THE ROLE OF HINDU CAPITALIST IN PARTITION OF INDIA : GD Birla -the most important representative of Hindu capitalists/ industrialists at that point of time, played the first partition of India card...He first mooted the idea of partition ( at least which can be construed as a prelude to partition) when he met Madanmohan Malavya on 17 Oct 1927..: I do not know whether splitting of Punjab and Bengal would be l;iked by the people but I would personally welcome it. The West Punjab and the frontier and Sindh might be composed into one province thus going a decided majority to Mohammadedans in East Bengal and the West Punjab and the seats should be reserved on the basis of population ( Benaras by Birla papers)... some years later in 1938 , Jan 11 Birla wrote to Mahadev Desai for mahatma : I wonder why it should not be possible to9 have two federations- one of Muslims another of Hindus... he was also in favour sending Kashmir for the Muslim federation... He was also discussing the matter with his close associate Rajagopalachari.. -..... Birla says in a letter to Rajaji in 1938 : I have spoken to Bapu also about this idea ( Hindu India for Hindus and Muslim India for Muslims) and he was NOT shocked. But he said the Sikhs would never agree to it. We dropped the discussion because Bapu said that the question at present did not arise.........I suggest that we allow Muslims to carry on propaganda in favour of this division without approving or disapproving of their demand...And when they make full commitment then alone we may accept the principle .....It was rajagopalachari who drafted the partition proposal in 1941 to be raised by a political platform--Congress... In 1942 Raja ji got it passed in Madras Cong legislature and later in the same year the propsal was tabled by him in all india Congress committee meeting which was defeated by 120-15 votes...Birla also met jinna in 1942 Sept with the help of his friend and one more industrialist from Mumbai Rahimtulla...Even before 1940 23 March- the day Muslim League raised officially Pakistan demand in Lahore Birla had requested FICCI to study the economic fall out in case of partition... FICCI did not carry the study then but they did it in 1944 by a committe having Homi Modi and John Mathai ...Now, Birla had also maintained a close relation with Sardar Patel as Birla knew it very well that despite Raja ji and even Rajendra Prasads support for partition, they did not influence party matters much as far as Congress was concerned. But Patel could. In between 1945-47 Birla actively extended financial support - his own as well as his other industrialists friends- to Sardar Patel..In 1945-46 Birla was instrumental in the collection of funds for Patel... these collections were made at the behest of Patel himself, ( Medha Malik Kudasiya -- Ghanashyamdas Birla , big business and Indias Partition-- a research paper, 1993)....on the other hand Birla was also helping Hindu Mahasava through his elder brother Jugal Kishore Birla.. Hindu Mahasava president Vinayak Savarkar used to get Rs 300 every month from JK Birla to run the Mahasava official expenditure...J K Birla himself was vice president of Arya Dharma Seva sangh....The two key FICCI persons , Modi and Mathai..for studying the economic fall out in case of partition belonged to Tata group and in their report submitted in 1945 they also stressed on the need of immediate settlement ( of partition)... They wrote : ..... Issues of greater consequences and urgency which may affect the future of India permanently are facing us and it is of the highest importance that present deadlock should not be allowed to continue and that the direction of political affairs should without delay be placed at the hands of Indian leaders who have the confidence of the country... From a frnds wall .
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 04:16:21 +0000
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