Thursday, January 20, 2022

Division of the Punjab 1947 : From tricky Lucknow Pact (1916) till hybrid 3rd June Plan of 1947

Division of the Punjab 1947

From tricky Lucknow Pact (1916) till hybrid 3rd June Plan of 1947

Unheard story of June 23rd Punjab Assembly session that exposed many myths especially role of the fractured colonial power, Britain.

There are many questions still under discussion after 75 years.

Why all Hindu & Sikh members of the Punjab Assembly voted for the partition of the Punjab and why all Muslims & Christian members including Muslim Unionists did not support partition of the Punjab is a fact often down played in South Asian textbooks due to conflicting reasons.

Background Analysis of the politics emerged after religio political moves of United Bengal movement (1905-11) & tricky Lucknow Pact (1916) that culminated in Hindu Muslim cnflict of 1930s & 1940s in general.

How Jillanwala massacre had affected the British India in general and the Punjab in particular. It had jolted the traditional Club politics and opened the doors of People politics yet relgio-political spaces also emerged partly due to misuse of religion by the British Statecraft and partly due to anti colonial misleading resistance.

Ghadar movement, Silk letter conspiracy, Khilafat movement, hijrat movement, gurdwara movement, 56 faisidi movement, continuous provincial elections, opponents of electoral politics, opposition of Lucknow pact, C R Das formula, Delhi proposals, breakage of Congress & Muslim league, creation of Unionist party of the Punjab, 14 points of Jinnah, Simon Commission, Bhagat Singh revolt, Congress Lhore session, creation of Ahrar & Allahbad Address of Iqbal are among vital events of the 3rd decade 1920-30. The politics of 1930s was reflection of 1920s and so on.

Here you can listen what happened in the 23rd june 1947 Punjab assembly sessin. 23rd June must be remembered as Black day.

When members of the Punjab Assembly voted for the Partition of their Land

The article was written for Punjabi journal Brah Mah, published in its 2021 issue.

Discussion at Punjabi Sangat

https://youtu.be/fPsMj9RmT9c?t=1817