The Partition of India

by Anita Inder Singh

Genres: History

91 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Anita Inder Singh is one of the founding Professors of the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Jamia Millia Islamia, a Muslim university in New Delhi. Prior to that she was a Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and has taught International Relations at Oxford University. She has also been a Fellow at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs in Stockholm, and worked for the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues in Geneva.

Reviews

[Muthu Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A precise, eminently readable account. It doesn't identify the larger themes, put traces the growth of Muslim league, and highlights how the British wanted to use it as a counterpoise to Congress. Both the Congress and British wanted India to remain undivided, but the "psychopathic case" (as Mountbatten described Jinnah) won the game, through threats and show of violence. A political game gone wrong, with no clear way to assign blames. But if there is one thing that we can be sure of, it is that no one is innocent of complicity in this. Not even Nehru. Whether that in itself is an evil, I am unable to judge.

[Donna Prince · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a first time historical non fiction reader, this book was an interesting take on the partition of India in 1947. It leans to the left but gives a factual account of the important events and people who shaped the two countries to what they are today.
Whether or not it could be avoided is still debated at large. While no one person or party seems to be the sole reason behind the partition there seems to be some evidence on what caused the appalling violence in the communal riots.
More neutral accounts need to be read to understand the subject in detail.