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The Partition of India 70 Years on

I wouldn't say Sikhs were persecuted, not like Muslims. For the most part I think they are well respected in India. However, there's definitely been an injustice done to them at points in India's history. To my mind, two things come up immediately, one is 1984 & the other is Chandigarh. I've also heard that some political leaders of India such as Mahatma Gandhi had some anti-Sikh views, and actually viewed Sikhism as a sect of Hinduism, and refused to acknowledge it as it's own belief.

But if you ask the common man in India today, I don't think they'll have negative thoughts or feelings toward each other. At least, thats the vibe I got while living in India. Sikhs, Hindu's, etc. all seemed to respect each other fairly well. You still had caste issues and such, but there was no hostility towards each other.

Hindu/Muslim hate goes back, and I think it's also evolved into Pakistan/India hate. It's funny, if you look at Bollywood some of the biggest stars are Muslim. But these two countries still hate each other. I've heard my own family and friends in India talk badly about Pakistan/Muslims/etc. But this history, a long with Christians in India goes far back. I don't have a great understanding of it so hopefully someone else can help you out.

I will say, the caste system is still very much alive in India. When I lived there, I remember seeing an untouchable/lower caste member cleaning my gali/street. The neighbors around me wouldn't even touch her or look at her, and some refused to pay her. I saw people abusing this system, taking advantage of it, etc.

I remember last year I actually got in an argument over an acquantice of mine over this. He refused to believe the caste system was still alive in India lol.

Edit: And yea with the "beef" between Sikhs and Muslims, read up on the history of the Guru's, invasions of India , etc.

I feel the hate that's projected between different religions in India is all media propaganda.
 
Wtf, you mean the person who ordered the attacks on Sikhs and The Golden Temple?


This guy gets it.
_______________

Also, from what I'm hearing from cousins who live in India, the whole religious push the government is making has lead to stricter laws and punishment for selling or consuming beef in India, despite them exporting tons of beef. From what I heard, they're straight up executing people suspected of dealing beef or sending them to life in prison. There's some articles about it if you do a quick google search. A lot of it is vigilante justice, but it's still messed up when the government isn't stopping it. Here's one article on it:

https://newrepublic.com/article/144043/cow-vigilantes-launched-indias-lynching-epidemic

So you're comparing Indira Gandhi who brought in autocratic rule for a period of time to someone like Modi?

As for Beef related crimes, it's happening in one part of India, the state of UP that has a ban on Beef. Modi's beef related policies in layman terms is "The man who's the owner of the cow(s), let him get the best price for slaughtering. Currently the cow owner(say a farmer) is given pittance. The middlemen/brokers/liaisons these folks rip off the cow owner. Modi understands farmers are losing out on money, and thus the policy to help farmers benefit. Someone correct me if i am wrong!
 

amanset

Member
I can't but feel angry towards the British and their legacy of raping the world and then just bailing out when things got tough for them. They did it for the Middle East, they did it the Indian subcontinent and they did it for Africa.

All of which happened after World War 2. A war which bankrupted the United Kingdom. The loan from the US, which was on rather unfavourable terms but for which the UK basically had no choice, was finally paid off in 2006.

Don't get me wrong. there was certainly a change of heart regarding Empire after WW2, but if the UK had been able to hang on to the colonies they would have. But the reality was that they could not. Hell, for a decade after WW2 they couldn't even feed their own people. Rationing ended in 1954.
 
This is a truly fascinating part of the world, such a deep and rich history and a really interesting future ahead too.

My dad is Indian, born in what was then and is now India. My mum is Pakistani...but she was born in what was then East Pakistan and is now Bangladesh. Her family were kicked out of Bangladesh so she settled in India, but most of her family fled to Pakistan. Parts of my dads family also migrated to Pakistan during partition.

So I have a link to the entire region...but I'm left feeling unattached to any one "country". Ironically I'd say I'm "British" before anything else (born here)...and yet it was Britain who caused so much of the distress in the subcontinent.

It makes me really sad to see how Pakistan is struggling these days. Back in the 90s when I used to visit both, both countries appeared to be level pegging with bright futures ahead of them. It's hard to see Pakistan's way back now...although the increasing influence of the Chinese in Pakistan gives them a real opportunity (and increases the tensions between China/India).

This is a cool thread with lots of interesting stories/takes. Thanks.

This Mihir Bose article on the increasing lack of tolerance in India was a sobering read (and sadly...some first hand evidence of it in this thread :( )

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/02/70-years-independence-india-mumbai
 
That's... surprising. I always thought all western nations educate the youth on the atrocities commit by said nation. Germany of course with WW2, but even hear in Canada you couldn't go through middle school and high school without being taught about our treatment if Native Americans and residential schools, heck they even cover the prejudice against the Quebecois and the many times English Canada has tried to fuck them over.

