"It was the cry of outraged womanhood that has peremptorily called me to
Noakhal, … My present mission is the most difficult and complicated one of my
life … I am prepared for any eventuality. 'Do or Die' has to be put to the
test here. 'Do' here means Hindus and Mussulmans should learn to live together
in peace and amity. Otherwise I should die in the attempt … No one can escape
death. Then why be afraid of it? In fact, death is a friend who brings
deliverance from suffering." Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was a freedom
fighter and leader of India who strongly opposed any violence among Hindus and
Muslims. As mentioned above, he preferred to teach the world that Hindus and
Muslims should learn to live together. Gandhi opposed the partition of India
from the beginning to the end. "In May 1947, he was called to Delhi where
the new Viceroy Lord Mountbatten had succeeded in persuading the congress
leaders to accept Jinnah's insistent demand for the partition of India as a
condition precedent for British withdrawal. Gandhi was against partition at any
cost but he was unable to convince the congress leaders of the wisdom of his
stand. On August 15, 1947, India was partitioned and became free. Mahatma Gandhi
declined to attend the celebrations in the capital and went to Calcutta where
communal riots were still raging. When Gandhi returned to Delhi in September
1947, the city was in the grip of communal hysteria. Ghostly tales of what had
happened to Hindus and Sikhs in West Pakistan had kindled passions which burst
into a conflagration when the uprooted victims of this tragedy poured into the
city. In a frenzy of vengeance, Hindus and Sikhs had taken the law into their
hands and were looting Muslim houses, seizing Mosques, and stabbing innocent
passers-by." (Prasad, 1954 p.24) Despite the numerous communal clashes
which claimed a number of innocent lives, the separation of India still went
ahead. "Pakistan was founded because the Muslims of the subcontinent wanted
to build up their lives in accordance with the teachings and traditions of
Islam, because they wanted to demonstrate to the world that Islam provides a
panacea to the many diseases which have crept into the life of humanity
today." Liaquat Ali Khan "The birth of Pakistan on August 14-15, 1947
undermined, from the liberal and left perspective, the values of religious
tolerance and cultural pluralism. The ideological foundations of secular
nationalism, the main plank of Indian National Congress in its mobilization
campaigns, also weakened. For the Muslim communities that remained in India,
partition was a nightmare." (Hasan, 1997 p. 6) Liaquat Ali Khan was trying
to explain to the world the need for separation and the reason for separation of
India into two since the teachings and traditions of Islam would not mix with
Hinduism. Meanwhile, in his book, Hasan was emphasizes the horrors of separation
for the Muslim communities in India. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime
Minister shared the same view as Mahatma Gandhi on the partitioning of India and
the violence occurred as a result of it. In an impromptu radio broadcast on
September 9th 1947, he said, "it is an extraordinary thing that I have
seen. I have seen horror enough and I have seen many people die. … Death is
bad and painful, but one gets used to death. But there are some things much
worse than death that have taken place. I am ashamed of the acts that my people
have done and I fear the disgrace and the consequences of evil deeds will remain
with us for a long time. … This morning, our leader, our master, Mahatma
Gandhi, came to Delhi, and I went to see him, and I sat by him for a while
wondering how low we have fallen from the great ideals that he had placed before
us." Mohammad Ali Jinnah was being encouraged by his followers on
separating Hindus from Muslims, and creating conflict between the two. "A
Muslim was overheard saying to Jinnah in 1946, a large factory for the mass
Hinduisation of Muslims has been established in Delhi under the very name of the
All-India Muslim leaders … I am referring to the so-called Jamia Millia. Dr.
Zakir Husain was selected by Gandhi and Co. for carrying out their plan for
Hinduising Muslims in the spirit of the Wardha scheme which was prepared …
under the guidance and supervision of Gandhi, the most astute and cunning
hypocrite of all time. The object of the Jamia Millia is to make Muslims as much
Hindu in outlook and every other respect as possible … for example, (the young
children) are taught the slogan "The Muslim league is dead, the Congress is
good." With grown up Muslim boys, more subtle methods are used. The aim is
to make their inside Hindu and let their outside remain Muslim. … If this
factory for Hinduising Muslims is allowed to continue its evil work, real Islam
will soon disappear from India. The great killings like to one in Bihar grieve
upon us most profoundly, but they do not kill Islam. They rather revive it to
some extent. But the slow and secret poison of the Jamia Millia Islamia will
soon kill Islam, and will make every Muslim a mere 'show-boy' of the Hindus.
This is the cleverest plot so far designed for the destruction of Islam in
India." (Hasan, 1997 p. 240) The communal violence between Hindus and
Muslims has been an often occurrence in India and Pakistan. When looking at the
causes of these clashes, one may find various reasons through books, or public
opinion. We will concentrate on the separating of India into India and Pakistan
as the primary cause of the communal violence. This paper will be expressed
under the following topics: 1. Making of a separate nation. 2. The empowering of
differences. (a) Political actions (b) Sectarian Violence (c) Retreat of
Secularism 3. Ayodhya and its Consequences. The explanation and reasoning for
the Hindu-Muslim clashes is a very large topic which would need a lot of time
and research to document it. This paper will concentrate on the partitioning of
India and will follow the topics mentioned above.