What Were the Social and Political Impacts of the Partition of India and Pakistan?
India gained its independence from Britain on the 15th of August, 1946 but then was previously faced with another issue. Partition. Muslims and Hindus wanted to be separated into their own countries, but what impacts would this have economically and socially? I will answer this question, analyzing both aspects, throughout this essay. This essay is based on books and articles I have read as well as interviews from my family members and detailed research through the internet. One source I mainly used was a book by Gyanesh Kudaisya and Tai Yong Tan: The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, which gave me a good idea of the aspects that were mostly impacted by the partition and how I should format this essay properly to thoroughly answer my question. Another book that greatly helped me was, The Economic Consequences of Divided India: a study of the economy of India and Pakistan, by Chandulal Nagindas Vakil. This book helped me answer the question of economy more detailed. I also interviewed my grandma, which gave me more of a cultural feel on how to answer this question. Towards the end of Britain’s 190 year rule over India, unavoidable issues began rising. These issues would be the reasons of Independence from Britain. Once the British began to see that their reign is coming to its end, they decided that they would first split the Hindus and Muslims before allowing India to gain its independence. So rose the issue of Partition. Though Hindus and Muslims had once lived peacefully together as brothers, that was soon changed and the notion of partition spread like a deadly virus. Muslims wanted to return to the previous days when India was under the Mughal Empire, which was the Muslim rule. They could not bear the idea of Hindus becoming more powerful or even equal to them. They also “…refused to learn English and to associate with the British…,” but once they saw “…that the Hindus were now in better positions in government…,” they knew that they had