Consequences of partition and the secular choice

The year 1947 saw one of the largest, most sudden and unplanned movements of people in human history.

• About 80 lakh people crossed the new border, leaving their homes behind.
• Between five and ten lakh people were killed in communal violence.
• Thousands of women were abducted and forced to change religion or marry their captors; many were killed by their own families to 'protect their honour'.
• Families were divided; trains arrived full of dead bodies.

Everything was divided: money, property, offices, files, furniture, even the police bands. Survivors called it a 'division of hearts': the deepest loss was of trust between communities that had lived together for centuries.

Gandhi walked through riot-hit areas and fasted for peace in Kolkata and then in Delhi in January 1948. His last fast helped calm the violence in Delhi. Some extremists hated him for defending Muslims. On 30 January 1948, Nathuram Godse shot him dead. The shock of his death made the government crack down on communal organisations, and the violence slowed.

The film Garam Hawa (1973) tells the story of a Muslim family in Agra torn between staying in India and leaving for Pakistan: the dilemma millions faced.

India's choice: even after the country was divided on religious lines, Muslims were still 10–12 per cent of India's population in 1951. India chose not to become a 'Hindu Pakistan'. It became a secular state: all citizens are equal, whatever their religion. Being religious, or belonging to a certain religion, is not a test of citizenship.

Nehru and the other leaders saw this as the only way to keep a diverse India together and true to the freedom struggle.