| Issue 26 Vol II, October 31, 2006 | Archive |
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THE SIKHS AND PARTITION
OF THE PUNJAB-
4 We present before the readers of www.southasiapost.org a series of articles by eminent historian and former Vice Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University and former Chairman and Director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Professor J.S.GREWAL on the partition of India and the role played by the Sikhs and Muslims from Punjab.
Giani Kartar Singh preferred a ‘province’ of their own for the Sikhs where they would be in a dominant or almost dominant position. Asked about this area, he mentioned more or less the area of the ‘Azad Punjab’. Harnam Singh was opposed to the partition of India and asked for weightage in the constitution-making body, or a separate body if there were to be more than one constituent body. Baldev Singh favoured a united India and, when he was asked specifically to mention the area of ‘Khalistan’, he mentioned roughly the same area as Giani Kartar Singh. Further on in the talks, Baldev Singh expressed the view that 55 per cent seats for both Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab would take care of most of the problems. We may be sure that the emphasis of the Akali leaders was on sharing power. In his memorandum to the Cabinet Mission, Master Tara Singh reiterated that the Sikhs were opposed to the partition of India envisaged in the Draft Declaration of the Mission. The Akalis demanded that the statutory Muslim majority must go and the position of the Sikhs must be strengthened ‘by increased representation’ to ensure and effective voice for them in the administration of the country. Alternatively, ‘a new Province’ may be carved out of the existing province ‘in the United India of the future in such a way that all important Sikh Gurdwaras and a substantial majority of the Sikhs were included in the new Province. If the right to a sovereign state was conceded to Muslims because they were ‘a nation’ separate from other Indians, then the Sikhs had as good a claim. If, therefore, two constitution-making bodies were established, there should be a separate body for ‘the Sikh State’. An All-Parties Sikh Conference was convened on 9 and 10 June to consider the Cabinet Mission Proposals of 16 May. 11 A large number of Sikh organizations responded to the proposals and found them to be wholly unacceptable. A council of action called the Panthak Pratinidhi Board was constituted. Colonel Niranjan Sigh Gill of the Indian National Army was chosen as its ‘dictator’. The majority of its members were Akalis. A plan of action (morcha) was to be worked out. When the joint statement of the Viceroy and the Cabinet Mission was released on 16 June, Baldev Singh was invited to join the Interim Government. He was directed by the Panthak Pratinidhi Board not to accept the invitation. The Pratinidhi Board decided to boycott elections to the Constituent Assembly. However, nominations were filed by Baldev Singh, Ujjal Singh, Narotam Singh and Bawa Harkishan Singh from amongst the Akalis, and by Partap Singh Kairon, Kapur Singh, Babu Bachan Singh and Shiv Singh from amongst the Congress Sikhs on receiving a telegram from Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress President. They had to withdraw because the Board did not change its decision on the boycott. On 6 July 1946 Jawaharlal Nehru declared in a press conference that the brave Sikhs of the Punjab were entitled to special consideration: ‘I see nothing wrong in an area and a set-up in the North, wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom’. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were completed before the end of July without the Sikh members. However, an assurance was given by the Congress Working Committee to the Sikh leaders that the Congress would give them all possible support in removing their grievances and in securing adequate safeguards for the protection of their just interests. The Pratinidhi Board revised its decision on 14 August and advised the Sikh legislators to elect their representatives to the Constituent Assembly. But there was no provision for by-elections to the Constituent Assembly in the Cabinet Mission Plan. The election took place much later. The morcha contemplated earlier by the Pratinidhi Board was indefinitely postponed. Baldev Singh joined the interim government. His place as the leader of the Akali Legislative Party was taken by Swaran Singh. On 15 October the Muslim League decided to join the Interim Government, not on the basis of any understanding with the Congress but to form a rival ‘bloc’. The battle on the issue of ‘a United India versus Pakistan’ was getting hotter in November 1946. The British Government supported the Muslim League’s interpretation that the provinces must enter the groups and do so on the basis of a simple majority vote. The Congress felt constrained to accept this interpretation. This angered the Akalis who were now cooperating with the Congress. Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh were furious because the Sikhs would now have to go into the Muslim majority group. Mangal Singh Gill remarked that the Congress had made another dangerous slip towards Pakistan. The worst fears of the Akalis had come true. The Sikh interests were going to be sacrificed ‘at the altar of appeasement of the Muslim League’. Mangal Singh also added that the only option for the Sikhs was the partition of the Punjab into two parts with the Ravi as the dividing line. [To be continued] |
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