Can we be proud of the British Empire?
 

VeeP

Member
Yes, and I taught them as well.

But the US has done much, much, MUCH more than that.
That's my point.

Maybe I'm ignorant, but I felt most of the major atrocities/faults US has committed as nation throughout History was taught.

We had the treatment of Native Americans, Slave Owners/Plantations, Internment Camps in WW2, Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs, Destabalizing Iran, and tbh I'm probably missing a few other things I was taught during high school because it's been so long.

US has committed other faults, but your point made it seem like it refused to teach any faults in history.
 

Oriel

Member

Firstly Loyalist, I was being glib. Secondly, would you ever stop derailing threads with your uber-British patriotic shite?!

All of which happened after World War 2. A war which bankrupted the United Kingdom. The loan from the US, which was on rather unfavourable terms but for which the UK basically had no choice, was finally paid off in 2006.

Don't get me wrong. there was certainly a change of heart regarding Empire after WW2, but if the UK had been able to hang on to the colonies they would have. But the reality was that they could not. Hell, for a decade after WW2 they couldn't even feed their own people. Rationing ended in 1954.

The British did try and save their empire for many years after WWII. Malaya and Aden for starters.
 
Mountbatten is part of the reason why the establishment child sex abuse inquiry wouldn’t feature in Northern Ireland. He was a regular friend of one James Saville. When he was murdered, he took two young boys out on a boat...

Him, Heath and several others are the reason the CSE inquiry has been kicked into the long grass. It a bit of a rabbit hole, Mountbatten is a feature of most 20th century British conspiracy theories that turned out to be correct, including saville and the Wilson coup.
He took two young boys out on a boat, did he? Seems from another young boy on the boat that was lucky enough to survive the terrorist attack, he had actually taken his daughter, son-in-law, their twin sons, his son-in-law's mother, and a friend of the twins. On a 30 foot boat.
 

TeddyBoy

Member
The British Empire is still seen by many here with rose-tinted glasses. Hence some of the most vocal Brexit supporters banging on about the Commonwealth as if all those nations are just itching for Britain to come back and treat them like crap again.

This thread is a considerably better discussion of the partition than the entire British school system in my experience. I'd like to thank everyone for their contributions.

Agreed, I know relatively little about the partition of India and I'm thankful for everyone here contributing to help give me a clear picture of what happened and how it affects India, Pakistan and Bangladesh today.

Also, the poster comparing Gibraltar to the Falklands is totally wrong, we annexed Gibraltar whilst the Falklands had no indigenous population.
 

MikeMyers

Member
although the increasing influence of the Chinese in Pakistan gives them a real opportunity (and increases the tensions between China/India).

Interestingly I just video chatted with a friend of mine in Karachi and she told me her husband moved to China to start a business there. Never seen a Pakistani speak Mandarin before, lol.
 
Here's a new article that CNN put out on the legacy of Partition

I saw some mentions of Musharraf on the past few pages. I find it interesting that my family in Pakistan really liked him. They liked some of his ambiguous claims of whether the blasphemy law was legitimate.

Also one of the best times I saw him was in an interview he took in India in 2009. There were tons of Indians who asked him questions and he answered pretty well in my perspective. He also talks rationally about partition and moving forward. I think he gets to that round part 4 & 5

Part 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrPV-qIyk_k
Part 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kinIWT7b14g
Part 3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIxkGiCPuI
Part 4- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLnKhJqP5Cc
 

MikeMyers

Member
I'll have to watch that when I get the chance.

Wasn't Musharraf also responsible for helping the Tali Ban take over Afghanistan?
 
I'll have to watch that when I get the chance.

Wasn't Musharraf also responsible for helping the Tali Ban take over Afghanistan?

The Taliban took over before Musharraf had the coup or was even the Chief of Army Staff. That was more during the tenure of Benazir's government. Pakistan did support Hekmatyar originally but then threw its support under the Taliban. Benazir's government supported them and saw them as a way to get rid of anti-Pakistan sentiment in the country while also stabilizing the country.
 
The largest Indo-Canadian group are the Sikh, the ones who didn't get their own country and only account for 1.7% of the population of India.
 

MikeMyers

Member
The Taliban took over before Musharraf had the coup or was even the Chief of Army Staff. That was more during the tenure of Benazir's government. Pakistan did support Hekmatyar originally but then threw its support under the Taliban. Benazir's government supported them and saw them as a way to get rid of anti-Pakistan sentiment in the country while also stabilizing the country.
I see. Most Afghans I know dislike Pakistan and Pakistanis, even the ones that lived in Pakistan.
 
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