The Historical India Displacement & Ghandi's Fast

The Historical India Displacement
.In August 17, 1947, two days after subcontinent was partitioned into two independent
nation states: ‘Hindu-majority India’ and ‘Muslim-majority Pakistan', immediately there began
one of the greatest migrations in human history, as millions of Muslims trekked to West and East
Pakistan (the latter now known as Bangladesh) while millions of Hindus and Sikhs headed in the
opposite direction. Many hundreds of thousands never made it.
An estimated of 15 million People were uprooted as Muslims began trekking to East and
West Pakistan. And Hindus and Sikhs on the other way. Between one and two million people
lost their lives due to large-scale religious violence, starvation and disease. More than 75, 000
women were raped or abducted
The partition unleashed a wave of bloodshed. One of the central flashpoints was in
Punjab. People who found themselves to be in the wrong country had to flee themselves from
their ancestral homes, on foot, on bullock carts, or by train. More than 7 million people travelled
from India to Pakistan and another 7 million people travelled from Pakistan to India. Mobs hid in
the bushes along the way waiting to slaughter people. Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs killed one
another. Many of the refugees succumb to hunger of thirst or were murdered along the way.
Train Carriages dubbed ‘Blood trains’ which carried refugees often arrived at their destination
with corpses. Women were raped and abducted. Many of the victims were mutilated and had
their breasts cut off. Pregnant women attacked by mobs had their bellies cut out of them.
Some women were killed by their own fathers and brothers so they wouldn’t be captured.
Other women committed suicide by throwing themselves into wells to avoid abduction and
preserve their honor. Homes and businesses were burnt down. Some British Soldiers and
journalists have likened the Partition to the Holocaust. Refugee camps were set up in India and
Pakistan to try to house millions of refugees. But many more people lost their lives due to the
poor conditions and disease in the camps.
The Massive and sudden Migration changed the demographic of south Asia forever.
Almost all Hindus fled to cities like Karachi which was populated with just under 50% of Hindus
before partition. More than 300,000 Muslims were forced to flee Delhi alone, the capital of
Independent India. The partition separated thousands of families. More than 70 years later after
the partition in 1947, many families are still divided.
Pakistan and India remain bitter rivals. They have fought 3 wars over Kashmir and one
over East Pakistan, which eventually became Bangladesh. Today, there are still disputes of water
and borders.
Gandhi’s ‘fast’ to stop Violence
Gandhi was involved in several publicized fasts as a method of private meditation and as
a method of influencing public opinion. His frail appearance and steadfast determination gained
him public sympathy, persuading authorities to alter their policies. Gandhi used fasting was a
weapon as part of his philosophy of Ahimsa or Non Violence
One of Gandhi's biggest assets in the 1930's is that he was “Mahatma” Gandhi. He was
famous for his time spent in South Africa, he is identified as the great soul, a person regarded
with reverence and respect. When Gandhi began his fast it put the British on a clock. Gandhi’s
appeal was the fact that he was Gandhi, but it was also that the British needed Gandhi on the
earth more than Gandhi needed. Gandhi realized his influence was so great that his death would
mean more death, riots, and possibly war.
If a poor man who no one knew starved to death the British wouldn't care. However
because of who he was the British were not willing to allow the man who led a sixty thousand
person peaceful march to have those sixty thousand people possibly rioting.
One of Gandhi's most famous protest was his "fast unto death". Mahatma Gandhi started
his fast on September 16, 1932, while still imprisoned in Yerwada jail. A fast unto death against
separate electorates for untouchables. After six days, it culminated in the Gandhi-Ambedkar
Poona Pact where a common electorate for all Hindus was agreed upon, provided the
untouchable had seats reserved for them in the legislature and provided there was a primary
election – before the main election – where the untouchable would vote for other untouchable
who would then stand for elections on the reserved seats.
In 1943, Gandhi took another 21 days fast from February 12 to March 4 and began a hunger
strike while imprisoned for promoting the Quit India movement. Under wartime regulations, the
British withheld much of the news regarding his physical condition.
On the 12th of January 1948, Gandhi undertook his last successful fast in New Delhi to
persuade Hindus and Muslims in that city to work toward peace. On 30th of January, less than
two weeks after breaking that fast, he was assassinated by a Hindu extremist on his way to an
evening prayer meeting.
Sources:
Basu, Anindita. “Gandhi and HIS FASTS.” Swarajyamag, swarajyamag.com/politics/gandhi-

and-his-fasts.
Dalrymple, William, et al. “The Mutual Genocide of Indian Partition.” The New Yorker, 22 June
2015, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple.
Sarkar, Monica, and video by Getty Images. “India, Pakistan's INDEPENDENCE: Story behind
One of History's Greatest Mass Migrations.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Aug. 2018,
edition.cnn.com/2017/08/08/asia/india-pakistan-independence-timeline/index.html.
“Why Did GANDHI Go on a Hunger Strike? 왜 간디는 단식을 했나?” 네이버 블로그 | dan11
님의 블로그, m.blog.naver.com/dan11/221716497406.

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Basu, Anindita. “Gandhi and HIS FASTS.” Swarajyamag, swarajyamag.com/politics/gandhi-

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