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ABSTRACT
The partition of India in 1947 was, and undoubtedly remains, the most turbulent episode in the recent history of the subcontinent. Of course, the reading of Partition history, be it through its humanitarian or political dimension, is anything but uniform. It is observable that a group narrative of Partition exists for each community directly affected by the event – that is to say, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh respectively. What this article intends to do is focus in on one of these groups – the Sikhs, by demonstrating how their group narrative of Partition has evolved in the period since 1947.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The term refers chiefly to the mainly Urdu-speaking population native to urban centres around the Gangetic belt who migrated to the newly-formed state of Pakistan at the time of Partition.
2 One of the main methodological issues associated with reliance on expressed statements to gauge a narrative of this period is that people often do not like to reveal traumatic episodes that they have lived through, especially so in conservative societies such as 1940s Punjab. However, limited open discussion should not be confused for a lack of impact upon the shape of the group narrative.
3 ‘Liaison Agency Records, Punjab Government Vol. 1 – LV/1/52-VII – Acc No.1405 [Prof Kirpal Singh’s Manuscript Collection, Khalsa College, Amritsar].
4 ‘Liaison Agency Records, Punjab Government Vol. 4 – LVIII/13/81-A – Acc No.1408 [Prof Kirpal Singh’s Manuscript Collection, Khalsa College, Amritsar].
5 This expulsion of Muslims from east Punjab helped to release land to rehabilitate the incoming non-Muslim refugees as well as to create a set of demographic conditions that would make viable an autonomous ‘Sikh unit’ to emerge in post-Partition India.
6 Letter to Mr. Ray Chaudhari from Humayun Kabir, Ministry of Education, New Delhi. 28 February 1950 – F No. 49-28/50-D3 (1950) [National Archives, New Delhi]: 3.
7 ‘Memo’. 6 June 1950 – F No. 49-28/50-D3 (1950) [National Archives, New Delhi]: 19.
8 Interview with Surinder Singh Grewal. Ludhiana, 2 September 2010.
9 Interview with Kuldip Nayar. Delhi, 29 August 2010.
10 Arguably, this can be attributed in no small part to the Akali Dal, in 1946, calling for the creation of a separate Sikh state in 1946, apparently as a counter-blast to the Pakistan demand.
11 Those Sikhs, who supported the Khalistan movement, and the secession of Punjab state from the rest of India, can be termed ‘Khalistanis’.
12 ‘Interview with Hukum Singh conducted by S. L. Manchanda’. New Delhi, 4 April 1976. Acc No.344 [Oral History Collection, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi]: 71.
13 Sant Bhindranwale perhaps incorrectly attributed the statement to Mahatma Gandhi rather than Jawaharlal Nehru, though Gandhi had made a commitment to the Sikhs as early as 1931 in that they would not be betrayed by the Congress (Singh Citation1999, 37).
14 Interview with Manmohan Singh Khalsa. London, 11 November 2010.
15 Though this document was first formulated on 1973, it tended to become more of a prominent issue in Punjab politics once the Shiromani Akali Dal were out of power in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, namely 1973–1977 and, particular so, from 1980 to 1985. The main demands of the resolution included; first, an adjustment of powers between the centre and state, whereby the former’s jurisdiction would be restricted to foreign policy, defence, communications, currency etc.; second, for all states of federal India to be equally weighted; and third, for the Union Territory of Chandigarh, and the Punjabi-speaking areas ‘deliberately left out’ of the post-1966 suba to be transferred to Punjab. The demand relating to reduce by comparison, or simply halt, the diversion of water from Punjab’s rivers (Ravi-Beas) to ‘non-riparian’ states was a relatively late entry onto the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.
16 Interview with Paramjit Singh Sarna. Delhi, 21 August 2010.
17 Interview with Baba Pyare Lal Bedi conducted by Dr Hari Dev Sharma’. New Delhi, 5 September 1969. Acc No.270 [Oral History Collection, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi]: 126.
18 ‘Interview with Hukum Singh conducted by S. L. Manchanda’. New Delhi, 4 April 1976. Acc No.344 [Oral History Collection, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi]: 70; ‘Interview with Gurcharan Singh Bhatia conducted by Prof. Ian Talbot’. Amritsar, 13 November 2002. Quoted in Talbot and Tatla Citation2006, 85.
19 ‘Interview with Sardar Mohinder Singh conducted by Prof. Ian Talbot’. Amritsar, 14 November 2002. Quoted in Talbot and Tatla Citation2006, 170.
20 Even in such cases, owing to the somewhat contradictory nature of these ‘extreme’ aspects, it is rare that any one person would subscribe to all of them.
21 Interview with Kuldip Nayar. Delhi, 29 August 2010.
22 Interview with Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh. [Phone Interview], 21 February 2011.
23 ‘Interview with Gurdeep Singh Bhatia conducted by Prof. Ian Talbot’. Amritsar, 23 January 2003. Quoted in Talbot and Tatla Citation2006, 92.
24 See Census of India Citation1941a, 41–45; Census of India Citation1941b, 100; Census of Pakistan Citation1951, 1–26.
25 Interview with Dr Paramjit Singh Ajrawat. [E-mail Interview], 30 October 2010.
26 The non-Muslims of Punjab were effectively awarded less than 38 per cent of the territory of British Punjab, despite constituting approximately 43 per cent of its population, and awarded less than 43 per cent of the entire Punjab inclusive of the princely states, despite constituting over 47 per cent of its total population.
27 Interview with Kanwarpal Singh. Amritsar, 11 September 2010.
28 Interview with Dr Paramjit Singh Ajrawat. [E-mail Interview], 30 October 2010.
29 Interview with Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh. [Phone Interview], 21 February 2011.
30 Interview with Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh. [Phone Interview], 21 February 2011; Interview with Ranjit Singh Srai. [Phone Interview], 29 May 2011.
31 Interview with Paramjit Singh Sarna. Delhi, 21 August 2010.
32 Interview with Kanwarpal Singh. Amritsar, 11 September 2010.
33 Interview with Manmohan Singh Khalsa. London, 11 November 2010.