Politics of Disparity in Relief & Rehabilitation of Partition Victims
A single stroke of ‘Cyril Scalpel’ vivisected the motherland into two fragments. Birth of India and Pakistan took place in the ashes of colonial breakup, tarnishing the hopes and aspirations of the people. The guardians of Indian politics gifted a ‘fractured nation’ to the countrymen, which did not exist in their wildest dreams. The native land of a large section became an alien territory due to partition. Unscrupulous and hostile activities uprooted the Hindus of East Bengal and both Hindus and Sikhs of Erstwhile Punjab. Migration to the new land in search of a secured shelter, leaving behind a stable livelihood was the last option available to a majority population. In their desperate fight for survival, the displaced persons entered West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and other bordering regions of the East. The displaced persons of erstwhile Punjab now forming West Pakistan took shelter in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and other various parts of India.
As the flow of partition victims started increasing, temporary Relief Camps were set up at various places. The government of India formed a separate ministry of Relief & Rehabilitation in September 1947 with Mr. K. C. Neogy as its Minister, to handle the situation.
In this write-up, I would like to focus on the relief and rehabilitation policies adopted by the government of India and respective state governments with regard to the partition victims of East Bengal/Pakistan in comparison to that of West Pakistan.
Before the official declaration of partition, tension-unrest-uncertainty prevailed amongst the people. Out of fear and agony, people started migrating towards West Bengal. Everyday at Sealdah station, huge numbers of refugees started reaching. The volunteers of non-government organizations stood beside the distressed people, provided all sorts of assistance and guided them to the temporary relief camps at various locations. The government policies framed were found to be exclusively in ‘black and white.’ It was unknown to the government of India for the first six-seven years about the East Pakistan refugees. Whatever little assistance was provided, it was in the form of an advance loan bearing interest. The false propaganda of the Rehabilitation Ministry to hide their act of disparity between the East and West Pakistan refugees in rehabilitating them, succeeded in creating an impression that the West Pakistan refugees came out of this trauma and rehabilitated themselves satisfactorily through their own efforts while those of East Pakistan allegedly ‘lacking in initiative and self-help’, thereby becoming a burden on the government and the country. (Source: Agony of West Bengal, P 59; Ranjit Roy).
The central government observed that the refugees from West Pakistan were ‘victims of gruesome violence’, so the issue of Relief and Rehabilitation will have to be considered as ‘Urgent & Immediate.’ In this regard, Nehru noted, ‘the problem of rehabilitation of refugees from Western Pakistan, always an important and urgent one, had now assumed a new urgency….Having more or less completed this evacuation, rehabilitation had now to be taken in hand, not spasmodically and casually but in a planned way.’ (Source: Discussion at a Cabinet Meeting, Government of India, dated 10th January 1948; SWJN, Vol 5, P 137).
Many questions arise here. Why such discrepancy between the East and West Pakistan refugees? Was it not known to Nehru and his Cabinet that the refugees of East Pakistan were equally victimized of heinous crimes and had to face similar situations? Both the refugees of East and West Pakistan were partition victims of 1947, inhabitants of undivided India. So, they both deserve equal treatment and facilities of relief and rehabilitation. But unfortunately, the West Pakistan refugees became ‘the apple of the eye’ of Nehru government, while the East Pakistan refugees remain ‘unwanted guest’ of India till date.
We find that the programme of rehabilitating displaced persons of West Pakistan was carried out in a well planned and organized way from the very beginning. The evacuation was completed within 1948 due to the exchange of population, which did not take place in case of the displaced persons of East Pakistan. Relief measures got completed by 1950 and permanent rehabilitation was almost over by the end of 1955.
The government considered the grave situation of the West as an all India problem and not a problem of Punjab alone. So, entire India got involved in the process. Worried Nehru expressed in a cabinet meeting, ‘it was doubtful if the resources of Punjab government were sufficient for the purpose of tackling this problem. The other provinces in India have also to cooperate. Essentially therefore it was a matter for central direction and planning. The Centre indeed was paying for this or nearly all and it could not leave matters to drift or to chance.’ (Source: Cabinet Meeting, GOI, dated 10th June 1948; SWJN, Vol 5, P 137).
