To what extent did Gandhi affect the factors that led to the partition of India?
Upvote:2
Gandhi never called publicly for India's partition. Before the announcement of the partition plan (known as Mountbatten plan), he had said India could only be divided over his "dead body". But after the plan was announced, he urged all Indians to accept it (without explicitly supporting partition). But to say that Gandhi did not have enough influence in the Congress is, in my opinion, completely wrong. All Congress leaders, Nehru and Patel included, had sided with Gandhi for over 20 years in all internal and external conflicts. His hold over the Congress machinery was made even stronger by the fact that most state Congress leaders were "Gandhian" leaders -- leaders who had been mentored personally by Gandhi himself, and had always stood by his ideology (Example: Prafulla Ghosh in Bengal, Morarji Desai in Bombay, Rajagopalachari in Madras, etc). He had explicit veto powers over the decision of the Congress Working Committee (see Pant resolution). Had Gandhi publicly said that he opposed partition, it is hard to believe that the Congress could have gone against his public stance.
However, it is true that Gandhi tried to stop the communal riots that engulfed India. But this was not an exception, considering the fact that almost all Indian and Pakistani leaders at least claimed to have tried their best (and in many cases actually tried their best) to stop the destruction.
References: All books on India's freedom struggle deal with Gandhi's reaction to the Mountbatten plan, and his assassination due to his efforts to restore communal amity in India. References to the Pant resolution are found mainly in books dealing with the resignation of Subhas Bose (since it was used to force him to resign) from the Congress presidency, including his autobiography, The Indian Struggle. For leaders of provinces, check the first chief ministers (provinces) that were sworn in both 1937 and 1947, and their biographies (even a glance at Wikipedia shows this, but you have to look at their official biographies for more authoritative sources) -- majority of them had been inspired and led by Gandhi for over 20 years. For references on Gandhi's attempts to stop communal riots, see mkgandhi.org, and the book Freedom at Midnight.
Upvote:5
Gandhi was never in favor of Partition. Towards the time of independence Gandhi's influence in Congress decisions was reduced as he concentrated on other activities helping in the empowerment of population. He was kept in dark and was subsided from the important Partition-related discussions.
He also quoted - "If the Congress wishes to accept partition, it will be over my dead body. So long as I am alive, I will never agree to the partition of India. Nor will I, if I can help it, allow the Congress to accept it." Although sadly, he failed to prevent the partition. - Gandhi and Political History of Partition
Gandhi did not take part in celebrations of Independence day, he called it "Black day" and was in Calcutta trying to control communal riots there.
Reference: Freedom At Midnight, Partition and Gandhi(From answer of Arani)
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