Jammu, Aug 14: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday said the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 was the gravest mistake and the greatest tragedy of history.
Addressing a programme held here in connection with the countrywide commemoration of ‘Vibhajan Vibhishika’ or “Partition Remembrance Day” dedicated to the victims of partition, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “With 75 years having passed and three generations down the line, now is the time to keep our children informed about the horrors of partition and the factors that led to it, in spite of the fact that it could have been avoided.”
Holding Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali Jinnah responsible for bringing about the partition of India, the minister said, “The lust of power and the urge to become the Head of the State was so overwhelming to them that they allowed the partition to happen even when a common citizen of India, whether a Hindu or a Muslim, was not in favour of this.”
He recalled the “Progressive Writers Forum” which was at that time constituted by some well-known Muslim intellectuals and writers like Ali Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi and others who were vehemently opposed to the idea of having a separate Pakistan based on the “Two Nation Theory”.
The Radcliffe line that divided India into two parts, Dr Singh said, was arbitrarily drawn leading to the biggest-ever exchange of population between India and Pakistan, and casualties numbering more than 10 to 20 lakhs.
While the refugees coming from Pakistan had to start life afresh and struggle for living wherever they took shelter in India, the refugees who chose to settle in Jammu & Kashmir had to face a double ordeal because while their counterparts taking refuge elsewhere in India were homeless, those selling in J&K found themselves both homeless as well as citizen-less because of Article 370, he said.
Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “seeking to vindicate the sins of the past”, Dr Jitendra said, “It was the courage of conviction of Prime Minister Modi which led to the abrogation of Article 370 and restoration of the rights of the Pakistan refugees in Jammu & Kashmir. Since Modi has the sensitivity, he feels the pain and agony through which these families went through. It was he, who as Prime Minister, decided to observe August 14 every year the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.”
“The purpose of observing this day should be to tell our future generations not to fall to such vested interests who are still operating in different forms of separatism in the guise of ‘Bharat Tere Tukde-Tukde gang’ or self-centered secessionists who do not hesitate to receive support from the enemy across the border,” the union minister said.
