Partition Was Not Just Of Land But Of Hearts As Well: Ram Madhav

Speaking at an event at the University of Delhi, Madhav said, "If today the discourse is Hindus and Muslims cannot live together then (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah must be laughing in his grave. We must be cautious about this discourse."

"What happened in 1947 was not just the partition of the land but also the partition of hearts. The purpose of opposing partition should not be just to unify the land but to join hearts as well," he said.

Madhav, who has recently authored 'Partitioned Freedom', was addressing a workshop-cum-book discussion on 'Independence and the Partition of India'.

He said his book discussed two partitions -- the 1905 Bengal partition and the 1947 India-Pakistan partition.

"At that time Bengal was the largest province of India with a population of eight crores. It was divided as a test case.

"The Britishers felt that one way of weakening India's independence movement was to create a cleavage between Hindus and Muslims. The Britishers had to annul that division six years later. Fast forward by 35 years the whole country was divided. Why could it not be opposed or stopped?" he said. 

Addressing the event, Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh said India inspires other countries to practise democracy.

"After 75 years of Independence, we can confidently say that today India is the largest and deepest democracy in the world. We do not only practise democracy but inspire...many other countries to practise democracy," he said.

Underlining that the 1947 Partition not only created two countries but two enemies, Singh said, "Cyril John Radcliffe later said that 'I had no alternative. The time at my disposal was so short that I could not do a better job. Given the same proposal, I would do the same thing. If I had two or three years I might have improved on what I did'." Radcliffe drew the partition map.

-With PTI Input