CHAPTER-33
Challenges Before the New-born Nation
- First Day of Independent India-
- On August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, as Prime Minister of India, hoisted the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of Red Fort in Delhi.
- First Cabinet After Independence-Independent India, however, had to face several challenges-Immediate Challenges, Medium Term Challenges and Long Term Challenges.
- Independence Act had laid the procedure for the resolution of three major problems—
- (i) the settlement of boundaries between the two nations;
- (ii) the division of apparatus and personnel of Indian Civil Services and some other services
- (iii) division of military assets and formations.
- Radcliffe’s Boundary Award and the Communal Riots-
- West Punjab which went to Pakistan received 62,000 square miles of territory and 15.7 million people (census 1941), of whom 11.85 million were Muslims. (Numbers not important, just analysis number yourself only)
- East Punjab (India’s share) received 37,000 square miles of land area, with a population of 12.6 million, of whom 4.37 million were Muslims.
- West Bengal became part of India with a territory of 28,000 square miles, and a population of 21.2 million, of whom 5.3 million were Muslims
- East Bengal, which constituted East Pakistan, got 49,400 square miles of territory and 39.10 million people
- Challenges before the Boundary Commission– Boundary Commission consisted of two Muslims and two non-Muslim judges in each case, and worked under serious constraints.
- Regions Most Affected by Riots– regions through which the Radcliffe line was drawn became most violent and maximum number of murders, rapes and abduction of women and children took place.
- Challenges Associated with Division of Resources-
- Division of Civil Government–To resolve the division of civil government amicably, a partition council, presided over by the governor-general and consisting of two representatives each of India and Pakistan, was set up. All civil servants were offered to give their option about the Dominion they wanted to serve.
- Division of Finances– Pakistan wanted a one-fourth share of the total cash balances, but India had to point out that only a small portion of the cash balances represented the real cash needs of the undivided India and the rest was maintained only as an anti-inflationary mechanism.
- Division of Defence Personnel and Equipment-For a smooth division of the armed forces and their plants, machinery, equipment and stores, a joint defence council, headed by Auchinleck as its Supreme Commander, was set up. the British troops started to leave India from August 17, 1947 and the process was completed by February 1948.
- Assassination of Gandhi-On the evening of January 30, 1948, as he carried on his usual prayer meeting at Birla mansion (New Delhi), Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse. Communalism and misinterpretation of nationalism were two fundamental factors under whose influence Godse killed Gandhi.
- Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Refugees-
- people displaced by partition were ‘refugees’ in the sense that they had not left their homes voluntarily. Indian government established an emergency committee of the cabinet to deal with the crisis in Delhi, and a Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation to look after the refugees.
- East Punjab–For urban refugees, the government started industrial and vocational training schemes, and even grants were given to start small businesses or industries. rural refugees were given land, agricultural loans and housing subsidies.
- Bengal–problem was much more prolonged and complicated in Bengal.
- Delhi Pact on Minorities–To resolve the problems of refugees and restore communal peace in the two countries, especially in Bengal (East Pakistan as well as West Bengal), the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Pakistani prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, signed an agreement on April 8, 1950.
- The agreement, known as the Delhi Pact on Minorities or Liaquat- Nehru Pact, envisaged the appointment of ministers from minority communities in both Pakistan and India at both central and provincial levels. Under the pact, minority commissions were to be set up, together with the Commissions of Inquiry to look into the probable causes behind the communal riots on both sides of border
- Centres of Refugee Settlements in India–In Delhi, Lajpat Nagar, Rajinder Nagar (All coaching wala shop here J), Punjabi Bagh, Nizamuddin East and Kingsway Camp were some areas developed into housing complexes to settle the refugees permanently.
- Communists and Independence–In December 1947, the Communist Party of India (CPI) had denounced the Indian independence as ‘fake’ The Communist insurgency spread to other parts of India especially in West Bengal which saw the revival of the Tebhaga Movement and an urban insurgency in Calcutta.
- Why Communists were Skeptical about Independence?
- They believed that a policy of class struggle and armed insurgency against the State run by the Congress, alleged as collaborationist bourgeoisie, was necessary to shift the attention of the masses from the politics of communal hatred that shrouded the country after partition.
- late 1940s and the early 1950s witnessed communist successes in Asian countries like China, Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines and Burma (Myanmar).
- According to Ramachandra Guha, the CPI leadership, encouraged by the initial successes of the Telangana movement, misconceived the ‘scattered disillusionment with the Congress as revolutionary potential, and thought this as the ‘beginning of Red India’.
- Shift from Antagonistic Strategy to Constitutional Democracy–communist movement remained localised in Hyderabad and West Bengal.
- The government also decided to take stern action; while in the Hyderabad region the Indian armed forces continued its ‘police action’, in West Bengal the CPI was banned in March 1948 and in January, a security act was passed to imprison the communist leaders without trial.
- decided to withdraw the Telangana movement and forge an inclusive front of the peasants, workers and middle classes.
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