Partition’s Painful Lessons: A Call for Pragmatic Leadership

Transfer of power and independence

India got independence from British rule on 15th August 1947 and two dominion states, India and Pakistan were created.

Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced on 20 February 1947 that:
The British Government would grant full self-government to British India by 3 June 1948 at the latest.
Princely states were given the right to join either India or Pakistan (with no option to remain independent), the geographical contiguity was an important factor.

When partition - that to very painful of a nation happens - it takes some time for the dust to settle down.
India’s population in 1947 was, almost 345 million. At the time of Independence, the vast majority of Indians lived in the villages. Farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival. So did the non-farm sector of the rural economy, for if the crops failed, carpenters, weavers and other service groups would not get paid for their services either. In the cities, factory workers lived in crowded slums with little access to education or health care. Clearly, the new nation had to lift its masses out of poverty by increasing the productivity of agriculture and by promoting new, job-creating industries.

We had some basic infrastructure like railway network, large cities and roads connecting the cities- not big highways but just simple roads. This was the start point. Where the British left us.

Partition of India and Pakistan was done purely on religious basis- Hindus in Hindustan, Muslims in Pakistan as it was firmly believed Hindus and Muslims, cannot stay together. It was a well-planned legal divorce, (Through British government, being the custodian and mediator). Once divorce happens it has to be clean surgical separation. No more hard feelings- you go your way I go my way.

If it was on religious basis, all Hindus should have shifted to India and all Muslims should have gone to Pakistan. You cannot have 90% divorce!

‘A divorce is like an amputation: you survive it, but there's less of you.’

Margaret Atwood
In a matter of divorce there are no choices given- you separate, you separate- period. Why did Hindus stay back in Pakistan and why Some Muslims stayed back in India is the moot question. When so much was discussed, done and dusted why our leaders were not brave enough or sensible enough or pragmatic enough to take this call- life would have been good on both sides forever.
When two real brothers staying in a five-bedroom bungalow separate to divide the property- it happens- and three out of five rooms go to larger family and two to the smaller one after due deliberation and consensus. The younger brother does not leave one of his kids with elder one! You cannot leave the division of garage hanging in suspended animation- who will park his car, the younger or the elder one? Like our leaders handled Kashmir issue- the transfer of power agreement though did not give choice to any state to remain independent, you are either with India or with Pakistan! You’re out house is the biggest bone of contention- the garage.

Missed the Industrialization through privatization – no trust motion!

Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru distrusted the industrialist and put shackles on them and in a way stifled them and stifled the nation and let it starve. Being non-aligned in initial stages of freedom is like putting your two feet in two different boats- (in a way trying to stand on water and walk- not taking any boat) a recipe for not knowing what to really do. India under Nehru adopted that – this can be argued either way but you need support of a likeminded bloc- the democratic bloc which was the US at that time.

We put self-regulation (read shackles) in the form of quota raj which actually KILLED the golden goose. In 1972, twenty-five years after freedom, a vespa scooter had a waiting period of seven years! We had only Fiat and Ambassador cars. Fiat again had a waiting list. Waiting list for a land line telephone was seven years for years on and MTNL was called- ‘Mera Telephone Nahi Lagega.’

Yes, public sector was required initially but we stuck to it for too long- till it became a non performing asset as a fat white elephant that refused to move. Now it refuses to go.

Killed the culture

A nation has a psyche based on its traditions, values, heritage and culture. We just disconnected from it completely. It hit our pride and self-esteem to the extent that it shattered our confidence and we for a very long time mentally felt inferior to the rest of the world- especially the white west. Actually, to retain and augment your own culture does not require any investment. It grows organically. On the contrary we invested on killing it by neglecting our own eastern values and heritage- Lord Macauly won as he anglicized us to the extent of coloring our souls- and we happily pushed it forward. ‘Macauly Khush Hua’.

Went in for low hanging fruits- dollarization of minds

Our eyes light up even today when someone offers you thousand dollars! We right away multiply it with a figure of 80 plus and say ‘assee hazar Rupaye’! – dollar ke liye kuch bhi karega.

We have close to 2 million- yes 20 lac - software professions as back of the envelope calculation. Mahindra Satyam, TCS, HCL and Infosys could suffice. But have we created one software product which has changed the way the world works? The answer is no. Why Twitter could not come out of IIT Delhi or IIT Bombay? Half the Silicon Valley has Indian engineers and so does NASA.

