Daily Times

C. R. Attlee, the British Prime Minister declared the Partition of India by June 1948. But the bloodied holocaust particularly in the Punjab pushed the British administration to implement the Partition in August1947, Lord Wavell replaced with Lord Mountbatten who resumed the office as Viceroy in March 1947 with the task to divide India into two; Muslim and non-Muslim majority States.

Mr. Jinnah wanted affiliation of whole Punjab Province with Pakistan because its 57% population was Muslim. The violent agitation of Muslim League against the collative Govt. of Unionist Party hinted out a sense of insecurity to the non-Muslims in Punjab. After the resignation of collative rule of Khizar Tiwana on March 2, 1947 the non-Muslim communities particularly Hindus (26%) and Sikhs (14%) were disturbed and intensely had anti-Pakistan gushes. Even on March 11, 1947 they celebrated anti-Pakistan Day. Non-Muslims mainly Sikhs with the back of Indian National Congress (INC) were not willing to live under Muslim domination, started to demand the maximum land (Jumna to Chenab) for East Punjab.

Lord Mountbatten, refusing Mr. Jinnah’s demand, restricted the partition of India with the partition of the Punjab. He took stance that if India can be divided on religious grounds then why not Punjab. Violence was the key factor which pushed the British to do partition only within 70 days. The indulged communities used the violence and blood-shed as a tool to pressurize the British administration and the minorities in both parts of the Punjab East and the West.

In the history of the partition of the Punjab, violence was the nightmare in both parts. Rashtriya Swayam Sweak Sangh (RSS) revealed as a violent Hindu representative assemblage. During partition, in Punjab it was involved in huge blood-shed allegedly under Sardar Patel, Ishar Singh Majhil and Udham Singh Nagoke etc.

Keshav Rao Bali Ram Hedgwer from Nagpur founded RSS in 1925. He was the follower of the ideology that the entire India is only for Hindus. Provincial Organizers, Branch leaders and cell leaders were its administrative hierarchy worked under the orders of supreme commander, the “Guruji”, in a certain uniform. (Source: Disturbance in Punjab).

To combat with the RSS, in 1931 Muslim League National Guards (MLNG) was founded in UP. The countered activities of MLNG defame it particularly among the non-Muslim minorities. But no doubt it was retaliation from Muslims and the Muslim League against the aggressive attacks by the RSS, Sikhs and Hindus. Both organizations were involved to provoke the respective communities against each other. The Governor of the Punjab Sir E. Jenkins was also worried on the reports that both organizations are equipping their members with kripans, helmets and lathis etc.

RSS adopted various awful tactics to snub the Muslims in both parts of the Punjab. In Province its destructive activities became more antagonistic when Muslim League started agitation against Collative Unionist Ministry after the provincial elections of 1946. It was the key reason that Unionist Ministry banned both RSS and MLNG in Punjab but soon because of pressure the ban was lifted and the law and order situations in Punjab began to worsen.

The violence by the RSS had four significant motifs, most importantly to pressurize the British administration for quick partition, secondly, to put a pressure on the Punjab Govt. to fulfill demands, third, RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and Shirimoni Akali Dal (SAD) used violence as a tool to force Muslim minority of East Punjab to migrate to west Punjab so that non-Muslims from West Punjab could find evacuated place in East Punjab and lastly toto fulfill anti-Muslim agenda of the Hindus.

RSS leadership was practically involved to instigate its followers and members against Muslims in Punjab. In November 1946, the RSS head Madho Rao Golvalker visited 10 important areas of the Punjab like Amritsar, Rawalpindi, Jehlum and Multan etc. to prepare the mind of the natives against Muslims and Muslim League and to increase RSS membership. During these visits he also collected fund of more than Rs 100,000. This funding was like a war fund for the genocide of the Muslims. According to the reports RSS also collected funding of Rs. 65,000 from Jullundur to buy arms to use against Muslims. Moreover, in September 1947 the Maharani of Kashmir Tara Devi also contributed a sum of Rs. 25,000 in RSS funding. Likewise, three groups of RSS members entered in Multan with Lathis on 5th, 6th and 7th November 1946 to display muscle to pressurize the Muslims. In January 1947, the non-Muslim students of Kangara Intermediate College with the support of RSS members assaulted the Muslim students of the College. Even RSS leader Palkikar pushed native Hindus to join RSS, in January 1947 in Jain Temple Rai Kot Ludhiana, to increase its enrolment. Bala Sahib Devdas in a meeting of eminent RSS leader on March 4, 1947 strapped and convinced its members and other Hindus towards militancy.

During the partition process in Punjab the Muslim population was intensely disturbed because of RSS bloodied activities. It was one of the major reasons so that the Muslim population of the East Punjab started to migrate towards West Punjab in January-February 1947

In 1942 the number of RSS members was around 10,000 but till June 1947 it membership swelled to more than 59,000. RSS was also involved in bombing attacks in Muslim localities in Punjab. In May 1947 in Chiniot district Jhang 29 bombs were recovered from members of the RSS intending to use against Muslims. Furthermore, in June 1947 in Shakargarh with the support of native Hindus RSS formed an organization ‘Agni Dal’ training them for bomb blast against Muslims.

RSS also used Press for the propaganda and instigate the Hindus against Muslim population of the Punjab. They started to publish false news and photographs of the shattered dead bodies of Hindus in the various newspapers. They highlighted the events of the mascara occurred in Rawalpindi, the photographs of many destructed temples and the issues of the non-Muslim population of the West Punjab. It was like a campaign they used to prompt Hindus throughout 1947.

During the partition process in Punjab the Muslim population was intensely disturbed because of RSS bloodied activities. It was one of the major reasons so that the Muslim population of the East Punjab started to migrate towards West Punjab in January-February 1947. The attacks of RSS with the support of SAD and aggressive bands of Sikhs and Hindus on Muslim refugee convoys created sense of fear among Muslims. RSS was responsible for the Muslim Genocide, loot, displacement and kidnapping of women refugees in Punjab. To contain the situations, Punjab Boundary Force (PBF) was formed under Maj. Gen. Rees to maintain the law and order in the border districts of the Punjab but failed.

Later, in August-September 1947 Military Evacuation Organization (MEO) was founded under Gen. Chimni for the peaceful movement of the refugee convoys, which was a successful experiment. According to the reports till December 1947 about 5 million Muslim refugees entered in West Punjab, in them around 4 million were shifted with the successful amenities of MEO.

The horrible and nasty activities of RSS during the partition course were the true reflection of its ideology, which is not humanism but only Hinduism. Thousands of Muslims during partition were killed by RSS gondas, but they couldn’t demoralize the Muslims’ ideology. Unfortunately, RSS played major role to change the secular ideology of India by supporting the Hindus. RSS ideology steadily grew and spread in the Indian society, now it has around 7 million members with almost 70,000 centers throughout India. Narendra Modi the Indian Prime Minister is the life-time members of RSS, this is allegedly also known as the militant wing of the BJP and a source fear among the minorities of India and danger for the peace in South Asia.

The writer can be reached at busharathistorian@gmail.com