Nehru’s interview with Yuvaraj Karan – A Leaf from History, The Price which we are still paying

Mohammad Ali Jinnah who propounded the theory that Moslems are a separate Nation and so demanded the partition of India for creation of Islamic state of Pakistan(and Bangla desh) as a national home for the subcontinent’s  Moslems, proposed an exchange of population between Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan. Dr B R Ambedkar in his masterly analysis of the Muslim problem in India in his book ‘Pakistan of partition of India’ also advocated the exchange of minority population and cited the example of exchange of Muslim and Christian populations in the Balkans of Europe on the dissolution in 1919 of the Ottoman Turkish empire. The exchange of population was supervised by the League of Nations after the firstWorld war and thus put an end to the Muslim problem in Non-Muslim Balkan states.
 
Here in India, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi opposed the exchange of populations. Both said that they did not accept the Two Nation theory, but agreed to divide India on the basis of religion! In the event , Islamic Pakistan ethnically cleansed Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists from that country and the Islamic state of Bangla desh is also doing the same thing in steps, but here in India the Muslims who rioted for Pakistan, were affectionately patronized by Nehru (and his dynasty) and also by Mahatma Gandhi. The 9% of Muslim population in India in 1947 has gone upto 13.4% according to census 2001 of India and over 15% according to the Sachar Committee report. Incidentally Rajinder Sachar, Manmohan Singh, Kuldip Nayar, Jyoti Basu and Bhuddadev Bhattacharji to mention a few secular warriors have fled from the Islamic state of Pakistan in 1947 to escape massacre or forced conversion

Shri Yuvaraj Karan, a former IAS Officer, who is also one of the escapees from Pakistan has written a book – ‘Understanding Partition’ published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. When he was at the IAS training institute in Dehradun, in the first batch IAS trainees, Jawaharlal Nehru was invited to address them. At the end of Shri Nehru, self confident and all knowing address Shri Yuvaraj whose mind was particularly exercised for the continued stay in India of the leaders of the Muslim League who had brought about partition of India and fought for the establishment of Pakistan, reacted to the observations made by Jawaharlal Nehru and provoked a dialogue! Here it is :

(We reproduce below a conversation between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and an IAS probationer, Shri Yuvaraj Karan in 1950)
 
   Y. Krishna{quoting} (YK): Well, Sir, those who have brought about partition have been left behind in the partitioned India. The Muslim League had declared that the Hindus and Muslims were two nations and had asked for partition because they feared that the Muslims being a minority, would suffer oppression and atrocities at the hands of Hindu majority. Pakistan was to be their homeland where they could live in freedom from the tyranny of the Non-Muslim majority. But lo and behold! The vast majority of Muslims of UP, Bihar, Central provinces, Bombay etc remained behind in India and did not migrate to the homeland (Pakistan) created for them. We never accepted the two-nation theory though we were driven to accept partition to avoid bloodshed and to achieve Independence.
 
Prime minister (PM)– We are not a communal state. The Muslims, who have decided to stay in India, are as much honorable citizens of the country as the members of the majority community. They cannot be victimized in the new situation for their actions and conduct before and at the time of partition. We cannot and must not live in the past
 
YK : True Sir, but the immense suffering the people have undergone and the problems; only it has created new ones.
 
PM: You are too young to understand. The overwhelming majority of the Indian Muslims are politically backward and have been misled by the pernicious and poisonous propaganda of the Muslim league. So it will be wrong to treat the vast majority of Indian Muslims as being responsible for the ills of our country
 
YK: True Sir, the vast majority has been misled by the two-nation theory. But this does not absolve the Muslim League leadership; they are the authors of partition, and yet, the majority of this leadership has also stayed back in India. The Muslims of Pakistan, West Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Baluchistan as such never wanted or asked for Pakistan, in fact that they did not need to.
 
      There was a pause and silence for a couple of minutes.
 
The Raja of Mahamudabad, Begum Aizaz Rasul, Raja of Pirpur, Maulana Hasrat Mohanti etc, from UP, Syed Hussain Imam from Bihar, M.Mod.Ismail from Madras etc to name a few of the host of Muslim League leaders, have stayed back in India though they had actively worked for the creation of Pakistan as the homeland for the Indian Muslims. There is not an iota of justification for such leaders being allowed to stay in India after having got the country partitioned on the basis of the two-Nation theory. They ought to have gone to the homeland they asked for and obtained

      There was again a pause
 
     PM Nehru’s face was flushed. After a brief silence, he resumed
 
PM: We cannot abandon the nationalist Muslims who had fought and sacrificed for Indiaâ„¢s independence.
 
YK: But the congress has already abandoned the khidmatgars led by the Frontier Gandhi
 
PM: This was a most (unfortunate) decision forced on us by the geo-political realities
 
YK: I am not sure of the loyalty of the so-called Nationalist Muslims, after the creation of Pakistan. Considering the speeches (mischievous and rabble rousing) of the National Muslim leaders (those who were opposed to partition) like Dr Syed Mahmud, Maulana Hafizur Rahman(of Jamiat-ul-ulema-e-Hind)etc at the Lucknow conference of Mussalman, Hind(Dec 1947)
 
PM: This is false, mischievous, a canard intended to defame and denigrate the Nationalist Muslims who have played a glorious role in India,s independence.
 
YK: The PM must be correct on this point. I have perhaps been wrongly informed. But the basic fact remains that the Muslim League leaders and worked from Western UP”Meerut, Moradabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, etc “organised the riots in Rawalpindi in March 1947 which set the Punjab ablaze. It was not the work of the local Muslims of Rawalpindi in the initial stages but the Muslim League leaders from UP. Is it also not shocking that the Muslim League leaders of Rampur State in UP should have launched a violent agitation by setting on fire several Government buildings demanding accession of Rampur State (to) Pakistan?
 
   The face of the Prime Minister turned red in anger. He started puffing at his silver cigarette-holder
          At this point , I had a very strong urge to recall the advice PM Nehru had given to the Kashmiri Pandits in 1945 at a meeting in Sopore in the Kashmir valley that if non-Muslims wanted to live in Kashmir they should join the National Conference(which was overwhelmingly a Muslim party) or bid good bye to the country(Kashmir). But sensing the mood of the Prime Minister I was sullen and kept quiet.
 
      The Principal of the training school MJ Desai, ICS was visibly feeling uncomfortable and edgy. As there was palpable tension in the atmosphere and the PM Nehru was silent and red faced, the Principal asked for the dinner bell to be rung. This relieved the tension in all of us. We collected our plates and made a bee-line for the dining table ..

  {This was a copy of the print version from ‘Secular Combat’ magazine May 2010 issue}

Responses