To create a software company takes 4000 square feet of space, air conditioning, twenty computer, decent bandwidth ant two overseas contracts from USA and you are swinging in a Hammock full of dollars.

To set up a manufacturing plant, even to make nuts and bolts requires much more effort. We could have done this in the beginning, we lost several decades of formative years.

Not thinking big

We as teachers and management consultants keep telling people, especially our students to think big. We bombard them with punch lines like - dream big and reach for the sky, reach the stars, but have we ever asked 1.4 billion people of India or the entire population of a country to think big collectively? Have our political leadership of yesteryears thought big? Answer to both these is a big NO.

The developing nations remain developing for decades because they cannot shake this tag away from their minds. They think of themselves as still developing, backward, poor, dependent and weak. This eventually becomes a national mindset. The entire attitude is just for survival. Unfortunately, ‘Roti, Kapada aur makaan’ (bread, clothing and shelter) is the ultimate aspiration of every citizen forever. Unless the leader shows a way to move forward, a poor citizen will remain poor because he is made to think like poor; you are made to think about third world problems or third class. This is so much in your blood that you can never think like a tiger. You think like a poor puppy all the time. This also lets you into the ‘ji huzoor’ ‘my baap’, ‘Ji Sarkar’ mindset forever.

We were told a story that if you tie an elephant to a strong pillar with a chain for a few weeks and then set him free or remove the chains, he will not run away as he will believe that he is still chained. Similarly, you tie a herd of 50 healthy wild elephants in an open space for three months and then release them, not even one will move out of that area; though, they are the power to reckon with. As 50 elephants together, they can trample an entire town, but they won’t. The reason is that ‘they can’t think or imagine themselves as free or powerful’. The same thing happens at the level of humans and nations

What now?

You can’t turn the clock back; we therefore need to run as walking fast will not do.

We have no time to waste. What we are doing now is what we should have started at least 50 years back. The above gives enough idea of what we missed. We participated in the war, lost our men but used someone else’s equipment and weapons. 87,000 military men from the Indian Army died and 3 million Indian civilians lost their lives during two world wars. We need to cover a lot of lost opportunities and time. Atma Nirbhar Bharat is the way to go.
We produced graduates in millions and did not focus on skill development, which is now being pushed. Entrepreneur word was unheard of before 2014. At least not at size and scale it deserved.
How America became a super power?

Many people feel that the US is a super power because of its firm grip on high technology. Remember, high technology came just after the second world war and picked up speed just 50 years back.

It is a super power because it is a manufacturing giant. First couple of generations worked very hard. America became manufacturing hub in two tranches. After the civil war 1860 onwards for few years they had small scale industries. Between 1870 to 1900 in just thirty years America boomed with railroads, oil, steel, electricity and other goods. They never wanted to go for war so the emphasis was on making goods for Americans by Americans. Life of a common man improved as they moved from agriculture to manufacturing and made full use of migrant labour. Factories became huge in size. A paradigm shift for ordinary workers was palpable. From candle lights to lanterns now they had electrical bulbs in most homes with just a switch to get powerful illumination. Transportation too evolved from horse driven carts to steam-powered locomotives, to electric trolleys, trams and cars, to automobiles and cars running on petrol. By the first quarter of the 20th century fifty percent of farms had electricity and even telephones. Many even owned cars. The number of workers employed in industry, and the number of manufacturing plants more than doubled between 1870 and 1900. The production output surged too making goods available to the average American citizen.


While they splurged, we starved or were kept starved due to clamps put on the industry by our own leadership in first four decades. This also impacted American’s psyche of luxury and thinking big and thinking of themselves as superior.
The second tranche was when America was forced into First World War. They had just 500 machine guns, no tanks but their industry quickly transformed into a war ordinance manufacturing juggernaut. Credit goes to American people to come together in patriotic national interest.
Onus lies on the present and next two generations

We are today in manufacturing where America was in 1914- figuratively speaking. Some big industry names like, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company that was established in 1900, United States Steel Company that came up in 1901, Pepsi-Cola (1902), Harley-Davidson and General Motors Corporation are examples. The Americans splurged and made the best of it. They became an affluent nation on the power of the industrial economy. America is a nation of entrepreneurs started by individuals- industry giants of sorts. Individuals, who displayed determination, leadership and a grand vision to not only America but to the whole world.

First two American generations literally gave their sweat and blood and Americans are basking in that glory today. We were not allowed to work so onus lies on you- the present generations- do you have it in you- you better.

Virender Kapoor is the author of ‘Inspiring India’ taking India from big to great. With inputs from his book.