The government of India defined the term ‘displaced person’ in the Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Ordinance, 1948, as a first step to carry out the rehabilitation process. The definition was further modified through an Act of Parliament – Displaced Persons (Claims) Act, 1950. The earlier definition of 1948 was restricted to the provision of relief only. Through the second definition of 1950, the government expressed its intention to provide compensation to the displaced persons for the losses suffered and to rehabilitate them permanently. The latter one is only applicable to the West Pakistan refugees only by virtue of a proviso mentioned in the Act which clearly mentions – West Pakistan. Based on that Act, another Act was brought – The Evacuee Property Act, 1950. This Act kept the definition of ‘displaced person’ same as before only with the addition of a new category of persons – the Evacuee; which means the displacement of one section of the population to accommodate the other. The government acknowledged the displacement of persons out of ‘fear of violence’ but kept away the displaced persons of East Pakistan from the purview of it. The intention of the government can be easily judged from the remark of Nehru, ‘ we have talked here of the feeling of insecurity that prevails in East Bengal….There is that feeling of insecurity, although I believe, and I hope it is not wishful thinking, I think that gradually that is lessening….Some members think that every single member of the minority community from there will leave East Bengal….I find no reason for thinking so….I would try my utmost, even so, to prevent it happening and not to say a word or deed which would encourage that process to flow because that very process creates the horrible problem that we have to face.’ (Source: Debate in the Parliament, dated 9th August 1950; SWJN, P 279). Question lies, had the Nehru government succeeded in preventing the horrible situation of the minorities in East Pakistan? Were the minorities protected by the then Congress government from atrocities, humiliation, torture, killing, rape, forced conversion, property grabbing and all other sorts of perceived threats or fear of violence? The answer is a big NO. Then under what circumstances the government felt that the country will face ‘horrible situation’ only when the partition victims of East Pakistan take shelter in the Indian territory of which they were an integral part; but the possibility of such grim situation of the country won’t take place due to the entry of West Pakistan refugees? Shame! What a discriminating attitude of the rulers.
The analysis of the camps meant for East Pakistan refugees clearly indicates that they were not set with the intention of providing permanent rehabilitation in near future. The government was eager to dispose off the displaced persons as quickly as possible. The Nehru-Liaquat Pact,1950 was signed as an instrument to part with the East Bengal refugees. I am not going into the details of the Pact now but will definitely like to share with the readers in some other writeup that it was of no help to the minorities of East Pakistan, but only for the sake of befooling the mass.
The government of India decided to close down the refugee camps of West Pakistan by 31st October 1949. At that juncture clear instruction was given to the Rehabilitation Ministry by the PM’s Office, ‘It is not good enough just to inform the State and other governments that you are going to stop this free feeding. You have to device adequate alternatives to work. There must be intensive and accurate planning and checks as to how far your plan is succeeding.’ (Source: Letter of Nehru to the Rehabilitation Minister, Mohanlal Saxena, dated 10th July 1949; SWJN, Vol 12, P 121).
Displaced persons from East Pakistan were never compensated for the material losses suffered on the pretext that they owned rights over their property in East Pakistan and hence could not claim compensation in India. (File of Ayyanagar to Nehru, dated 24th July 1950, S.No.23, NMMI). But in reality, it didn’t happen so. On the contrary, the West Pakistan refugees were compensated for the material losses they incurred.
Numerous industrial townships were built up for West Pakistan refugees at government expenses. They have been given raw materials, foreign exchange for imported machineries. They got back their money saved in Pakistan Banks, benefits of life insurance policies, provident fund and benefits of the company’s shares. Recruitment in armed forces took place immediately after partition, which was confined almost wholly to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. (The Agony of West Bengal, P 58; Ranjit Roy).
