Deception of the Muslim Leaguers and their pain

Partition was foolishness of gigantic proportions.  It was an act of deception by Jinnah and the British and naivette as well as ego of Congress leaders.  Here is an excerpt from Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad’s book “India Wins Freedom”.

Kalam was one of the foremost leaders of the Congress party and a staunch opposer of the partition.  He writes about the Muslims from UP and Bihar who belonged to Muslim League and supported partition – without much understanding though.. but as staunchly as those who went there!

” The situation was one in which tragedy and comedy were inextricably mixed. After partition, the most ridiculous position was that of the Moslem League leaders who remained in India. Jinnah left for Karachi with a message to his followers that now that the country was divided they should be loyal citizens of India. This parting message created in them a strange sense of weakness and disillusion. Many of these leaders came to see me after 14 August. Their plight was pathetic. Every one of them said with deep regret and anger that Jinnah had deceived them and left them in the lurch.

I could not at first understand what they meant by saying that Jinnah had deceived them. He had openly demanded partition of the country on the basis of Moslem majority provinces. Partition was now a reality and both in the west and in the east Moslem majority areas formed parts of Pakistan. Why then should these spokesmen of the Moslem League say that they had been deceived?.

As I talked to them I realized that these men had formed a picture of partition which had no relevance to the real situation. They had failed to realize the real implications of Pakistan. If the Moslem majority provinces formed a separate state, it was clear that the provinces in which Moslems were in a minority would form part of India. The Moslems of the U.P and Bihar were a minority and would remain so even after partition. It is strange, but the fact is that these Moslem leaguers had been foolishly persuaded that, once Pakistan was formed, Moslems, whether they came from a majority or a minority province, would be regarded as a separate nation and would enjoy the right of determining their own future. Now, when the Moslem majority provinces went out of India and even Bengal and the Punjab were divided and Mr.Jinnah left for Karachi, they at last realized that they had gained nothing but in fact lost everything by the partition of India. Jinnah’s parting message came as the last straw on the camel’s back. It was now clear to them that the only result of the partition was that their position as a minority was much weaker than before. In addition, they had through their foolish action created anger and resentment in the minds of Hindus. “