1) Partition of Bengal:
During the years of colonial British rule in India, the British administration in India was headed by an official known as the Viceroy of India who was ultimately responsible to the British crown. Previously, it was called the Governor-General of India and this official was initially the head of the East India Company’s administration in British India. However, after the Indian revolt of 1857, the British crown took over the direct administration of India and the office of the Governor-General of India was renamed as the Viceroy of India. In other words, the office of the Governor-General of India came to be known as the office of the Viceroy of India after 1857.
When we read modern Indian history, we come across many distinguished administrators who held this office of the Governor-General / Viceroy of India. Some of these prominent officials who held this prestigious office were William Bentinck, Cornwallis, Dalhousie, Warren Hasting, Lord Lytton etc. And one such British personnel who held the prestigious office of the Viceroy of India was Lord Curzon who made an indelible mark for himself in the history of modern India.
Lord Curzon took over the office of the Viceroy of India on 6th January 1899 and served in this capacity till 18th November 1905. The people of India still remember Curzon for the simple reason that he was the one responsible for the infamous partition of Bengal on 16th October 1905. Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal on the ground of administrative efficiency but the people of India saw it as another manifestation of the policy of ‘divide and rule’ of the Britishers.
In 1905, Bengal was a province of 189000 sq. miles with a population of nearly 8 crores (80 millions). And of this population, the Hindus were concentrated on the western side of the province and the Muslims on the eastern side. Therefore when Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal in October 1905, the largely Muslim eastern areas were separated from the largely Hindu western areas. Therefore, this partition of Bengal was out-rightly denounced by the people of India because of its sinister designs. It was clearly an attempt on the part of the British administration to create a gulf between the Hindus and the Muslims with a view to weaken the spirit and force of Indian nationalism which had been gaining momentum since the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885.
Even though Bengal was officially reunited in 1911, the irreparable damage had already been done and the Muslim dominated eastern Bengal would go on to become East Pakistan in 1947 and this East Pakistan would ultimately become an independent country (Bangladesh) in 1971.
2) Partition of India:
One of the most unprecedented events of the 20th century would certainly be the Indian Independence of 1947. When a giant nation like India which was ruled and suppressed by a faraway tiny nation like Britain for over 300 years finally became an independent nation, it was undoubtedly one of the biggest historical events of all times. However, the dawn of Indian independence in 1947 brought with it one of the most tragic and painful episodes of the 20th century. This was the partition of India and the subsequent migration that followed and this tragic episode would soon eclipse the joy of the long-cherished and hard-fought Indian Independence.
The partition of the Indian sub-continent into India and Pakistan in 1947 was the ultimate culmination of the policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ which had long been the forerunning principle and policy of the British administration in British India. Of course, many would say that Jinnah was the one responsible for the partition of India. Yes, Jinnah might have been responsible to some extent but the seeds had long been sown before even Jinnah entered the scene.
In his initial political career, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was also an active member of the Indian National Congress and for some years he worked shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Nehru and the other Congress leaders. But in the later years, he came under the influence of Muslim extremists and began to nourish, pursue and propagate the idea of an independent Muslim state to be called Pakistan. In the 1940s, Mahatma Gandhi himself had a couple of talks with Jinnah to convince him to give up the idea of Pakistan. But Jinnah refused to move an inch. And this idea of an independent Muslim nation to be called Pakistan finally saw the light of day in August 1947 with the partition of the Indian sub-continent into India and Pakistan.
We call the partition of India as tragic and painful because it triggered the mass migration which was and is still unprecedented in modern history. The Hindus who were living in the area of the now independent Pakistan were made to migrate to the new independent India and similarly the Muslims who found themselves living in the area of newly independent India were being chased out to Pakistan. What followed were mass killings of Hindus by Muslims and mass killings of Muslims by Hindus. It is estimated that up to a million people lost their lives during the partition and the subsequent migration that followed. This mass migration also offered a Herculean challenge to the two new independent nations to rehabilitate the mass exodus.
