When I was younger, my mum would take us to see my granddad on Independence Day. He would put a flag in the window and we would sit on the plastic-coated sofa in his living room, hearing stories of Gandhi, Nehru, partition, and Jalliwanabagh over Ribena. I knew that 15th August 1947 was an important day. Growing up in the UK, for me it was important more out of a proximity-to-my-granddad nostalgia but, still, I recognized it.
This week celebrates 70 years of Indian independence from British rule, if my grandad was still here he would have reminded me that it was a bittersweet success.
For those without a Punjabi grandfather to deconstruct, the short version of this story is that partition happened as part of Independence and created two independent states – Indian and Pakistan. The idea was to address concerns that the Muslim community would be at a disadvantage in the Hindu India. And, so, the predominantly Muslim nation of Pakistan was created. The fate of the country was dictated by the British Empire, and the person tasked with drawing up the borderlines was a man called Cyril Radcliffe – a judge who had never actually been to India.
What followed was one of the biggest contemporary migrations the world has ever seen – over 12 million Indians moved across the border either side and the partitioning of the two of India’s biggest provinces – Bengal and Punjab, where my family are from.
For those people this meant physically trudging over invisible lines, leaving behind their lives, saying goodbye to friends and family. Partition is the dark side of Indian independence, and I remember quizzing elder family members in India and re-imagining it all through their stories. There are famous tales of people sitting, waiting, listening by the radio, straining to hear if their lives were about to change - to see how the transmissions carried on invisible airwaves would dictate their real-world fates.
Now, these lines are the catalyst for political, social, and religious unrest in India and Pakistan and when people describe them as scars they're right. Partition did scorch the earth of a united Indian dream and, for all the notions of colonial nostalgia in Britain (where 44% per cent of Brits are proud of Empire, according to a 2014 YouGov survey), this is the real legacy of British Rule in India. Partition was part of that story - re-written as a way of settling the ‘Indian problem’ of religion and archaic traditions of a people who still believed in castes and couldn’t look after themselves.
In reality, it was the result of mobilisation in a time where organising was done by white men in sand-coloured uniforms. It is a spirit that lives on, and despite the pain of hacked borders, the empire was eventually dismantled and partition marked the beginning of a new India.
Some of the most marginal groups continue to resist in India and there are too many to mention. To me, the ways in which young women continue to channel resistance is particularly exciting. Female-led activism in India today draws on that of the resisters of empire – they are, through some establishment eyes seen as meek, passive, powerless – the most vulnerable and the least likely to create real change. (Historically, this has never been true; it’s just that acts of female resistance seldom make global news, so freedom fighters like Phoolan Devi aka the ‘Bandit Queen’ in 1970 or Begum Shahnawaz are easily be dismissed).
Just last week, a hashtag circulated on Twitter as a response to politician Ramveer Bhatti blaming a victim of a high-profile stalking case for driving 'so late in the night.' The response from young Indian women were selfies of them out past midnight, dressed up, at dinner, on their way home from dates, or coming in from clubs with the hashtag #aintnocinderella. For me it worked twofold, in its obvious intention to reclaim the night in India but also to dispel the myth to the rest of the world that India is one long dangerous dirt road where predatory men are waiting to attack helpless women. Resistance is part of India’s history and it’s fitting that these small acts of protest come a week before the anniversary of independence, to make the point that the spirit of activism has not gone away.
The most famous activist group might be the Gulabi Gang or ‘pink saris’ who have gained global recognition for their work with ‘low caste’ Dalit women and shining a light on rape mishandling. Their leading voice, Sampat Pal, has championed rights for ‘untouchables’, advocating for women’s rights and gaining prominence through a 2011 film. In politics, the ‘lahu ka lagaan’ or 'blood tax' campaign to make sanitary products accessible to all is ramping up, with councillors on board and protests taking place in universities, led by camping group She Says. Anita Garre made headlines for advocating for toilets to be built in 2011 (Garre famously chose to leave her in-laws home within two days of being married, thanks to lack of a toilet in their house and has a movie based other life, called 'Toilet: EK Prem Katha' as a way to protect women forced to defecate in fields at night) and sparked a conversation about basic needs with the campaign ‘Swachh Bharat’s Ghar Ghar mein Sauch’ (Toilets at Every House).
In the media, Delhi based youth magazine is updating millennial activism via Youth Ki Awaaz, a go-to place that deals with issues of LGBT rights and arranged marriages head on with headlines like ‘8 Things I Learned While Using Dating Apps As An Openly Bisexual Woman’ and ‘Animal Liberation Is A Feminist Issue’ while media platforms like ‘Scroll.’ present an alternative to mainstream news.
Indian and Pakistani independence is often written as the end of a story when told through colonial history. In fact, it was the beginning of treading new ground and navigating – imperfectly – new politics. In 2017, the real work is happening on the ground - just like it was 70 years ago - making small changes that will eventually filter into mainstream consciousness, from villages and student unions to cities, parliament, and policing.
Independence is a story of resistance; of celebration and suffering and of communities who fought for a unified India being asked to leave it. It is the story of a power that gave and took away and of collective action, making mistakes, imperfect strategies and taking on monolithic power. Mostly, it’s a story our grandfathers will keep telling because it flags up so much to learn from, tiny drops of resistance in a country still battered by Empire – hoping to get their voices heard.
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Follow Kieran on Twitter @Kieran_Yates
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.