1947 Partition studies in DU may begin with ‘8th century invasions’

New Delhi “Germs of separatism that the central leadership failed to contain”; “the way Congress Working Committee consented to Partition without consulting Gandhi”; and “the reason for the non-insistence of central leadership on having the Frontier Province with India” — these are some of the questions that will be investigated by a new centre for Independence and Partition Studies to be set up by Delhi University, according to a draft concept note issued by an eight-member panel set up by the university to oversee the upcoming centre.

The draft note, which has been reviewed by HT, and the ordinance that will govern the centre will be placed before the university’s academic council on May 26.Once approved by the academic council, the proposal will be reviewed by the executive council at a meeting on June 9.

The roots of India’s Partition, the draft note argues, actually began in the 8th century.

It says that India, as the oldest living civilisation, was once a great melting pot that subsumed all differences and divisions but developed lethargy and intellectual complacency due to repeated invasions.

“Due to external invasions, starting with the Arab invasion of Sindh in early 8th century, Indians started to gradually lose their cultural and intellectual strengths and many fault lines along caste, religion, language and race came to be drawn. Of these, religion grew into a chasm and resulted in the country being partitioned on religious lines,” the draft note adds.

“The horrors of Partition also serve as a grim reminder of invasions and savagery of more than a millennium that transformed a land of tolerance, coexistence and plenty into that of strife, fault lines and schism,” it says.

The draft also says that a process of destruction that was started by medieval invaders was only completed by the British.

“Indian society witnessed a stagnation that led to a long phase of lethargy and intellectual complacency in every aspect of life. If centuries of invasions destroyed the grand structures and attacked the Indian knowledge system, then the British colonisers completed this task by destroying the collective memory of these structures and the grand knowledge system,” it says.

The draft note envisions that the centre will also investigate other questions around Partition — including the role played by Cyril Radcliffe, who divided India and Pakistan, and the high-voltage politics surrounding Partition.

The centre was first conceptualised in 2020and will be set up as a multidisciplinary hub. The five-page draft note refers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push in 2021 to observe August 14, also Pakistan’s independence day, as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, and says though some departments touched upon various aspects of Independence and Partition, such effort was hardly based on field research, dedicated archival sources or studies of affected groups. “Further, there has been no effort to create a dedicated resource centre for exclusive studies on Independence and Partition. There is hardly any effort to sensitise the student communities to the traumas and horrors around Partition,” the draft note adds.

DU vice chancellor Yogesh Singh said that the centre will serve as a critical resource hub on Partition. “Historians and political scientists are of the view that the Partition and its impact should also be shared with the younger generations. The centre will serve as a resource and catalyst in conducting research, preserving testimonies, and important documents pertaining to the Partition,” said Singh.

Prakash Singh, director of South Delhi campus and chairperson of the committee, said that the centre did not aim to deny or criticise past scholarship. “We don’t want to deny or critique past scholarship. Our only aim is to highlight certain segments that have never been highlighted in mainstream history writing. Tribal leaders, local heroes have been ignored and did not receive much attention until Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,” said Singh.

Last year, Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit shared that the varsity had plans to set up a centre to study Partition.

A Partition Museum was recently opened at the Dara Shikoh Library Building (DSLB) on the Ambedkar University campus at Kashmere Gate. The museum is managed by The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust (TACHT) which set up a Partition Museum in Amritsar earlier.

Maya John, a member of the academic council who teaches history, said, “Among the aims and objectives of the centres, it is proposed that the centre will study past invasions, suffering and slavery over 1300 years. The language is objectionable and suggests a ring-wing assertion of the Indian subcontinent’s past. The manner in which the note talks about the invasion of the past 1300 years is a clear-cut right-wing ideology at play.”

“The kind of approach that is being taken seems to lay a lot of emphasis on retrieving the history of unsung heroes. This approach doesn’t necessarily help the scholarship to move forward. This approach reflects undermining of earlier historical scholarship and the anti-colonial struggle during the partition period,” said John.