Jha, S: Partition: a Historical and Literary Perspective

The division of the Indian subcontinent into the two nations-States of India and Pakistan, which is popularly known as India‘s partition, based on the two-nation theory, has a long history behind it. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 with A.O.Hume as its President, and, to start with, it was supposed to work for the interests of both India and Great Britain. However, as things got going, the Congress grew into a great and powerful political organization, representing the hopes and dreams and aspirations of the people of India as a whole. Sensing the growing influence of the Congress over the masses of India, it was natural for the British imperialist rulers to get panicky, and as part of their strategy they started weaning away the Muslims from the mainstream of Indian nationalism. And thus began the Anglo-Muslim alliance, sowing seeds of disunity and friction between the Hindu and the Muslim community of India.