Congress, BJP trade barbs over NCERT module on Partition

Days after NCERT released a special module on the Partition of India that blamed Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Congress and Lord Mountbatten for the division of India, Congress and BJP have traded barbs over the issue.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera demanded that the module be burnt. He refuted the claims made in it and accused the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League of “collaborating” for the division of India and Pakistan.

In a press conference Khera said, “Set this book on fire if it does not mention all this. The truth is that Partition happened because of the collaboration between the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League. If history has the biggest villain, it is the RSS. Future generations will not forgive the role it played in spying, which it continued for 25 years at that time. And in that spying, there was collaboration with Muslims and with Jinnah.”

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “We have come to know about a special module of NCERT on Partition, but we cannot run away from fact. Who was at the helm at the time of Partition, they were Muslim League, Congress led by Nehru. There are statements of Nehru in favour of Partition, then at that point of time, the wrong steps that were taken in greed of power, appeasement politics, we are still suffering, lakhs of people died, crores were displaced, thousands were raped.”

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi demanded the inclusion of the book ‘Muslims Against Partition’ by Shamsul Islam in NCERT.

“This lie is told again and again about Partition. At that time, not even 2-3 per cent Muslims had the right to vote, and today people blame us for Partition. How were we responsible for that? Those who fled from here, they fled. Those who were loyal, they stayed,” he said.

The module said that just before Direct Action Day in August 1946, Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah threatened, “Either a divided India or a destroyed India.”

The book also said that a “persistent” problem in Kashmir emerged after Partition. “The Kashmir issue is a new and persistent problem that emerged after Partition. Pakistan has waged three wars to annex Kashmir and, after losing them, adopted a policy of exporting jihadist terrorism to inflict “a thousand cuts” on India from within. This has claimed thousands of lives — both civilian and military. All this is a consequence of Partition, as previously Kashmir had always been a peaceful and stable part of India, rarely the subject of any political or economic concern,” the module said.

The book quotes the July 1947 statement of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel in favour of Partition. The module also stated that the Congress accepted Partition mainly to avoid communal strife.

“Historically, three actors were responsible for Partition: Jinnah, who demanded it; the Congress, which accepted it; and Mountbatten, who formalised and implemented it. Thus, only when Jinnah remained adamant and Nehru and Patel reluctantly gave their consent did Mountbatten present Partition as a final solution. The British government tried their best to preserve India as one until the end. Viceroys Linlithgow and Wavell had both maintained that partition will not solve the Hindu-Muslim problem. In London, then Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s government made various efforts to keep India united until May 1947. Even the Congress accepted Partition mainly to avoid such violence,” the module said.

The NCERT module claimed that Mountbatten preponed the date for the transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947.

“He persuaded everyone to agree to this. Because of this, complete preparations could not be made before the Partition. The demarcation of the Partition boundaries was also done hastily. For that, Sir Cyril Radcliffe was given only five weeks. In Punjab, even two days after August 15, 1947, millions of people did not know whether they were in India or in Pakistan. Such haste was a great act of carelessness,” the module stated.