India Since 1947 , livre ebook

Gopa Sabharwal

INDIA SINCE 1947
The Independent Years
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Prelude: Countdown to Independence
1947: 15 August-31 December
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
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1971
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1980
1981
1982
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1987
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1989
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1998
1999
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2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Author s Note
Follow Penguin
Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
INDIA SINCE 1947
Gopa Sabharwal obtained a PhD in Sociology from Delhi University for her research on ethnic groups and ethnicity with respect to the town of Belgaum in Karnataka. In 1993 she set up the Sociology department at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi, where she is currently Reader.
Gopa Sabharwal s interest in quizzing and contemporary history has resulted in associations as director, consultant and concept designer with some prestigious television series. She is deeply commited towards developing a knowledge bank on India. She is the author of The Indian Millennium AD 1000-2001 (Penguin) and Ethnicity and Class: Social Divisions in an Indian City (OUP). Her next book on India in 1947 is forthcoming from Penguin. She has also co-authored several quiz books for Penguin.
For my father, Pran Sabharwal
Generous with love, life and ideas
In Memoriam 1928-2006
Prelude: Countdown to Independence
This book begins at midnight, 14 August 1947, the birth of the Indian nation, and covers the next sixty years. Coincidentally, if one moves sixty years in the other direction, we come close to 1885, the year the Congress party came into being, at a time when the geographic, political and social entity that now constitutes India did not have its present historical or empirical referent. At that time, the idea of forging an independent India, free from colonial rule, was treated with scepticism by British administrators who believed they were here for a long time and could control the country with the support of over 600 Indian allies-princes, zamindars and other notables.
What made the idea of an independent India a reality were a host of events that moved at a pace and in directions hitherto unknown but cumulatively transformed Indian society and social and political aspirations in significant ways. Among the changes was the shifting of Indian politics to mass levels and from the confines of a few provinces and towns to most of the country. New forms of protest emerged as did new issues to protest against. Despite the seemingly wide contradictions in Indian society, of castes, tribes, languages, religions, of landlords and peasants, of rich and poor, these divergent groups and their demands so at variance with one another at one level, all culminated in the freedom of India, accompanied as it was by Partition and communal violence.
The two years prior to Independence had been of hectic activity, beginning with the end of World War II in 1945. All Congress leaders, in jail since the Quit India movement of 1942, were ordered released on 14 June and Lord Wavell announced a series of changes which would lead to an Indianized Centre. He proposed that all members of the executive council would be Indians, chosen from among leaders of Indian political life, with the exception of the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief. These were the first signs that India s dream of self-governance was being considered seriously. Congress leaders, after much deliberation, decided to participate in the Shimla Conference to discuss the matter further. Gandhi sat out the conference, letting Maulana Azad, the Congress president, represent the party. But the Wavell plan failed, because the Muslim League refused to allow Muslims from any other party to form part of the Muslim quota on the Council. Yet, no attempt was made to go ahead and constitute the Council without the League.
In Britain, the Labour party swept the general elections in July, resulting in Clement Atlee taking over as prime minister from Churchill. Pethick-Lawrence was appointed Secretary of State for India and Burma. The King also conferred on him a barony of the United Kingdom.
It was announced that general elections would be held in India in April 1946 to elect a Central Legislature and Provincial Assemblies. The last elections had taken place in 1934 and 1937 respectively.
On other fronts, riots in Calcutta, a major food crisis in the country, support for INA (Indian National Army) prisoners, which cut across religious and political divisions, and the RIN (Royal Indian Navy) mutiny in Bombay in February 1946 which soon spread to all naval establishments and witnessed huge support from the civilian population contributed to creating alarm among the British about their future. In the elections, the Congress achieved a majority in the Central Assembly and secured majorities in all provinces barring Bengal, Sind and Punjab. The Muslim League in an impressive showing captured an overwhelming number of Muslim constituency seats. The communal pattern in the voting completely defied the anti-British unity that seemed to have been emerging in the last few months.
