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The Emergence of
India and Pakistan NOT unlike the Rebellion of 1857, the partition that resulted in the birth of India and Pakistan, a respectable six decades away, has spawned an impressive corpus of literature. And in a rich variety of genre. There are the memoirs of those who lived through the trauma and experienced it at first-hand, both its grief and gore. Not a few saw it from a distance and were deeply affected. The scholar and the researcher delved deep into the causes and tried to recreate the socio-political milieu in which the partition took place. The academic invariably drew from a rich mine of documentary sources, archival records, official handouts of political parties and their leaders. It is to this last genre that the compilation under review squarely belongs. The editor’s principal contribution is a catholic selection of documents, starting from the 1930s that deeply affected the shape of things as they evolved over the next decade and a half. The choice of Iqbal’s address at the Allahabad session of the All India Muslim League appears to be a good starting point so also Mr Jinnah’s Fourteen Points. Chronologically though the latter entry (March 1929) should precede the former (June 1930). In close liaison with the Quaid, Iqbal was the father of the two-nation theory and the demand for a separate homeland for his community; unlike the Quaid though he was not in active politics. What distinguishes this study is a useful mix of documentary sources with some contemporary reactions of heavy weight politicians interspersed with those who were not in the fray and yet close and acute observers. B.R. Ambedkar’s ‘Muslim Case for Pakistan’ makes eminent sense; so Ramananda Chatterjee’s ‘Is the Pakistan Proposal a ‘Command Performance’? Lakshmi Narayana’s ‘Partition Scheme, an examination’ as well as CVH Rao’s ‘Pakistan: Its Implications’ fall into the same slot; critical appraisals of what Jinnah’s 1940 Pakistan demand implied in all its varied ramifications. Expectedly, there is a respectable collection of articles on the two-nation theory with a thoughtful mix of Radhakumud Mukherjee’s forceful plea to the contrary in his ‘Akhand Hindustan’. Details of the Mountbatten Plan of 3rd June and of Nehru and Jinnah’s broadcasts that followed are too well-known and the texts relatively easily available, so also the documents concerning the appointment of the Boundary Commission, the Radcliffe Award and the Indian Independence Act. What are not easy to hand are the Joint Defence Council Order and the Arbitral Tribunal Order of 11 and 12 August (1947) respectively. Equally useful are ‘Noted on Partition of Bengal’ and ‘Partition and Indian Finance’. Two lacunae that struck this reviewer are the absence of a comprehensive introduction and some relevant biographic details concerning the contributors. Fazal ul Haq’s name may not be that unfamiliar but who would remember Syed Abdul Latif, V.B. Kulkarni, S. Chandra Dev, and Lakshmi Narayana et al? For the matter of that the present generation’s knowledge and understanding of the work and contributions of such stalwarts as B.R. Ambedkar, Rajendra Prasad, Reginald Coupland, Bijoy and Vijay Sen and Mehr Chand Khanna are vague at best and leave a lot to be desired. The introduction as well as the relevant biographic details would help the reader view them in proper perspective if also sharper focus. Suresh Sharma who had edited the volume needs no introduction. For almost a quarter century he served at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library at Teenmurti House as a one-man introduction to all its rich and varied holdings, a knowledgeable, helpful, friendly guide. His own works, which include Fifty Years of Indian Historical Writings and Social Sciences in Modern India, offer excellent tools of research both for the beginner as well as the seasoned scholar. Which holds out the promise that the book under review will be found equally useful for the lay reader as well as the specialist.
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