslim League’. The source was an account from when Pamela Mountbatten was 17 years old and published in 2007, there may be some factual inaccuracies to the source as she would be older and may have forgotten or misunderstood the situation. After Mountbatten's various consultations he decided that Partition was the only solution, this went against Prime Minister Atlee's brief and was not what he wanted to hear. During the British Raj they had tried to govern fairly between the Hindus and Muslims, and they had been successful as there were very few disputes about religion. Yet the partition of India was a major step backwards as it created a divide between religious lines. Unity was said to be one of Britain’s major achievements from the British Raj, but by March 1947 the only alternatives available were ‘Pakistan or chaos’.
The Partition Plan
The plan for partition had been drawn up between April and May 1947. There were several drafts, with the first draft being Plan Balkan. This allowed the Indian states and provinces to decide their own future. As proven by the past history in other countries across the empire, it was a recipe for total mayhem. Nehru, who had become a friend of Mountbatten’s at the time, assured Mountbatten