Partition: An Ongoing Journey

A dominant belief is that the further we move away from Partition, the easier it will be to forget the bloodshed and violence of 1947. Activists, peace builders, writers and intellectuals have hoped that the younger generations, who have no personal memories of Partition, will be able forge new relationships with those across the border, instilling hope for peaceful relations between the two historic enemies. The underlying assumption is that Partition was a static event, one that could be ‘moved on ’from. This paper argues that Partition is in fact an ongoing process, which continues to taint relationships, ideas, politics and society. There has been a partition of our consciousness. Using oral history interviews with four generations of Indians and Pakistanis, the author proposes that contrary to popular belief, attitudes towards the other are only becoming more hardline with the post-Partition generations harbouring more prejudice, suspicion and hatred towards the ‘other ’. In Pakistan in particular, children seldom come across religious minorities, with Hindus and Sikhs becoming figments of the imagination. In India too, the anti-Muslim rhetoric is shaping young mindsets to otherize and ostracize the community. Media, jingoistic political manifestos that win votes, and history textbooks that are written and rewritten, are used by both states to reconstruct Partition and the ‘other ’in the collective imagination of the people. Using oral histories, textbook excerpts and anecdotes from various generations, this paper will show the inter-generational journey of Partition, drawing attention to the perils of nationalistic narratives that are shaping young minds.