Was Mahatma Gandhi in support of the India-Pakistan partition?
t is often said on social media that Gandhi was a supporter of the partition of India and Pakistan. Many wrong arguments are also made in support of this. But this is not true.
Know what was Mahatma Gandhi’s opinion on the partition of India and Pakistan.
Many such theories are being spread on social media about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, which have nothing to do with the fact.
The right-wing community is trying to prove Gandhi and Nehru as villains. In this episode, many such lies are spread so that Gandhi can be proved to be a villain. In the era of social media, people accept their views on WhatsApp and Facebook messages as true. We will tell you some lies about Gandhi and the truth behind him.
Truth- After reading many books about Gandhi, it is known that Gandhi was never a supporter of Partition. Mohammad Iqbal, who wrote the song ‘Saare Jahan Se Achchha’, first raised the demand for a separate country for Muslims. Jinnah was away for some time from politics at that time. But Iqbal demanded him to lead the Muslims. Muslim fundamentalists under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah put forward this demand. During the Third Round Table Conference in 1933, Rahmat Ali referred to a separate country for Muslims, Pakistan. With time, this demand kept moving forward.
Hindu Mahasabha
The Hindu fundamentalist organizations present at that time pushed forward this demand and demanded a separate country for Hindus and Muslims on religious grounds. At the 1937 Hindu Mahasabha convention in Ahmedabad, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar alias Veer Savarkar had said, “India cannot be a Unitarian and homogenous nation today. There will be two nations, one Hindu and one Muslim.” (Reference: Vide writings Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, Vol. 6 pages 296, Maharashtra Prantiya Hindu Mahasabha, Pune). Even in 1945, Savarkar again spoke of the principle of two nations. He said “I have no conflict with Jinnah on the issue of two nations. We Hindus are a nation in themselves. And it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations.” (Reference: vide Indian Educational Regeister1943 vol.2 page 10)
In contrast to all this, Gandhi was never in favour of the partition of India. Gandhi and the Congress rejected the proposal for partition of India. After this, Hindu-Muslim riots also took place in many areas of India. But the elections in 1946 changed the situation. In these elections, Congress got 923 seats and Muslim League got 425 seats. The Muslim League won considerable seats in Punjab and Bengal. After this, the demand of Pakistan gained momentum. Hindu fundamentalists also wanted the same.
On 5 April 1947, Gandhi wrote a letter to Lord Mountbatten saying that he was ready to make Jinnah the Prime Minister of India but India should not be partitioned. According to Lucknow based senior journalist, “Jinnah had the insecurity that he would become the Prime Minister but Hindus would not vote for him in the majority elections after the British left. In such a situation, the power would return to the hands of Hindus. And the political representation of Muslims would end It will be done. In such a situation, the interests of Muslims will be protected from a different country. “
Jinnah did not see Gandhi as the leader of India and looked like a leader of Hindus. Jinnah remained adamant on his demand. Lord Mountbatten convinced the Congress leaders to make two countries. Gandhi came to know about this later. India’s independence was with the Partition. Gandhi did not participate in any celebration of independence. He went to stop the riots in Bengal. Gandhi had said that after India’s calm, he will also go to Pakistan. For this, they will not take any passport because Pakistan is their country and they do not need a passport to go to their country. However, he was murdered earlier. Gandhi was never a supporter of the Partition of India. But India got divided due to the circumstances.
Did Gandhi go on a hunger strike to get 55 crores to Pakistan?
It is said on social media that after the partition of India and Pakistan, Gandhi went on a hunger strike to get Rs 55 crore to Pakistan. Gandhi undertook many hunger strikes after independence, but not a single fast was done for this.
Many such things are being spread on social media about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, which have nothing to do with the fact. The right-wing community of India is trying to prove Gandhi and Nehru as villains. In this episode, many such lies are spread so that Gandhi can be proved to be a villain. In the era of social media, people accept their views on WhatsApp and Facebook messages as true. We will tell you some lies about Gandhi and the truth behind him.
The truth — not only was the partition of land between India and Pakistan, but also the distribution of resources. For this reason, it was decided that India will give 75 crores rupees to Pakistan as a big country. This will be the cost of all those resources which were in favour of Pakistan but will be used by India. This agreement was signed between the governments of India and Pakistan. India gave the first instalment of 20 crores to Pakistan. But then Pakistan attacked Kashmir. Therefore, the Indian government stopped the second instalment to be given to Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten was the Governor-General of India. He believed that India should give its share of money to Pakistan because this agreement has been reached between the two countries. Gandhi was also of the opinion that India should not adopt the policy of revenge and according to the agreement, Pakistan should be given part of the money.
In September 1947, Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Delhi to go from Calcutta to Punjab. At that time there were fierce Hindu Muslim riots in Delhi. Vallabhbhai Patel told Gandhi about the deteriorating conditions of Delhi. Gandhi immediately postponed the decision to go to Punjab and decided to stay in Delhi and go to Punjab after peace was established there. When, despite many efforts, the situation in Delhi did not come under control, on 12 January 1948, 78-year-old Gandhi decided to go on hunger strike. He sat on a fast against these riots. In the prayer meeting on the evening of 12 January, he spoke of peace between people of both religions. In the prayer meeting on 13 January too, Gandhi did not make any mention of Pakistan and 55 crores rupees. On 15 January, a journalist asked him the reason for this fast. In response to this question, Gandhi did not make any mention of Rs 55 crore to be given to Pakistan. The assurances given to Gandhiji by the committee formed to end Gandhi’s fast did not include giving money to Pakistan. There is no mention of Gandhiji’s demand for giving Rs 55 crore to Pakistan in the press notes issued at that time. So to give 55 crore rupees to Pakistan, Gandhi Ji fasted this thing is also a lie.
In 1953 Pakistan again demanded that money from India. Then Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, who was the Prime Minister of Kashmir replied that Pakistan has assets of about 600 crores rupees of India. Pakistan should pay it first. The Punjab state government said that about 100 crore bill of water that Pakistan gets is owed to Pakistan, if Pakistan pays it, India will pay it. At the same time, India also paid a fee of four and a half million rupees for Pakistan becoming a member of the United Nations. India also talked about this fee with Pakistan. Because of this, there was no exchange of money between the two countries again.
Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.