Partition Horrors Remembrance Day

Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, also known as Vibhajan Vibhishika Smriti Diwas, is an annual national memorial day observed on 14 August in India, commemorating the victims and sufferings of people during the 1947 partition of India.[2] It was first observed in 2021, after announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[3]

Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
Hindus and Sikhs migrating by train from Bannu to India
Official nameEnglish: Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
Hindi: विभाजन विभीषिका स्मृति दिवस Vibhajan Vibhishika Smriti Diwas
Observed by India
SignificanceIn memory of the struggles and sacrifices of people during the partition[1]
Date14 August
Next time14 August 2024 (2024-08-14)
FrequencyAnnual
First time14 August 2021 (2021-08-14)
Started byGovernment of India
Related toPartition of India

The day remembers the sufferings of many Indians during the partition. Numerous families were displaced and many lost their lives in the partition.[4] It aims to remind Indians the need to remove social divisions, disharmony and to further strengthen the spirit of oneness, social harmony and human empowerment.[5]

The partition had left 10 to 20 million people displaced and left 2 hundred thousand to 2 million dead.[6][lower-alpha 1][7][8][9][10][lower-alpha 2]

Background
Main article: Partition of India
Lord Mountbatten meets Nehru, Jinnah and other Leaders to discuss the Partition of India in 1947.

The Partition was the division of British India[lower-alpha 3] into two independent Dominions: India and Pakistan.[11] The two states have since gone through further reorganization: the Dominion of India is today the Republic of India (since 1950); while the Dominion of Pakistan was composed of what is known today as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (since 1956) and the People's Republic of Bangladesh (since 1971). The partition involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and Punjab, based on district-wide non-Muslim or Muslim majorities. The partition also saw the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Civil Service, the railways, and the central treasury. The partition was outlined in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, i.e. Crown rule in India. The two self-governing independent Dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 15 August 1947.

The partition of India occurred on the basis of religious separatism, demanded by the All-India Muslim League who propagated the idea that Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus were two different nations—a theory that was propounded by the Hindu Mahasabha as well.[12][13][14] The Indian National Congress, along with the All India Azad Muslim Conference, Khudai Khidmatgar, All India Anglo-Indian Association, All India Conference of Indian Christians, and Chief Khalsa Diwan, adamantly opposed the partition of India as it upheld the concept of composite nationalism—that the Indian nation is made up of a "diversity of religions, creeds, castes, sub-castes, communities and cultures".[15][16][17][18][19] Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Frank Anthony, Purushottam Das Tandon, Maulana Azad, Tara Singh and Allah Bux Soomro actively worked to oppose the partition of India.[18][17][20][21] The leader of All India Muslim League, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, demanded "either a divided India or a destroyed India" and called for Direct Action Day, which resulted in communal violence that sowed the seeds for the partition of India.[22][23][24] Though the demand of the All India Muslim League was eventually accepted by the British, the state of India officially rejected the two-nation theory and chose to be a secular state, enshrining the concepts of religious pluralism and composite nationalism in its constitution.[25][26]

The partition displaced between 10 and 20 million people along religious lines, creating overwhelming refugee crises in the newly constituted dominions.[7][8][9][10] There was large-scale violence, with estimates of the loss of life accompanying or preceding the partition disputed and varying between several hundred thousand and two million.[6][lower-alpha 1] Pakistan was created through the partition of India on the basis of religious segregation;[12] the very concept of dividing the country of India has criticized for its implication "that people with different backgrounds" cannot live together.[27] After it occurred, critics of the partition of India point to the displacement of fifteen million people, the murder of more than one million people, and the rape of 75,000 women to demonstrate the view that it was a mistake.[28] The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day.[29]

Observance

On 14 August 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the 14 of August annually will be remembered as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day to remind the nation of the sufferings and sacrifices of Indians during the partition in 1947.

On 14 August 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Partitions pains can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence. In memory of the struggles and sacrifices of our people, 14th August will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, May the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day keep reminding us of the need to remove the poison of social divisions, disharmony and further strengthen the spirit of oneness, social harmony and human empowerment."[30]

In 2022, the Delhi Metro honoured Partition Horrors Remembrance Day by setting up an exhibit that included "panels on the wrecked buildings in Lahore and Amritsar".[31]

The University Grants Commission, in 2022, implored all academic institutions to plan observances for Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.[32] The University of Kashmir honoured Partition Horrors Remembrance Day by organising a photo exhibition aimed at highlighting "the agony, suffering and pain of millions of sufferers of the Partition".[33][34]

In 2023, the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi organized presentations and panel discussion, with question and answer sessions, along with a Photo Exhibition on Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.[2] The Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division had an exhibition of photographs for the public, as did the "Nagercoil Junction, Kollam Junction, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam Junction, and Thrissur railway stations of Thiruvananthapuram Division, Southern Railway."[2] This was organized by Thalanad Chandrasekharan Nair, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.[2]

See also

Notes
  1. "The death toll remains disputed with figures ranging from 200,000 to 2 million."[6]
  2. "Some 12 million people were displaced in the divided province of Punjab alone, and up to 20 million in the subcontinent as a whole."[10]
  3. British India consisted of those regions of the British Raj, or the British Indian Empire, which were directly administered by Britain; other regions, of nominal sovereignty, that were indirectly ruled by Britain, were called princely states.

