Venu Menon
Wellington, August 14,2024
The Indian diaspora gathered at the High Commission of India premises in Wellington on Wednesday to witness a video highlighting the poignant scenes of trainloads of people leaving their homeland and heading towards unknown destinations in the turbulent aftermath of India’s partition in 1947.
The Government of India has declared August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day since 2021.
In a twitter post on Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recollected “the countless people who were impacted and greatly suffered due to the horrors of Partition.”
Prime Minister Modi also noted many of “those impacted by Partition went on to rebuild their lives and attain immense success,” and reiterated “our commitment to always protect the bonds of unity and brotherhood in our nation.”
Addressing the gathering at the High Commission in Wellington, High Commissioner of India to New Zealand Neeta Bhushan recalled the enormous suffering and pain endured by people during the partition of India.
“Many lives were lost and unimaginable scars remained with those who survived,” she noted, adding, “Most of us had heard the experiences of [our] grandparents and parents.”
Millions were displaced, becoming “refugees if they crossed the border of their own country at that time.”
High Commissioner Bhushan paid tribute to the martyrs of the Partition era and hoped such history would never repeat itself.
Second Secretary Durga Dass (Press, Info and Culture) enlightened the audience on the origin and history of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
Historical backdrop
In August 1947, three hundred years of colonial rule ended with the creation of two independent nations: India and Pakistan (comprising West and East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh).
This caused the movement of 12 million refugees across newly-drawn national borders. The division was based on religious affiliation, with Muslims moving to Pakistan and a majority of Hindus opting to live in India.
The violence that ensued killed between 500,000 to two million people, according to varying estimates.
India and Pakistan have since fought three wars.
The politics of the Partition era threw up a cast of characters who loomed over the period, and included Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as well as Viceroy Lord Mountbatten, among others.
The two-nation theory that fuelled the Partition of India stressed religion, rather than language or ethnicity, as the driving force behind the creation of India and Pakistan.
The politics leading to Partition was polarised between the Congress and the Muslim League.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
