The Heroes and Villains of India's Partition.

One nation's hero is another nation's villain. If you are a violent freedom fighter or take up violence to fight a cause, you will be known as a terrorist. If you go down fighting for a cause that is widely held by a mass of people, you will be known as a Martyr. Therefore, heroes, villains, martyrs, renegades and terrorists - all fighting and working for a cause needs to be looked at with an objective perspective. Bhagat Singh is a martyr to all Indians but was a terrorist for the Government of British India. Subhash Chandra Bose was the most wanted man for British India but is a hero for independent India. Deification and demonisation is a matter of political convenience. However, political convenience cannot prove the test of objectivity. Historians and students of history needs to look at historical figures with objectivity and hence they must be free from any kind of bias.

Jinnah and Nehru were very ambitious men and both were equally tall until they fell apart. There is at least one incident which can throw light on the long term evolving cause of partition. Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of Indian nation had conferred with both Nehru and Patel in the presence of Mr. Jinnah that Jinnah may be made by the Prime Minister of independent India. While Nehru stood silent with a sign of disapproval written all over his face at the suggestion given by the Mahatma, Sardar Patel was categorical in talking about the consequences of such a decision in a Hindu majority India. The idea of a secular but Hindu majority India did not go well with Mr. Jinnah who himself was a modern WOG (Western Oriented Gentleman). One only needs to imagine as to what would have happened if Jinnah was the first prime minister of independent India? As fate would have it, Jinnah survived only a few years after the partition of India. If Jinnah was made the first prime minister of India, Nehru could have followed him as the next prime minister and India could have remained united. What could have been the problems of an Undivided India? The answer lies only in the realm of wild speculation. But an objective answer could be like this. The problems of undivided India would be the sum total of problems of India and Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan are tackling their problems in their own way. Undivided India would have tackled the problems in her own way. The RSS dreams of an Undivided India and vilification of Jinnah does not augur well for such a dream.

Dreaming of an undivided India is a political chimera. The two nations are hopelessly divided and the umbilical chord is long broken. They cannot become one either politically or socially. Both nations should learn to live in peace and accept each other's heroes as heroes as a matter of political expediency or convenience. Who partitioned India? This is a historical question which is best left to historians and people with unbiased minds. Let this question be decided in the cool comforts of academic discourse and be therefore kept away from the heat and dust of competitive and virulent politics.