Partition and Gujarat

Compared to Punjab and Bengal, Gujarat's experiences of the Partition of India in 1947 remain curiously under-researched even though the state has a long border with Pakistan and over a million people migrated to Gujarat, mostly from neighbouring Sindh. This paper seeks to fill this lacuna in Partition scholarship by examining the experiences of two Hindu groups, Sindhis and Gujarati Dalits, who left Sindh to settle in Ahmedabad. Drawing on the oral testimonies of migrants, the paper shows that while the official logic of Partition might have been predicated on irreconcilable religious identities, the actual experience of Partition brought into play multiple identities arising from regional, caste and community affiliations as well as gender, which migrants drew on in order to cope with the upheaval caused by Partition. Keywords: GujaratSindhPartitionHinduMuslimDalitsSindhisidentityoral history Notes 1 Most of the accounts and analyses of Partition fall into two main categories: the first concentrates on accounts of state policies and the political dynamics between the major political parties of the time on the basis of which Partition is sought to be explained; and the second focusses on the experience of Partition. All the literature in the second category concentrates mainly on the events and experiences in the Punjab and Bengal and apart from these two regions, on the westward movement of Muslims mainly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A few examples in this second category are Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin (eds), Borders and Boundaries: Women in India's Partition (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998); Mushirul Hasan (ed.), Inventing Boundaries: Gender, Politics, and the Partition of India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000); Mushirul Hasan (ed.), India's Partition: Process, Strategy and Mobilization (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001); and Jasodhara Bagchi and Subhoranjan Dasgupta (eds), The Trauma and the Triumph: Gender and Partition in Eastern India (Kolkata: Stree, 2003). 2 Significant among these are Horace Alexander, New Citizens of India (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1951); C.N. Vakil and Perin Cabinetmaker, Government and the Displaced Persons: A Study in Social Tensions (Bombay: Vora & Co., 1956); U.T. Thakur, Sindhi Culture (Bombay: University of Bombay, 1959); and R.N. Saksena, Refugees: A Study in Changing Attitudes (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1961). 3 These interviews were conducted as part of a study on Partition violence in South Asia led by Ashis Nandy at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. Three major seminars were held in 1997, 1999 and 2000 to discuss material emerging from both sides of the border in the regions of Punjab, Bengal and Gujarat–Sindh. 4 Rita Kothari, The Burden of Refuge: The Sindhi Hindus of Gujarat (Chennai: Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd., 2007). 5 Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence (New Delhi: Viking, 1998). 6 Interviews at Ahmedabad with Moti Rochlani, 8 April 1997; Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999; Tehalram Rupchand, 12 April 1997; Ghanshyam Advani, 8 Sept. 1999; Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997; and Premiben Lakhani, 16 Dec. 1999. 7 Thakur, Sindhi Culture, p.30. 8 1951 Census of India figures quoted in Urmilaben Bhatt, ‘Punarvasvat’, in Ramlal Parikh (ed.), Gujarat–Ek Parichay (Bhavnagar: Thakorebhai Desai, 1961), p.272. 9 The Harijan Sewak Sangh was established by Gandhi in 1932 in order to eradicate the practice of untouchability in India and for the uplift of Harijans (God's People) which was Gandhi's term for communities regarded as ‘untouchable’. 10 Interview with Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 11 The Meghwals originally migrated from Rajasthan to Saurashtra and Kutch and were traditionally weavers and tanners. The Bhangis occupy the lowest position in the Hindu caste hierarchy and their traditional occupation was collection and disposal of waste and removal and cremation of dead bodies, both animal and human. The term Bhangi is considered pejorative and is officially banned. Therefore, this paper will hereafter refer to them by the term ‘Sweeper’. 12 Thakur, Sindhi Culture, pp.28–33. 13 Interview with Atmaram Goplani, 22 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 14 Interview with Gangaram Samrat, 16 May 1997, Ahmedabad. Samrat has written several books on the ancient history of the Sindh region, glorifying its Hindu past while holding strongly negative views towards both Islam and Christianity. His fond memories of Muslim neighbours in his village gain added significance given his intellectual convictions. 15 Interview with Moti Rochlani, 8 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 16 Interview with Jaydeviben Sachdev, 6 March 1997, Ahmedabad. 17 Interviews at Ahmedabad with Jaydeviben Sachdev, 6 March 1997; Sheriben Vanjani, 12 April 1997; and Pooja Makhija, 18 July 1998. See also Prem Chowdhry, ‘Marriage, Sexuality and the Female “Ascetic”: Understanding a Hindu Sect’, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.31, no.34 (24–31 Aug. 1996), pp.2307–21. 18 Interview with Jaydeviben Sachdev, 6 March 1997, Ahmedabad. 19 Interview with Sheriben Vanjani, 12 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 20 Interview with Suganiben Gulabani, 18 May 1997, Ahmedabad. 