Rich in every aspect, India is a land that has always been coveted by every power and wealth hungry empire and despot. Empires came and went, plundering what they could, but it was the wily British who institutionalised India's exploitation.
It was the 'Jewel in the crown' of the British Empire, and every effort was made to retain, expand its hold on India.
The Great Game nowadays means something else today, but beginning in 1830, it was the rivalry between Russia and the British for control of all lands that could impact British trade and power.
In 1830 the Muslim Ottoman Empire was visibly in terminal decline and the Russian Empire was in ascendant. The British feared the invasion of India by USSR and the loss of its lucrative trade,
To protect their interests the British had made Afghanistan a buffer state between the two powers.
Another rising power America saw World war II as an opportunity to ascend to greatest power in the world. First America allowed Britain to expend all its resources before entering the war and assisting it.
Then it had to to dismantle the power of European Colonialists. It informed Britain it was not helping it to retain its colonies but to free all people from Colonial rule. The Americans compelled a reluctant Britain by virtue of the Atlantic Charter to give up its colonies and set the lands and people free after the end of the second World War.
America and Britain fretted, that if they vacated India, nothing could stop a Soviet Union strong and confident after its victory in World War II, from simply marching into and occupying India.
Britain therefore wanted to retain bases with troops and equipment in India to prevent such an eventuality. Both Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi flatly turned that request down.
On the other hand Muhammad Ali Jinnah an astute man with a much better understanding of geopolitics than did Nehru and Gandhi, accepted the British request unconditionally.
He offered the British 'Carte blanche' unconditional support and bases if they appointed him the first Prime Minister of independent India.
There was however, a small problem. Jinnah had almost no say in the Congress party.
The problem was easily solved by the wily British, partition India into two countries.
A Hindu majority Secular India with Nehru as PM and a Muslim majority Pakistan and appoint Jinnah the Prime Minister of Pakistan. West Pakistan is the area that is contiguous with Afghanistan and where Britain wanted to have bases and troops, thus create an openly pro British buffer state.
The die was cast, now to implant the plan.
Though the British government had mandated its viceroy Louis Mountbatten to grant India independence by July 1948.
Suddenly the plan was in danger. British intelligence had reliable information that Jinnah was suffering from tuberculosis and unlikely to survive another year. The deadline had to brought forward.
Then there was the question, 'what if the people of India and Pakistan decide to reunite after the exit of the British from India the main culprit in dividing them on religious grounds?' After all barring the occasional riot the people of all religions and communities within India lived in relative harmony before the arrival of the British.
So not only was partition essential to post independence British plans but to do so in such a manner that the people of the Sub Continent would remain bitterly divided for ever.
The task of demarcation of the boundary between India and Pakistan was assigned to two different boundary commissions.
Each commission consisted of a small group of eminent lawyers. Without any surveys, knowledge, expertise, background information nor advisors they were given the great task of trisecting a subcontinent. The notorious demarcated line came to be known as the Radcliffe line.
Cyril Radcliffe an English lawyer was summoned and assigned the job of trisecting most of India. He was appointed joint chairman of the two boundary commissions (One for Bengal and one for Panjab).
It is shocking to know, that Radcliffe had never visited India earlier, never read about or studied India until he was assigned the task. He was given just 5 weeks to complete the assignment. Arriving in India on July 8th 1947 he spent two weeks in bed recovering from 'Delhi Belly'( a bad case of dysentery).
Radcliffe merely rubber stamped a plan that had been given to him by British authorities. We shall never know for certain, because Radcliffe destroyed all papers and records related with the decision of partition before he left India, and he never spoke about it for the rest of his life.
Independence was granted at midnight on 15th August 1947. The exact map of Partition of India was announced on 17th August 1947.
India had been partitioned into 626 parts. India, East Pakistan, West Pakistan and 623 independent kingdoms. It was a disaster for the Indians.
Many Indians found themselves on the wrong side of the boundary and now prey to violent gangs intent on spreading terror, looting, raping and destroying.
Mountbatten who had promised law and order in the transition was inactive and silent. He let India burn, which many suspect was deliberate or gross incompetence.
Nehru and Jinnah busy in strutting into their new offices are also culpable for their neglect in their duty.
It seems evident, that the wily British had deliberately created a mess. They had the mischievous intent, to create enough long lasting problems in the Indian sub-continent to pave the way for Britain's return to rule and dominate India once again sometime in the future.
Another clear indication of Britain's mischievous agenda was how the British Army officer Major William Brown, the commandant of Gilgit Scouts, supposedly went against wishes of his own British government guidelines and staged a coup against the Maharaja of Kashmir.
Brown hoisted the Pakistani flag on 2nd Nov 1947 and announced the accession of Gilgit to Pakistan.
For his impudence and disobeying the promise of the British government to Indian leaders, Brown was awarded the Order of the British Empire by a grateful British Crown in July 1948.
Many people like to believe independence is mainly because of the trio of Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah that got India and Pakistan freedom. Though this opinion is widespread it is grossly untrue.
It disrespects the blood, sweat and tears contributed by countless Indians, and even some Britishers and foreigners. The role of America was key.
Though Louis Mountbatten the Viceroy of India had time till June 1948 to complete the partition and grant India freedom, he used a butcher's knife to tear out the soul of a people bound by centuries old shared culture and history.
Unclassified Russian documents reveal that Russia never had plans to invade India.
Pakistan became a key partner in CENTO led by the Americans and British in their fight against USSR. Pakistan received huge funds, technology, weapons and all sorts of military, political and economic benefits.
Pakistan gradually evolved into a footstool or a pawn for any power that would pay it mercenary fees and give it international support for all its mischief and terrorist activities.
Pakistan never learnt to exercise independence and remains independent only in name. Pakistan is now a failed Pariah state dependent only on a Communist China which is slowly sucking out whatever vitality is left.
In contrast, India is now a vibrant and prosperous democracy and considered an emerging world leader and the credit has to go to the Indian people and leadership.
I wish all Indians a happy independence day.
Note:
It was a clear strategy of America and Britain that an independent India not willing to be politically aligned with either the West of the Soviet block had to be contained and kept weak by entangling India with permanent geopolitical headaches. What better than to give it a permanent problem in the form of Pakistan and 623 independent kingdoms.
Churchill later stated that at the time of granting independence to India the British firmly believed that Indians would never be able to govern themselves. And would in a mere few decades beg the British to return and once again rule India.
Interesting Links:
The Great Game | 3 Minute History ~ Jabzy on YouTube
Why the British left India? - Guru Wonder
The Great Game Replayed - Indian Ambassador KC Singh
Line of division - REAL AND IMAGINED ~ Kuldip Nayar
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