As Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru announced the freedom of India at midnight, people were filled with joy, celebrating and congratulating each other for finally getting what they had been fighting for. His speech “Tryst with Destiny” spread throughout the country in no time, making people filled with joy and hope. But it did not last long. Along with the news of freedom, another news was also spreading, and this news was about the partition of India.
As people became aware of the fact that Punjab would be divided into two halves, a deep fear and rage started to run in the nerves. And who knew that the consequences of the partition of India were going to be this deadly?
With the announcement of the partition what followed was the deaths of nearly 1 to 2 million people and mass migration of about 14 million people.
Mass Migration:
It is estimated that about 14 million people migrated due to this partition. About 7 million Hindus migrated from Pakistan to India and another 7 million Muslims from India to Pakistan. This displacement was fueled by fear, violence, and communal hatred. People were forced to leave to protect themselves and their families.
So many people had to leave their homes, lands, and even loved ones forever. Many people thought they would move back to their homes once this violence stopped. But that never came true as even after 78 years, tourist visas are not allowed for Indian and Pakistani citizens to visit each other’s country.
People were hopping onto the crowded trains wanting to look at the new sun. Many people failed to reach their new homes and perished on the way.
Massacre and hate crimes:
When all this migration was happening something unprecedented also started to happen. This sudden distress, anxiety, and hatred led to a huge massacre, killing approximately 2 million people.
Many hate crimes were committed, including rapes and abduction of hundreds of thousands of women. People of religious minorities were forced to leave or convert their religion. People were being killed so that neither they nor their progeny would survive.
Many homes and villages were set on fire with ethnic cleansing in mind. One community of people saw another community of people as a threat and wanted to eliminate them from their new country.
Agriculture:
The country is divided into two countries. Some important land areas were also divided between the two. About 48 million acres of fertile land remained in India and another 22 million acres out of 70 million acres of fertile land came under Pakistan. Production of crops such as cotton and jute were severely affected. And production of grains was also affected leading to starvation and deficiencies in a large number of people.
Population and area:
As India divided into two nations the distribution of population and land area was also a topic of debate. About 18% population of India went to Pakistan with about 23% area of the country. That affected India and its people badly as India got burned with many more people than land was available, causing many people to go homeless and take refuge in shelter homes and refugee camps.
These camps were also not up to the mark. These camps had poor sanitation, poor food and water facilities, and bad disease management. That in turn led to the deaths of many people.
Impact on Industries:
Many industries were impacted due to the partition. As these industries depend on raw materials, skilled and casual workers, etc, many of them were heavily impacted. For example, raw materials such as cotton and jute were not being produced in the amount that was produced because of land distribution. And many people died or migrated causing a shortage of labour.
Industries such as jute, textiles, and silk etc, were also affected badly. Other sectors such as transportation and railways were also impacted due to the partition of India.
Conclusion:
So, in this post, we discussed about the aftermath of the partition of India. The country in which people of different communities lived together was fed the poison of hatred and rage towards one another. The slow poison of hate given by the Britishers to the Indians led to a massive bloodbath of the Indian people. Though India got its freedom back, Indians could never. What should have been an event of celebration of triumph turned into an unprecedented massacre and cries. The cries of women whose body parts were cut and mutilated, the young children and infants who were thrown and killed, the horrors and cries of people being murdered, Independent India witnessed it all.
After so many centuries, what Indians wanted was freedom and peace. But even while India was for good, the Britishers took every action they could to destroy India and its people. When one human killed another, no one could believe it was freedom.
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