Newton’s Third Law

I have been since long propagating the idea that the Partition of India in 1947 was a British swindle, and that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are really one nation, sharing the same culture, were one for 500 years since the time of Moghul Emperor Akbar, and must reunite under a secular government.

In response, many people said that the fact that atrocities are being committed on Muslims in India, especially after 2014 when BJP came to power, proves that Partition and creating Pakistan as a separate Islamic state, was a good idea.

One person (possibly a Pakistani) tweeted :

“May be it was worth giving a thought a decade ago but now it’s more than obvious that Jinnah’s ideas were prophetical. Don’t you see what BJP is doing? They’re reinventing history, Muslim persecution, Babri Masjid replaced by Ram Mandir, lynching of Muslims and cow vigilante on the loose.”

I submit in reply that it was precisely because India was partitioned on religious lines on the basis of the bogus 2 nation theory, and an Islamic State called Pakistan created, that what is happening in India now is happening, and was sooner or later inevitable. It could not have happened if India had remained united.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states : Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So once India was partitioned on religious lines and an Islamic State called Pakistan created, India, though declared to be a secular country in its Constitution, was one day bound to become a Hindu State, and atrocities committed on non Hindu minorities (just as they are committed on non Muslim minorities in Pakistan).

After all, the Constitution is just a piece of paper. The ground realities, which are very different, are what really matter.

Read More: A Perspective on the Constitutional Balance: The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023

The Indian subcontinent has such tremendous diversity ( perhaps more than in any country in the world ), that only secularism can work here. The Moghul Empire lasted so long because it was broadly secular and inclusive.

The idea that Hindus and Muslims are inherently hostile to each other was bogus. For centuries they have lived peacefully and amicably in India.

The purpose of Partition was to prevent a united India from emerging as a potential modern industrial giant, given its considerable potential, and thereby avoid it becoming a significant competitor to Western industries, much like China has become.

But without becoming highly industrialised we cannot abolish massive poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education, etc.

So those who still believe Partition was a good idea are totally mistaken.

Markandey Katju is an Indian jurist and former Supreme Court judge of India who served as chairman for the Press Council of India. He has also worked as Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. 

The views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not represent the editorial policy or views of Global Village Space.