Subcontinental Partitions: 1947 and 1971

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About the Author Gauri Mishra is an Associate Professor in the department of English at the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi, India. She has been teaching English for the past three decades. Her research interests include Partition studies, Women's writing and Film studies. Her latest publication titled Gender and Nationalism: Perspectives on Partition Fiction and Cinema has been brought out in December 2022 by Routledge India (Taylor & Francis Group) She has edited an anthology titled Language through literature in 2016 and has co-authored a book titled Innovating Placements: Challenges and changing dynamics with the industry in 2020 which was the culmination of her Innovation project under the aegis of the University of Delhi. She has a poetry collection titled Reminiscences to her credit as well.

Souvik Datta works as an Assistant Professor of English at Mount Carmel College Autonomous), Bengaluru. He has been teaching English for over six years now, notably in affiliated colleges of the University of Delhi and elsewhere in India. His interest areas include Indian Literature (both in English and translation), Film Studies, Popular Fiction, and Queer Theory. An incorrigible film buff, his adjunct engagements of life include reading fiction, watching cinema and writing about it, and a keen eye for aesthetics that he intends to cultivate.

Introduction Partition studies have emerged with a vigor hitherto unseen and are being worked upon relentlessly all over the globe as we near the 75° anniversary of our freedom and also of Partition both of which came in 1947. There is a newer interest in the narratives of the times, of the re-emergence of memories and revaluation of the writers who went through the Partition of the country in 1947. What are the reasons for this newer interest in an event which was in Faiz's words a "stain" on the "new dawn" of freedom*

There are in fact, several reasons for this re-emergence of scholars and their fresh perspectives. Our youth today, is a generation which has only heard about the Partition and is curious to know all Furthermore, the birth of Bangladesh which divided the country again in 1971, freshened the wounds created in 1947. Many Bangla writers heard traumatic tales from their grandparents about moving from cast Bengal, leaving their entire households behind and becoming refugees in west Bengal. This generation of people wanted to connect with their roots and salvaged these stories of trauma and pain from the older generation. Therefore, on the one hand in the latter half of the twentieth century we had writers like Manto, Yashpal, Chughtai, Bhishm Sahni and Kamleshwar writing about the 1947 Partition, in the 90's and early twenty first century on the other, we have the emergence of a new crop of writers and filmmakers who wanted to focus on the 1971 Partition and give the other perspective which is certainly different from the earlier one.

There are innumerable questions which have plagued our minds and especially all those who have been engaged with Partition studies...why did Partition happen at all? Why did a people with a history of shared cultures popularly known as the ganga-jamuni tehzeeb decide to turn on each other? Why did a society with its splendidly plural heritage change into a catastrophe of killings and plunder?

These questions need to be analyzed with a fresh perspective with the help of sociological and historical insights. The aim is to underline the complexity and heterogeneity of discourses around experiences of initial loss and subsequent reconstruction of personal and national identities. Therefore, it becomes imperative to study multiple and often conflicting histories in juxtaposition in order to gain a complete and more accurate perspective on the Partitions, and to centralise the gaps and fissured silences which lie within varied narratives. This also implies that we should shift our focus away from the Punjab-centric model of discourse even though it should remain in the backdrop as a referral point while inquiring into the Partition of 1971.

That is the objective of our book. We remain optimistic about this aim and believe in the words of Ali sardar Jafri :

Tum aao Gulshan-i-Lahore se chaman bardosh

Hum aayen subha Banaras ki Roshni leykar

Himalaya ki hawaon ki taazgi lekar

A huge corpus of narratives, short stories, novels and films etc., has emerged since 1947 highlighting personal as well as heterogeneous experiences of the Partitions These narratives provide a scope to interrogate and rethink ideas of construction of nation, identity, and official historiography. A plethora of research exists around these painful events in the history of the subcontinent; however, these discourses are still marred by silences and marginalisation of perspectives.

In the twenty-first century, it is essential to understand the impact and relevance of Partitions by studying them as long drawn processes and being sensitive to the fact that the memory of suffering and loss has been intergenerational. Additionally, other significant issues which emerge within this discourse are those of statelessness, identity, displacement, migration, the concept of a new homeland and unresolved territorial disputes which India faces with its neighbouring nations. The relevance of studying Partitions and their legacies has never been more important than now given the emergence of cross-border issues globally. A critical inquiry into the subcontinental Partitions through this book would facilitate a nuanced understanding of the burning issues in the present times, when the world is witnessing similar patterns of violence and tension.