References
  1. "'In Memory of Sacrifices & Struggles': PM Modi Marks August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day". News18. 14 August 2021.
  2. Rao, Lingamgunta Nirmitha; Ghosh, Poulomi (13 August 2023). "What is 'Partition Horrors Remembrance Day'? When is it observed?". Hindustan Times.
  3. "Narendra Modi picks August 14 to recall Partition trauma". The Hindu. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  4. "August 14 to be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day: PM Modi | India News - Times of India". The Times of India.
  5. "14 August will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day: PM Modi". mint. 14 August 2021.
  6. Talbot & Singh 2009, p. 2.
  7. Population Redistribution and Development in South Asia. Springer Science & Business Media. 2012. p. 6. ISBN 978-9400953093.
  8. "Rupture in South Asia" (PDF). United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  9. Dr Crispin Bates (3 March 2011). "The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  10. Vazira Fazila‐Yacoobali Zamindar (4 February 2013). "India–Pakistan Partition 1947 and forced migration". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285. ISBN 9781444334890. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  11. Partition (n), 7. b (3rd ed.). Oxford English Dictionary. 2005. The division of British India into India and Pakistan, achieved in 1947.
  12. Sinha, Jai B. P. (2014). Psycho-Social Analysis of the Indian Mindset. Springer. p. 190. ISBN 978-81-322-1804-3. The partition of the Indian subcontinent was based on the formula of religious segregation. Many Muslims migrated to Pakistan, but many more also decided to stay back. The country had an obligation to protect Islamic interests as Muslims in India tied their destiny with the rest. There were also Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and other communities which were living mostly in peace for centuries.
  13. Bhatti, Safeer Tariq (3 December 2015). International Conflict Analysis in South Asia: A Study of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan. UPA. p. xxxi. ISBN 978-0-7618-6647-3. The religious nationalism sentiment is based upon the two nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are of two separate religious communities and separate nations.
  14. Bapu, Prabhu (2013). Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915-1930: Constructing Nation and History. Online access with subscription: Proquest Ebook Central. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-415-67165-1.
  15. Bahadur, Kalim (1998). Democracy in Pakistan: Crises and Conflicts. Har-Anand Publications. p. 33. ISBN 978-81-241-0083-7. One of the two was the dominant ideology of composite nationalism represented by the Indian National Congress. It was based on the belief that India with its vast diversities of religions, creeds, castes, sub-castes, communities and cultures represented a composite nation.
  16. Qasmi, Ali Usman; Robb, Megan Eaton (2017). Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9781108621236.
  17. Thomas, Abraham Vazhayil (1974). Christians in Secular India. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 106–110. ISBN 978-0-8386-1021-3.
  18. Kudaisya, Gyanesh; Yong, Tan Tai (2004). The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia. Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-134-44048-1.
  19. Frank Anthony (1969). Britain's Betrayal in India: The Story of the Anglo-Indian Community. Allied Publishers. p. 157.
  20. Ali, Asghar Ali (15 August 2010). "Maulana Azad and partition". Dawn. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  21. Reddy, Kittu (2003). History of India: a new approach. Standard Publishers. p. 453. ISBN 978-81-87471-14-1.
  22. Guha, Ramachandra (23 August 2014). "Divided or Destroyed – Remembering Direct Action Day". The Telegraph.
  23. Tunzelmann, Alex von (2012). Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4711-1476-2.
  24. Tripathi, Dhananjay (24 December 2020). Re-imagining Border Studies in South Asia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-33334-3.
  25. Scott, David (2011). Handbook of India's International Relations. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-136-81131-9. On the other hand the Republic of India rejected the very foundations of the two-nation theory and, refusing to see itself a Hindu India, it proclaimed and rejoiced in religious pluralism supported by a secular state ideology and for a geographical sense of what India was.
  26. Ali, Asghar Ali (2006). They Too Fought for India's Freedom: The Role of Minorities. Hope India Publications. p. 24. ISBN 978-81-7871-091-4. Mr. Jinnah and his Muslim League ultimately propounded the two nation theory. But the 'Ulama rejected this theory and found justification in Islam for composite nationalism.
  27. "Oxford Union debate: House regrets the partition of India". National Herald. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2020. He went on to say, "To welcome Partition is to imply that people with different backgrounds and different blood-lines cannot live together in one nation. A regressive suggestion." He lamented that the "Muslim majorities who got Pakistan did not need it; Muslim minorities remaining in India who needed security became more insecure." "If tyranny had ended with partition, I would have welcomed division. In fact, however, tyranny was multiplied by partition."
  28. Dalrymple, William (29 June 2015). "The Great Divide: The Violent Legacy of Indian Partition". The New Yorker.
  29. Soundar, Chitra (5 September 2019). The Extraordinary Life of Mahatma Gandhi. Penguin UK. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-241-37547-1.
  30. "'In Memory of Sacrifices & Struggles': PM Modi Marks August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day". News18. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  31. "Newspaper clippings, maps and images from Partition: Exhibition now open at Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate metro stations". The Indian Express. 11 August 2022.
  32. Chandra, Jagriti (9 August 2022). "UGC writes to colleges, universities urging them to observe Partition Horrors Remembrance Day". The Hindu.
  33. "KU observes Partition Horrors Remembrance Day". Greater Kashmir. 13 August 2022.
  34. "KU observes Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, organises photo exhibition". Rising Kashmir. 14 August 2022.
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