Mahatma Gandhi believed in religious harmony. He was a supporter of unity among various communities of the country. So he was deadly against the partition of India. He did not want the separation of the Muslims from the Hindus who had been living together for centuries. He used to say that the country could be divided over his dead body. He gave the following arguments against partition of India:

(i)    He stated that the demand for Pakistan mooted by the Muslim League was un-Islamic and sinful. Islam stands for the unity and brotherhood of mankind. So it cannot disrupt the unity of human family.

(ii)    According to Gandhiji, the protagonists of partition of the country were the enemies of both Islam and India.

(iii)    He considered partition as wrong. He was ready to be cut into pieces. But he was not ready to accept the partition of the country.

(iv)    He appealed to the Muslim League not to regard any Indian as its enemy. The Hindus and the Muslims belong to the same land. They have the same blood. They eat the same food and drink the same water. They speak the same language. They do everything with mutual consultation. So they cannot be separated from each other.

The Muslim League passed an important resolution on 23 March, 1940. Through this resolution, the Muslim League demanded an autonomy for the Muslim-majority areas of the sub-continent. However it did not mention either partition of country or the creation of Pakistan. In fact, Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Punjab Premier and Leader of the Unionist Party, had drafted this resolution. Speaking in the Punjab Assembly on 1 March, 1941, he had opposed the creation of Pakistan. He was in favour of a loose confederation with a lot of autonomy for the units.

(a) The ordinary people viewed Partition in terms of the sufferings and challenges of the times. For them it was not a mere territorial division nor was it about the party politics of the Muslim League, Congress or other parties.

(b) For them, it meant the death of loved ones, the rape and abduction of their women and loss of property and wealth. It also meant being uprooted from their homes, transported to refugee camps and forced to start life afresh.

Many people considered the partition of India in 1947 as a very sudden development. Even the Muslims were not clear what the creation of Pakistan meant to them. They were also unaware how the creation of their own country might shape their lives in the future. Many people had migrated to the new country with the hope that they would soon come back as and when the peace prevailed in the region. Many Muslim leaders were even not serious in their demand for Pakistan. Many-a_times Jinnah used the idea of Pakistan to seek favours from the British and to block concessions to the Congress. In other words, the partition of the country took place so suddenly that nobody realised what had happened within a few days.

Indian partition is viewed as an extremely significant marker in South Asian history because of the following reasons:

(i)    This partition took place on the name of communities or religions. History has not witnessed such type of partition.

(ii)    First time in history, people of two countries moved across. Most of the Muslims of India crossed over to Pakistan and almost all Hindus and Sikhs came to India from Pakistan.

(iii)    Several hundred thousand people were killed. People began killing each other who used to live with each other with peace and harmony. Government machinery had no role in it.

(iv)    Innumerable women were raped and abducted. They had faced a number of problems.

(v)    People were rendered homeless, having suddenly lost all of their immovable and movable assets. They were separated from many of their relatives and friends as well.