3) Partition of Nagaland:
It is said that the total area of the land inhabited by the Nagas here in South-East Asia since time immemorial is more than 120,000 sq. km. Then why is it that we often say that the size of Nagaland is only 16,579 sq. km. I guess this is so because we don’t like to talk about the systematic partition that had been done to our own land since Indian Independence.
When the colonial Britishers were about to withdraw from India, the Naga leaders submitted memorandums and letters to both the outgoing colonial masters and the incoming Indian government telling them that the Nagas were an independent nation with their own lands here in South East Asia and as such, they should be left alone to decide their own political future. In fact, the first memorandum was submitted as early as 1929 to the Simon Commission by the Naga club. However, all these goodwill gestures fell on deaf ears.
The result being that with the departure of the Britishers from the Indian sub-continent, the lands of the Nagas came to be divided between India and Burma (Myanmar). Yes, I guess it would not be wrong to say that Jawaharlal Nehru (the Prime Minister of India) and U Nu (the Leader of Burma) divided the lands of the Nagas amongst themselves. I do not know whether they divided the Naga lands equally among themselves or not. But it is an established fact that many lands of the Nagas still remain under Burmese suzerainty.
We say that Nagaland is only 16,579 sq. km in size. But the truth is that even the lands of the Nagas that are presently under Indian domain measure much more than 16,579 sq. km. Therefore, this means that after the partition of our lands by Nehru and U Nu, the lands of the Nagas under Indian domain also came to be further partitioned. In 1963, the Nehru government in collaboration with some so-called Naga leaders (NPC) created the Indian state of Nagaland. In this way, this state of Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian union. However, this 16th state of the Indian union was not made to encompass all the lands of the Nagas that fell under Indian domain. The result was that many of the lands of the Nagas ultimately came to be placed under the neighboring Indian states like Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh creating many tensions and issues between us and our neighbors up to this day.
4) Reflections:
As far as the partition of Bengal (1905) and the partition of India (1947) are concerned, all the Nagas who had been to high school would be totally aware and well-versed about it. This is so because our high school textbooks are full of the accounts and records of these two partitions. In fact, these two partitions form a very fundamental and basic part of our high school social science discipline. And I believe they rightly deserve to be given this importance in our school syllabus because these partitions had gone on to have far reaching consequences.
What is more, if a Naga student decides to take up History in his college or post-graduate studies, he or she would have to study about these two partitions in greater details. This is so because our college and post graduate courses also give great emphasis on these two partitions which have changed the history, geography, politics and economy of South-East Asia.
I have nothing against our Naga students studying about these two partitions in schools, colleges or universities. But I am afraid to say that these two partitions did not affect the Nagas in any way. Or even if it had affected the Nagas or Nagaland in any way, its affect had been just very minimal. But still, we study about them repeatedly.
But what about our own beloved lands of the Nagas that had been partitioned into tiny fragments over the years? Sadly enough, I am yet to come across any school or college textbook that mentions about the partition of the lands of the Nagas. Our school and college texts only say that Nagaland is 16,579 sq. km in size. And our school and college going youngsters are made to believe that Nagaland has always been just 16,579 sq. km in size. Thus, we are presenting a picture as if nothing wrong was ever done to our lands in the 1950s or in 1963.
And therefore, I look forward to a day when our school and college texts will say that the lands of the Nagas here in South-East Asia measure more than 100,000 sq. km. I also wait to see someone telling the school going kids that the lands of the Nagas were divided by Nehru and U Nu after the attainment of Indian independence in 1947. And I also wait for the day when some textbook and syllabus framers would be bold enough to mention in the texts that treachery and deceit were committed when the Indian state of Nagaland created in 1963 was made to encompass only 16,579 sq. km of lands. And yes, my life would be made if someday somebody writes a book titled ‘The Partition of Nagaland’……….