21 Interview with Moti Rochlani, 8 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 22 The class dimension of the Hindu–Muslim divide is a complex subject. Though several narratives point to the way economic relations intersected with and influenced social relations between the communities, a detailed analysis of the class dimension is beyond the scope of this paper. 23 Similar recollections of a growing feeling of separateness between Hindus and Muslims were offered in interviews at Ahmedabad with Ghanshyam Advani, 8 Sept. 1999, Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997, Premiben Lakhani, 16 Dec. 1999, Thawerdas Khubchandani, 6 April 1997, and Mathradas Mulani, 22 Dec. 1998. 24 Interview with Gangaram Samrat, 16 May 1997, Ahmedabad. 25 Ibid. 26 The province of Gujarat is divided into three cultural zones—Kathiawad in the west, Kutch in the northwest and mainland Gujarat which runs along the eastern side. 27 For a discussion of the practice of untouchability in Gujarat see I.P. Desai, Untouchability in Rural Gujarat (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1976); and I.P. Desai and A.M. Shah, Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat (Delhi: Hindustan Publishers, 1989). 28 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 29 Ibid. 30 Interview with Kanjibhai Gohil, 22 May1998, Ahmedabad. 31 Interviews at Ahmedabad with Makanbhai Gohil, 13 June 1997, Dhaniben Vaghela, 5 July 1997, Punjabhai Shekha, 12 Aug. 1997, Premjibhai Chavda, 3 Jan. 1998, and Nagalben Chauhan, 3 Jan. 1998. 32 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 33 Ibid. 34 In the early twentieth century, trains in Saurashtra had separate coaches for Dalits known as ‘dhedno dabbo’ or ‘coach for untouchables’, and restaurants kept aside certain cups and saucers for their use only. In fact, a ‘hotel satyagraha’ was staged in the 1950s to end discrimination in restaurants. Interview with Dr. Rameshchandra Parmar, senior Dalit leader, 8 Aug. 1998, Ahmedabad. 35 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 36 For a discussion on the practice of untouchability in Sindh see Kothari, The Burden of Refuge: The Sindhi Hindus of Gujarat, pp.8–9. 37 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 38 Interviews at Ahmedabad with Amrutlal Vadher, 22 July 1998; Mudiben Gohil, 18 July 1997; Bhikaji Chauhan, 26 June 1997; Makanbhai Gohil, 13 June 1997; and Dhaniben Vaghela, 5 July 1997. 39 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 40 Interview at Ahmedabad with Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997; Thawerdas Khubchandani, 6 April 1997; and Ghanshyam Advani, 8 Sept. 1999. 41 Interview with Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 42 Interview with Suganiben Gulabani, 18 May 1997, Ahmedabad. 43 Interview with Sheriben Vanjani, 12 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 44 Interview with Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 45 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 46 Interview with Bhikaji Chauhan, 26 June 1997, Ahmedabad. References to this evacuation process and Navin Khandwala's contribution can be seen in The Sind Observer (Karachi) (20 & 23 Sept. 1947), page numbers not available. 47 Interviews at Ahmedabad with Tehalram Rupchand, 12 April 1997; Ghanshyam Advani, 8 Sept. 1999; Premiben Lakhani, 16 Dec. 1999; Suganiben Gulabani, 18 May 1997; and Draupadi Sadarangani, 19 May 1997. 48 Interview with Mudiben Gohil, 18 July 1997, Ahmedabad. 49 Thakur, Sindhi Culture, p.52, emphasis added. 50 Horace Alexander, New Citizens of India (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1951), p.93. 51 Interview with Moti Rochlani, 8 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 52 Interview with Usha Mulchandani, 26 April 1997, Ahmedabad. 53 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 54 Interview with Virabhai Chauhan, 18 July 1997, Ahmedabad. 55 Interview with Jaydeviben Sachdev, 6 March 1997, Ahmedabad. 56 Interview with Divya Ramnani, 16 Sept. 1999, Ahmedabad. 57 Interview with Premiben Lakhani, 22 Nov. 1999, Ahmedabad. 58 Interview with Jeevanlal Jairamdas, 5 April 1997, Ahmedabad 59 Interview with Damayantiben Sadarangani, 13 Aug. 1998, Ahmedabad. 60 Interview with Pinky Bhelani, 18 July 1997, Ahmedabad. 61 Interview with Puja Malkani, 6 Dec. 1998, Ahmedabad. 62 Interview with Punjabhai Valodara, 6 June 1999, Ahmedabad. 63 After Partition, issues of citizenship and nationality also intersected and influenced social relations within and between communities. However, like the class dimension of the Hindu–Muslim divide, a detailed discussion of this complex issue is beyond the scope of this paper. Additional informationNotes on contributorsSuchitra Balasubrahmanyan I would like to thank Amrita Shodhan, Nikita Sud, Harald Tambs–Lyche and other participants at the workshop, ‘Religion in the Making of a Region: Perspectives from Gujarat’, held at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, on 16–17 July 2010 for their thought-provoking comments and helpful suggestions on initial drafts of this paper. My thanks also to Achyut Yagnik and Vimal Balasubrahmanyan for their help and support at all stages of research and writing

Caste · Combinatorics · Communalism · Genealogy · Geography · Linguistics · Partition (number theory · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Mathematics · Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora

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