The annual report of the rehabilitation ministry for the period 1951-52, notes that out of 47.40 Lakhs West Pakistan refugees, 27.37 Lakhs have been rehabilitated in Punjab-Haryana, 5.01 Lakhs in Delhi, 4.80 Lakhs in Uttar Pradesh, 4.25 Lakhs in Bombay-Gujarat, 3.73 Lakhs in Rajasthan, 2.09 Lakhs in Madhya Pradesh. All of them have been rehabilitated on land and houses of evacuee Muslims and shops-houses built by the government of India at its own expenses and given as compensation to them. Evacuee Muslims left considerable land, houses, business establishments in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Mysore, Bihar, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. All these have been distributed among the West Pakistan refugees. In Punjab alone 60 Lakhs acres of farmland and 7 Lakhs village- houses were distributed to refugees of West Pakistan. No compensation in any form was given to the East Pakistan refugees. The annual report of the said ministry for the period 1969-70 states that, apart from all the compensations provided, the government spent 200 crores. Delhi alone was able to gather 60 crores projects for the rehabilitation of the West Pakistan refugees.
2.02 Lakhs refugees of West managed to get employment through various employment exchanges. 92 thousand have been given vocational training, 11 thousand were employed in industrial establishments under government schemes. On the contrary, report of 1964-65 days, 10,571 refugees of East Pakistan registered themselves in various employment exchanges, out of which only 204 persons secured jobs. (The Agony of West Bengal, Ranjit Roy).
Nehru government took an indifferent attitude on the rehabilitation issue of the East Pakistan refugees. The rehabilitation of the West Pakistan refugees was undertaken with zeal and interest. Even the local people and society at large stretched out their hands of cooperation. Probably the then national leaders of India had a connection with the people of West Pakistan since it was a part of united India before partition. These leaders left no stone unturned in framing government policies by virtue of which those partition victims of West Pakistan were gladly accepted by the Indian government into the mainstream of Indian society as ‘first class citizens.’ The partition victims of East Pakistan, who are mainly Hindu Bengalis, had one or two leaders of prominence in the government. The pleas, suggestions of those leaders were given a ‘deaf ear’ by the central government. They became helpless and silent spectators. The leaders of Nehru Congress had been hostile towards the leaders of Bengal. They realized that the Bengali leaders are omnipotent personalities with unparalleled intelligentsia and spirit of nationalism. If given a chance, they would prove themselves as true worthy leaders of the country. This was to be stopped, by all means, otherwise the hopes and aspirations, political ambitions of a section of Congress leaders, for which they have vivisected the land into two, would be shattered into pieces. They did not allow the Bengali community of the country to get organized under strong leadership and hence a crisis of leadership was created. The Congress leaders encouraged the system of ‘Cluster politics’ in India. The Bengalis should not gather the strength of questioning the Congress Party but to remain loyal to it. To Nehru and his close associates, after the transfer of power by the British raj, Congress will be the only party with no alternative and no opposition. So, they had taken the Bengali Hindus and the partition victims of East Pakistan for granted. But the matter is different in case of Punjab. As Punjab was very near to Delhi and the various sectors of the country were manned by Punjabis, mainly the army; so it was very necessary to understand the nerve of that region. If this community expresses its unhappiness and revolt then the government will be in great danger and might not succeed to overcome the aftermath of it. So, at any cost, the West Pakistanis are to be made the part and parcel of this country.
The disparity in treating the partition victims of West and East Pakistan separately by the governments has made the former community well settled, landlords, tycoons and authority in various fields; and converted the lion share of the later community into wage earners, land labourers, fighting for their survival and existence. Even a good section of the community is still considered as ‘foreigners’, ‘Hindu Bangladeshi’, served with ‘Doubtful foreigners notice’, ‘Detected and Detained’ behind the bars and ‘Deported in the No Mans Land’; where they are again subjected to social and religious persecutions. To put an end to this unending inhuman activities, torture and injustice against the partition victims of East Bengal/Pakistan, the present government should identify the wrong policies of their predecessors and take preventive measures to rectify the ‘political blunders’ and do justice to the oppressed-suppressed-deprived partition victims of East Pakistan. They should be provided with ample opportunities for dignified living and brought in the mainstream of the country where sympathy and empathy exist, for the all round development of the nation.
