Gandhi and the Break-Up of India

by Rafiq Zakaria

History of partition and Gandhi's role

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jayati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book extremely informative, scholarly and yet presented in very personal ,from the heart format. I wanted to read this as i wanted to know why some people villified Gandhi for the partition of India. This book starts with Gandhi returning To South Africa to fight a legal case on behalf of Abdulla Seth in the Natal province. Through this case as well as other political, legal, socio economic scenarios that Gandhi faces in that apartheid contry, he develops his ideas of Satyagraha or victory of Truth. His insistence on non violence as meansg of protest and chage finds him thousands of supporters among Muslims, Hindus and even some Europeans. His return to India in 1916 is a momentous event in our history. From then on the author takes us through various mass movements that Gandhi and the Congress leads with the aim of independence from the British. All through Gandhi believed that true liberation of the country lied in the unity of Hindus and the Muslims as one people. He was largely successful till 1922 in this effort. But then various divisive forces in and outside Congress party created a situation where this unity started to fall apart. The British govt aided this fissure by granting favours to one faction over the other. The author through his scholarship has provided almost a visual narrative of the complexities that faced the nation at the time. It is heart wrenching to see Gandhi's efforts failing to arrive at a recocilliation with the Muslim league led by Jinnah.He slowly dissociates from the actual politics of the time but still yielding enormous moral influence on the Congress and the people of the country. The final chapters on the communal violence that broke out in the country and Gandhi's herculean efforts to spread the message of peace amongst the affected people are the most absorbing in this book. I felt as if i was right there. India's freedom brought no joy to the man who was the main force behind achieving it. The feeling i got after readingbthis book is that Gandhi was a man much ahead of his time. His quotes on untouchability, Hindu Muslim unity are radical.
He declared " if there is darkness in the Indian Union, it would be folly to expect light in Pakistan."