Hindus And Muslims Problems Essay Research Paper

"It was the cry of outraged womanhood that has peremptorily called me to

Noakhal, ? My present mission is the most difficult and complicated one of my

life ? I am prepared for any eventuality. ‘Do or Die’ has to be put to the

test here. ‘Do’ here means Hindus and Mussulmans should learn to live together

in peace and amity. Otherwise I should die in the attempt ? No one can escape

death. Then why be afraid of it? In fact, death is a friend who brings

deliverance from suffering." Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was a freedom

fighter and leader of India who strongly opposed any violence among Hindus and

Muslims. As mentioned above, he preferred to teach the world that Hindus and

Muslims should learn to live together. Gandhi opposed the partition of India

from the beginning to the end. "In May 1947, he was called to Delhi where

the new Viceroy Lord Mountbatten had succeeded in persuading the congress

leaders to accept Jinnah’s insistent demand for the partition of India as a

condition precedent for British withdrawal. Gandhi was against partition at any

cost but he was unable to convince the congress leaders of the wisdom of his

stand. On August 15, 1947, India was partitioned and became free. Mahatma Gandhi

declined to attend the celebrations in the capital and went to Calcutta where

communal riots were still raging. When Gandhi returned to Delhi in September

1947, the city was in the grip of communal hysteria. Ghostly tales of what had

happened to Hindus and Sikhs in West Pakistan had kindled passions which burst

into a conflagration when the uprooted victims of this tragedy poured into the

city. In a frenzy of vengeance, Hindus and Sikhs had taken the law into their

hands and were looting Muslim houses, seizing Mosques, and stabbing innocent

passers-by." (Prasad, 1954 p.24) Despite the numerous communal clashes

which claimed a number of innocent lives, the separation of India still went

ahead. "Pakistan was founded because the Muslims of the subcontinent wanted

to build up their lives in accordance with the teachings and traditions of

Islam, because they wanted to demonstrate to the world that Islam provides a

panacea to the many diseases which have crept into the life of humanity

today." Liaquat Ali Khan "The birth of Pakistan on August 14-15, 1947

undermined, from the liberal and left perspective, the values of religious

tolerance and cultural pluralism. The ideological foundations of secular

nationalism, the main plank of Indian National Congress in its mobilization

campaigns, also weakened. For the Muslim communities that remained in India,

partition was a nightmare." (Hasan, 1997 p. 6) Liaquat Ali Khan was trying

to explain to the world the need for separation and the reason for separation of

India into two since the teachings and traditions of Islam would not mix with

Hinduism. Meanwhile, in his book, Hasan was emphasizes the horrors of separation

for the Muslim communities in India. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime

Minister shared the same view as Mahatma Gandhi on the partitioning of India and

the violence occurred as a result of it. In an impromptu radio broadcast on

September 9th 1947, he said, "it is an extraordinary thing that I have

seen. I have seen horror enough and I have seen many people die. ? Death is

bad and painful, but one gets used to death. But there are some things much

worse than death that have taken place. I am ashamed of the acts that my people

have done and I fear the disgrace and the consequences of evil deeds will remain

with us for a long time. ? This morning, our leader, our master, Mahatma

Gandhi, came to Delhi, and I went to see him, and I sat by him for a while

wondering how low we have fallen from the great ideals that he had placed before

us." Mohammad Ali Jinnah was being encouraged by his followers on

separating Hindus from Muslims, and creating conflict between the two. "A

Muslim was overheard saying to Jinnah in 1946, a large factory for the mass

Hinduisation of Muslims has been established in Delhi under the very name of the

All-India Muslim leaders ? I am referring to the so-called Jamia Millia. Dr.

Zakir Husain was selected by Gandhi and Co. for carrying out their plan for

Hinduising Muslims in the spirit of the Wardha scheme which was prepared ?

under the guidance and supervision of Gandhi, the most astute and cunning

hypocrite of all time. The object of the Jamia Millia is to make Muslims as much

Hindu in outlook and every other respect as possible ? for example, (the young

children) are taught the slogan "The Muslim league is dead, the Congress is

good." With grown up Muslim boys, more subtle methods are used. The aim is

to make their inside Hindu and let their outside remain Muslim. ? If this

factory for Hinduising Muslims is allowed to continue its evil work, real Islam

will soon disappear from India. The great killings like to one in Bihar grieve

upon us most profoundly, but they do not kill Islam. They rather revive it to

some extent. But the slow and secret poison of the Jamia Millia Islamia will

soon kill Islam, and will make every Muslim a mere ’show-boy’ of the Hindus.

This is the cleverest plot so far designed for the destruction of Islam in

India." (Hasan, 1997 p. 240) The communal violence between Hindus and

Muslims has been an often occurrence in India and Pakistan. When looking at the

causes of these clashes, one may find various reasons through books, or public

opinion. We will concentrate on the separating of India into India and Pakistan

as the primary cause of the communal violence. This paper will be expressed

under the following topics: 1. Making of a separate nation. 2. The empowering of

differences. (a) Political actions (b) Sectarian Violence (c) Retreat of

Secularism 3. Ayodhya and its Consequences. The explanation and reasoning for

the Hindu-Muslim clashes is a very large topic which would need a lot of time

and research to document it. This paper will concentrate on the partitioning of

India and will follow the topics mentioned above.