The arrival in March of the British Cabinet Mission signalled another move in the direction of self-government. While the Cabinet Mission conducted meetings with people of all political hues, the League s stand on Pakistan seemed unalterable and the country witnessed tense times. Delhi city was placed under curfew for a month, starting 21 April.
The Cabinet Mission announced its proposals on 16 May. The Mission rejected the proposal for Pakistan but suggested that elections to the Constituent Assembly could be on the basis of religious sections. The League withdrew its earlier acceptance. Instead it asked its followers to observe 16 August as Direct Action day to achieve Pakistan. The Viceroy was forced to constitute the interim government with only Congress members. This all-Indian national interim government was announced on 24 August 1946. It comprised fourteen people and took office on 2 September 1946. The Viceroy appealed to the League to participate in the Constituent Assembly and the interim set-up.
Nehru took over as the prime minister of the interim government on 2 September 1946. All-India Radio decided to refer to the members of the interim government as the Cabinet and to Pandit Nehru as chief minister; the newspapers referred to him as the Vice-President. Gandhi reminded the Cabinet that they must still aim at Hindu-Muslim unity and get the League to join the government.
Almost simultaneously, riots had broken out in Calcutta from 16 August, spreading to Bombay and then Noakhali and Bihar. An idea of the magnitude of the riots can be gained from the fact that between 1 September and 27 November 1946, the official death toll was 6,700, Calcutta alone accounting for 4,000 dead. The figure for deaths in the subsequent months, i.e. from 18 November 1946 to May 1947, was 4,014.
In these times of hectic political activity, the Constituent Assembly of India convened to begin the task of framing a Constitution for an independent India (12 December). Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected chairman of the Assembly. All attempts to get the League to participate met with rejection. The League would not yield an inch in their demand for Pakistan.
The British government announced on 20 February 1947 that there was a definite intention to leave India not later than June 1948. Lord Wavell s tenure as war-time Viceroy came to an end and the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as Viceroy was announced. The issue of the status of Indian states came up; at that time there were some 600 independent entities that needed to negotiate their status.
The premier of Punjab, Malik Khizar Hyat Khan Tiwana, who had the support of the Congress and the Akalis lost his government when they withdrew support on the issue of his pro-Pakistan stance (4 March). Since no alternative government was possible, the Governor prorogued the Assembly. Anti-Pakistan demonstrations, looting and arson broke out in Lahore, Multan, Attock and Rawalpindi. Nehru visited Punjab and saw the violence first-hand (15, 16 March). It was officially announced that 2,049 persons were killed and 1,103 seriously injured in the disturbances in the Punjab.
On 21 March, Lord Wavell made his farewell broadcast. Viscount Mountbatten of Burma arrived in New Delhi (23 March) to take over as the twenty-sixth Viceroy and Governor-General of India. Jinnah appealed to all Muslims in India to observe 23 March as Pakistan day.
Mountbatten was sworn in by the Chief Justice of India (24 March). He invited Gandhi and Jinnah for talks. Jinnah accepted (27 March) as did Gandhi. Communal disturbances broke out in Bombay, Ranchi and Kanpur. After repeated individual meetings with the Viceroy, and on his initiative, Jinnah and Gandhi issued a joint appeal denouncing violence (15 April). It was announced in London that Lord Pethick-Lawrence had resigned as Secretary of State for India and Burma and Lord Listowell would succeed him (17 April). Calcutta continued to be wracked with riots. On 6 May, Mahatma Gandhi met Jinnah for three hours at the latter s residence.
The Viceroy was invited by His Majesty s Government to the United Kingdom for final discussions on the question of transfer of power (15 May). Jinnah in the meanwhile put forth the idea of a corridor to link the proposed East and West Pakistan. The demand was termed unrealistic by Nehru and Jinnah indicated that he had no desire for settlement of any kind (24 May). Riots in Lahore and Peshawar grew worse. News filtered through from London of a possible plan for the partition of India, and the Viceroy returned at the end of May to hold meetings with leaders of various groups.
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