India Divided

INDIA DIVIDED BY RAJENDRA PRASAD THIRD EDITION HIND KITABS LTD. PUBLISHERS BOMBAY Rs. 10-8 First Published, January 1946 Reprirtecl, May 1946 Thud Edition Revised, July 1947 COPYRIGHT Printed by G, G. Pathare, at the Popular Printing Press, 103 Tardeo Road, Bombay 7, and Published by V. Kulkarm, Hind Kitabs Ltd., 261-263 Hornby iRd., Bomlay SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF MAZHAR-UL-HAQUE A DEVOUT MUSLIM, A STAUNCH NATIONALIST AND A PASSIONATE PATRIOT WHO PREFERRED SERVICE AND SACRIFICE TO EASE AND COMFORT, POVERTY TO PLENTY, PRISON TO PALACE, AND SADAQAT ASHRAM TO SIKANDAR MANZIL. RAJENDRA PRASAD PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION Since a reprint of India Divided was published in May 1946, events have moved with tremendous rapidity in India. It has not been possible for me to revise the text or to incorporate the matter that was given as an Addendum in the reprint into the body uf the book. But I have brought the discussion of the subject vjp to date by extending the Addendum, I trust it will he found useful as giving a connected account of a most important aspect of Indian politics. Some typographical mistakes, which had crept into pre vious editions, have been corrected. New Delhi RAJKNDRA PRASAD JOth June 1947. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION The question of partition of India into Muslim and Hindu zones has assumed importance since the All-India Muslim League passed a resolution in its favour at Lahore in March, 1940. Much has been written on it and a literature has grown round it. But f believe there Is room for another book which tries to discuss the question in all its aspects. In India Divided I have made an attempt to collect in a compact form information and material likely to help the readeria forming an opinion of his own. I have expressed my own opinion on the basis of the material so collected but I believe I have placed the material apart from any conclusions 1 have drawn therefrom and it is open to the reader to ignore my conclusions and draw his own inferences, if he can. The book is divided into six parts. Part 1 deals with the theory of Hindus and Muslims of India being two nations. While showing that the theory is as unsupported by history and facts of every-day life, as by the opinion of distinguished and representative Musalmans, it points out that even if it be assumed that the Musal mans are a separate nation, the solution of the Hindu-Muslim problem in India should, on the basis of experience of other countries and on the strength of the latest and most authoritative writers of international repute on the subject, be sought in the formation of a multinational State in which a powerful political union guarantees cultural autonomy to different national groups viii PREFACE and not in the creation of national States which will not only leave the problem of national minorities unsolved but will also create more new problems relating to questions financial, economic, industrial and political, and military defence and strategy than it will solve, Part H discusses at length how the Hindu-Muslim problem has arisen and grown to its present proportions and how with the lengthening of the base of the communal triangle, the angle of difference between the communities has become wider and wider. JPart III gives the summary of a number of schemes of parti tion which have appeared. Part IV, points out the vagueness and ambiguity of the Lahore Resolution of the All-IndiaMuslim League and the difficulty which faces any one trying to consider it on its merits. It analyses the Resolution and, giving their natural meaning to the words used in the Resolution, it fixes the boundaries of Pakistan. Part V deals with the resources of the Muslim States and shows how the scheme of partition is impracticable. Part VI gives various proposals put forward by persons or bodies for solving the Hindu-Muslim problem. Parts I, HI, IV, V and VI of the book were written in the Bankipur jail and during intervals of comparatively good health...