NDTV: India Better-off With Partition? -3/5

This is a solid panel discussion with leading scholars, columnists, intellectuals, and politicians on whether India has been better off with Partition. It represents a wide variety of perspectives and deals with such factors as: (a) flaws of the failed Cabinet Mission Plan that could have led to Balkanization of India; (b) disenchantment of Muslim immigrants from UP and Bihar with Punjabi domination in Pakistan; (c) historical existence of India as a unified "cultural" if not a "political" entity; (d) potential spillover in united India of Cold War power play and Middle Eastern religious politics; (e) extreme difficulty of integrating a "continental-size" country with a diverse population; (f) role of British in introducing and aggravating communal feelings between Hindus and Muslims; (g) redundancy of "minority syndrome" among Muslims in a unified Subcontinent; (h) extremely communally charged atmosphere in the 1940s that made Partition inevitable; (i) forging of an Indian "nation" after Partition via introduction of a Constitution and a liberal democracy; and (j) RSS "Akhand Bharat" ideology for reuniting the Subcontinent. The panel also discusses potential reunification of the Subcontinent and whether Muslims would have been better off in a united India.

The panel discussion was hosted by Vikram Chandra, host of the weekly Indian TV program "The Big Fight", in Fall 2009 following publication of Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah and Partition; the episode was titled "An Undivided India?" The panelists are: (1) Salman Khurshid, Indian minister of Minority Affairs; (2) Ahok Malik, Senior Journalist at Pioneer; (3) Sir Mark Tully, former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi; (4) Tarun Vijay, former editor of RSS weekly, Panchajanya, and a columnist of Times of India; (5) Ramachandra Guha, historian and columnist for the Telegraph and Hindustan Times; (6) Shatrujit Singh, Prince of Kapurthala; and (7) Yusuf Salahuddin, grandson of Allama Iqbal, one of the leading proponents of the "two-nation" theory.

PLEASE READ MY COMMENTS ON THE VIDEO BEFORE WATCHING.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• India
• Subcontinent
• Hindustan
• Pakistan
• Partition
• independence
• division
• breakup
• Quaid-e-Azam
• Mohammad
• Ali
• Jinnah
• Jawaharlal
• Nehru
• Mahatma
• Gandhi
• Patel
• Maulana
• Azad
• Mountbatten
• Indian
• National
• Congress
• Muslim
• League
• British
• responsibility
• responsible
• history
• factors
• forces
• causes
• reasons
• analysis
• perspectives
• historical
• overview
• consequences
• effects
• Two
• Nation
• Theory
• Hindus
• Sikh
• communal
• hate
• hatred
• divide
• communalism
• genocide
• SAARC
• reunification
• reunified
• reunited
• Akhand
• Bharat

[saurabhgaur1982]

What crap! Partition is over and done with! India is a powerful country. Pakistan & Bangladesh are basket cases. So what does it tell about this HYPOTHETICAL question?? India fared well. Pakistan & Bangladesh did not. True we would not have had our obnoxious neighbours - but guess what - these same obnoxious neighbours would have been "family". So I say it was GOOD RIDDANCE. All Indians - any religion - are much better off without these cancer cells.

[vancouverboys]

PEOPLE WHO SAYS INDIA AND PAKISTAN TO BE UNITED AGAIN :

I say to them stop dreaming and go to hell.India will and should never also make pkaistan as her friend. The best scenerio is that India live in india and pakistan live in pakistan.No fighting but also no friendship.Like Hi-Bye relationship.whatever india did progress recently would never be if Pakistan was part of India.Pakistani ideology and their thinking sucks.They still live on stone age.Sorry india want to live in modern age.

[tilopa07]

this is rss guys are dodos...we have to understand india was never a single political entity..it was a single cultural entity only,

India had several ethnicieties culture so it was never one as a political entity

[zolmaster100]

only RSS...!

[darklord2314]

I am not in favour of reunion, but would propose a European Union type South Asian Union as a rather stronger forum, not that worthless SAARC. Stability is vital for any prosperity and India cannot prosper with volatile and unfriendly neighbours.

[satyvirjasra]

What do we say in hindi...Ohh yeh a proverb....Kuch paane ke Liye kuch Khona perta hei" Means to gain something u need to loose something... India lost land....and got peace in ...

[TheEsotericDesi]

Problem is not with NonMuslims... Problem is w/ Muslims... Those fuckheads, nearly 300 million more of them (Pakistan/Bangladesh's Sunnis) would've caused a shitload of trouble for every other Indian in a unified India... We Hindus had no problem coexisting with them...

[viveksruparel]

@TeraPeoPunjabi - better than having diplomats being attacked and killed. Hahahaha. Osama hiding near miltary base for years n Ur military n intelligence was sleeping

[ramsob]

@vancouverboys Yes indeed modern age........probably thats why genocides happen in Gujarat & Kashmir, close to 700,000 Indian soldiers are present in Kashmir, there is active Naxalite movement in the center & south & south east of India and really why ? Oh why ?! Do you drink cow piss ?!!!

[ramsob]

@saurabhgaur1982 I think one day your thoughts and what you have written will come & bite you !!!

[PartyAllSeason]

@isfand89 800 m???? who gives u these made up figures?

[AbhaySinghBisen]

@isfand89 dear the condition is not really that bad , i just ask you a question can any one survive without eating ? if yes then how long ? as per your logic or analysis India should have very less population then ? this all meance there is some thing else which is fulfilling that need , i am not saying that there is no poverty in India but ther is something which is keep driveing this nation towards progress and yes India fared well