Page 36 - NAMAH-Apr-2025

Namah Vol. 33, Issue 1, 24th April 2025

against are many. It affected Bengal and imported weapons, defence projects, proxy
Punjab, primarily. There are just a handful wars are good opportunities for powerful
of Partition survivors now after more than 75 middlemen to earn money. The diametrically
years of that event. Although ancestors were opposite perspective is: Pakistan trained
wounded; newer generations have moved on. terrorists are a real threat to India and India
In every nation’s formation there has been has to increase defence spending to counter
a give and take of land and people. So why a rogue neighbour. As a result, education,
are Indians and Pakistanis not moving on? sanitation, health, etc. are allocated lesser
There is reason to pause here and assess the funds from the central budget. There are other
current sentiment regarding Partition. One perspectives, but all agree that the pinch is
observes the active bleed of resources due real, and so is the legacy of the Partition.
to the Partition — weapons, armed forces
personnel — and an undercurrent of hatred
between Hindus and Muslims. The number
of post-independence communal incidents
and written and spoken deliberations on the
subject is indication enough that Partition
did the opposite of partitioning the two
communities. It brought them together —
although as opponents. Podcasts on Partition
are watched by millions, such as the interview
of the historian Tilak Devasher (3). Books
on Partition and its aftermath are still being
written. Films on Indo-Pak relations are The inner reason for the Partition to be still
blockbusters. Whether a cricket match should relevant has deep roots. For this, we need to
be played in Pakistan becomes a prickly understand the meaning of the soul of a nation.
political issue. It is clear that the Partition The best way to do it is through Sri Aurobindo’s
was such a loud clap that it still rings in words. In his speech of the Five Dreams written
the ears of Indians, Pakistanis and perhaps for the Indian independence day in 1947, he
Bangladeshis too. says his first dream is united India:

The reason why the Partition is active is two- “India today is free but she has not achieved
fold. An outer and an inner reason. There unity.[....] But the old communal division
are multiple facets of the outer reason, all into Hindus and Muslims seems now to have
of which need to be brought up during the hardened into a permanent political division of
dialogue. A point of view is the ‘divide and the country. It is to be hoped that this settled
rule’ tactic that the colonisers used. They are fact will not be accepted as settled for ever or
still being exploited to divide and rule Hindus as anything more than a temporary expedient.
and Muslims. Democracy unfortunately has For if it lasts, India may be seriously weakened,
become vote bank politics in India, and the even crippled: civil strife may remain always
misconception is that wooing one group possible, possible even a new invasion and
means pitting it against the other. Also foreign conquest. India’s internal development

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