I can never know what the situation was like for my family in Bihar just before partition. Just given of what I know about the Muslim League, I don’t think I would have personally bought the partition idea. I am not very impressed by the leadership of that era frankly.
None of them stands out as someone who would’ve struck me as “OK, I am willing to suspend everything for the vision/idea of this person.” Never got the chance to talk to my grandfather for what were his reasons of buying the Muslim League dream.
If I were to guess, I would say that there is a high probability that my grandfather actually believed in the vision. Rather than any other reason like communal tensions he may have been experiencing or he just wanted to migrate to a new place to find new opportunities?
What I do know, though, is that my grandfather and father both remembered East Pakistan very fondly. Despite being bitterly opposed to Bhutto, they still chose to migrate once again to “mainland Pakistan” as the Eastern wing became Bangladesh.
This second migration I know for sure was less driven by the ideology of Pakistan. It was done more because of communal tensions (hostilities against Biharis). They would have preferred to live in Bangladesh otherwise.
As I watch events unfold in Pakistan today, I don’t see a single leader in whose vision I can believe. Having been so invested in Pak politics for the past 2.5 decades, I see it in the hands of feeble men. And a huge swathe of ppl mesmerized by these selfish megalomaniacs.
The most popular of whom happens to be the pettiest megalomaniac of them all. I shudder to think if this were true pre-partition, too? The heart breaks frankly. Nearing a 100 years and still at the crossroads. Not learning.
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