Thread by @jaff1r

I just watched this episode of #MsMarvel, where all I can see is a form of history erasure. This statement made by the 'Nani' of Kamala is very irresponsible, as it states that the Englishmen forced partition for India and Pakistan. Whereas here are the actual facts:

- The idea of a different state for Muslim Majority Pakistan and Hindi Majority India was made to protect the Muslim minority of the sub-continent.
- The British did not force partition, rather it was Jinnah and the Muslim League that asked for it.

- Partition was advocated because of a lot of reasons, which you can start to learn about in Iqbal’s Allahabad Address of 1930.
- Prior to this, muslims weren't given equal rights to their hindu counterparts, mainly as a way to incite division by the British.

- For the years since the British ruled India, Muslims had always been treated as lesser because of their ties to the Mughals, although this was partly done to divide the sub-continent, in the years since extremism came into play and this turnt into hindu oppression.

- in 1931, The Second Round Table Conference with the British occurred - In this, Gandhi claimed there were no minority problems in India - Which Muslim leaders present denied as they had seen their communities face oppression at the hands of hindu extremism.

- in 1934 Chaudry Rahmat Ali further noticed these divisions, and for peace in the region also talked about the need for a separate nation.
- After the Government of India Act of 1935, there were Elections held (1937) for the subcontinent to start a form of autonomous government.

- The Indian National Congress won these elections, defeating the Muslim league and forming a majority government. But this is where the reason a partition was necessary came into being, bear with me as I go into the details of the oppressive rule from 1937-1939.

- Congress imposed their will on Minorities.
- Muslims were banned from slaughtering cows.
- Hindi was declared as the official language.
- Azaan was banned, and during the prayer times for muslims, noisy processions were coincidentally scheduled to disturb the mosque-goers.

- Mosques got attacked many times, especially during prayer-times.
- A Song called 'Bande Matram' was made the national anthem, and every day was to commence with it, even though the song had negative connotations for muslims and islam. It was offensive to the muslims.

- Widdia Mandir Policy was introduced in schools, as a scheme to encourage conversion to Hinduism.
- During this rule, as a result of Pro-Hindu policies, the extremists of the past got encouraged and this led to muslim women and children getting adducted, homes being set on fire.

- Even a Muslim mass contact campaign was initiated that was focused on removing the Muslim League and winning the Muslim masses over to Congress.
- In some places muslim students were made to bow before photos of Gandhi, & learn sewing as it was a teaching gandhi encouraged.

All of these policies led to Muslims feeling neglected, oppressed and not treated as equals. The Muslim league even celebrated the end of their rule (due to war-related reasons and the Quit-India movement) by calling it 'The Day of Deliverance' in 1939.

All of these factors tied into a pro Hindu-Muslim idealist in the form of Jinnah, finally advocating for a pro-Muslim nation and the Pakistan Resolution of 1940. TL;DR - congress was tyrannical, and the '37-'39 rule is similar to the anti-muslim sentiments in present day India.

There were a lot of problems associated with partition, I am not neglecting them. Children died, families left their homes, women were attacked, people were slaughtered and that happened on both sides of the border. But this was not something that was forced by "englishmen".

At the end of the day, the minorities were oppressed and asked for this, they voted for the muslim league in 1945 to advocate for this. And the muhajirs, the muslim perspective was that of new beginnings and hope. The pain and bloodshed came as a result of the same extremists.

To end this, I believe that the show is great, but is preaching psuedo-history. It wasn't the English that forced partition, it was hindu extremisim and it shouldn't be causally ignored. Partition was ugly, but for the muslims it was either oppression or Independence. #MsMarvel