This is also for those who cannot visualise the impact of Mahatma Gandhi on
the anti-Imperialist freedom movement and struggle and dismiss him lightly .
It was a different historical period . There were diverse streams of the
freedom struggle .However there are lessons to be learnt from all important
struggles in India.Every movement takes place against a particular historical
backdrop and therefore the strategies and tactics are in keeping with those
specific historical circumstances . However there are no short cuts to
political education and understanding , not even for Human Rights Groups . The
difficulties which are faced because most mainstream parties have abandoned
those who broadly belong to the unorganized sector which includes a greater
part of agrarian India .
Niloufer Bhagwat
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 5:10 PM
Subject: The Price of Resistance
The Price of Resistance .
Niloufer Bhagwat
Reflecting on the five million refugees of Iraq ,only one among other
occupied regions of the world , living in desperate circumstances in
neighbouring countries , including those internally displaced within Iraq ,
it is prima facie clear that the sectarian and religious strife deliberately
unleashed by the Occupation , through covert murderous militias was to
divide the ' Resistance ' . Bomb blasts were deliberately planted in
civilian areas by agent provocateurs ,owing their loyalty to the occupation ,
to terrorize the civilian population , to foster a deliberate sectarian
divide, in the hope that these will simmer for generations. The present
displacement by war and occupation of civilian populations in so many
countries , historically recalls the displacement of millions by internal
strife and drawing of artificial boundaries by colonial or proxy governments
to restructure regions for better control for seizure of resources and
markets. The blood soaked saga which accompanied the partition by the British
government of the Indian Subcontinent into two countries , India and
Pakistan , was an example of one such vendetta by the colonial government as
a reaction to the 'Quit India 'movement , with 12 million people turned
overnight into refugees , crossing arbitrarily drawn boundaries in millions,
in the West and East .The figures of the dead during this partition which
was the restructuring of South Asia , vary between 200,000 estimated by the
British government and 2 million estimated by the government of India .*1
Analyzing the pattern in Iraq and historically even in Ireland ,
it is conclusively established that sectarian strife and religious , ethnic
or racial killings are methods used to fracture the unity of society to
resist and to assist the internal tyranny of governments , usurping
budgetary and other resources for an oligarchy .Social strife interse between
people and citizens on the basis of the religious , ethnic or other divide ,
is always deliberately fostered as a divisive agenda to create conditions
enabling better authoritarian control of societies even in countries not
under foreign occupation, as is being seen in those countries using
Islamophobhia or a Maoist threat .
In a poignantly written book , titled ' The Other Side of
Silence ' , relevant for our historical and contemporary understanding ,
Urvashi Butalia , has painstakingly recorded in first person accounts , the
poignant voices of those who lived through the brutalities deliberately
inflicted on the people and on some of the pre-eminent leaders of the
freedom struggle of the Indian Subcontinent during and in the immediate
aftermath of the Partition of India, by the colonial government, on the eve
of its handing over of power . The book is an authentic oral history of that
period .One such oral account gives us a vivid insight into the satanic
nature of the planned vendetta ,in the following words :
"...........The Englishman here , the Deputy Commissioner
.......stayed in this rest house . I used to be his chaprasi "( personal
attendant )."He came one night and said to me , Chaprasi , take off my shoes
.........and to-day I'll tell you a story ..........take it down.. .....note it
down with pen and paper ..........you know your baba Gandhi , he's given us a
lot of trouble . The old man he doesn't even stop for breath , he keeps telling
us get out , get out .........We'll leave because we have to , we"ll leave ,
but not before we have taught him a lesson . We'll leave such a state of
affairs that brother will fight brother , sister will fight sister , there will
be killing and arson and rape behind that he will not be able to control it ,
he will raise his hands and plead with God to send us back ........and then
what will happen .......his own men , his own people will hurl abuses at him ,
they will give him trouble , they will say look at this mess you have got us
into .........take it down ....I'm telling you we will go .......but we'll
teach him a lesson '.*2
Reference : 1. Urvashi Butalia , ' The Other Side of Silence' ,voices from
the Partition of India , Penguin Books ,1998
2. Urvashi Butalia ,' The Other Side of Silence',voices
from the Partition of India , Penguin Books,1998.
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