There is no right way to talk about the partition of India. Every party involved has their own story to tell, and their own prejudices to offer. Freedom at Midnight may have been one of the most painful books I have ever read, and I am forever grateful for it. It’s easy to view history as black and white, right and wrong, Hindu and Muslim. But that would be an injustice and an insult to the lives lost during some of India’s darkest days.
I often wonder what a modern day India would have looked like had there not been a partition of India. Would a united India have still developed nuclear arms? Would religious tolerance and secular identity still have withered away to communal forces? Would India have been the dominating super power in Asia? It pains me to ponder as the authors point out the numerous instances by which India could have been saved from such a deadly chapter in its history.
Freedom at Midnight: Was Partition Necessary?
Authors Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre tell the story of just how arrogantly the partition of India took place, through the life of former Governor-General Louis Mountbatten. The authors draw meticulously from the life of the Mahatma, Mohandas Gandhi, and the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This book is nothing short of an emotional roller coaster.
The reader experiences anger, sorrow, and outright bewilderment as the pages go on to illustrate the utter indifference the British Raj had over its subjects. The Indian people were nothing more than pawns in a game of empire, and when their overlords were done playing, were literally swept into artificial boundaries to be put away. The racist attitude of Winston Churchill, the idiocy of the Radcliffe Line, and the hastiness of Louis Mountbatten are difficult to digest.
And this is why we must learn about history. In this modern era of short tweets and quick updates, there is much lost in understanding the finer details of life. The Muslim League, the All India Congress, the Hindu nationalists that murdered Gandhi…all had their motives and stories to tell. And in this interlocking display of history do we find opportunities for understanding and reconciliation. This is especially important with India’s current right-wing Hindu nationalist political climate. For if we fail to heed from one of history’s largest forced migrations, we are doomed to repeat the bloodshed of our ancestors.
And so, in a bewildering frenzy, Hindus, Sikhs and Moslems turned on one another.
Recommendation: Must Read
I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to develop a better understanding of modern geopolitics. The players may be different, but the rules of the game have not changed much. I hope readers can walk away with the understanding that most of history’s bloodiest conflicts were borne from the hands of the same type of men. Power hungry, stupid, selfish men who twisted religious and ethnic identities to their gain.
