Thoughts on Pakistan by Dr Ambedkar

Lessons from Abroad      

Hindus who will not yield to the Muslim demand for PAK and insist on maintaining the geographical unity of India without counting the cost to do so may well study the fate of other countries who like India were a nation of nations. Here is a story of two countries Turkey and Czechoslovakia.

‘Friends since this does not concern us directly am not reproducing it fully, a few relevant excerpts are eproduced along with BRA’s summary at the end’.

What is the lesson to be drawn from the story of these two countries?

1. That recognition of nationality was the necessary foundation of European peace.
2. Nationalism of Christian minorities in Turkey was not satisfied with local autonomy. It fought for complete freedom and in that fight Turkey was slit open.
3. The Turks were bound to the Arabs by the tie of religion, Islam. They treated the Arab as an equal in every respect. Yet the Arabs were not satisfied. Arab nationalism broke the bonds of Islam and fought against his fellow Muslim, the Turk for independence. It won but Turkey was completely dismantled.
4. As to Czechoslovakia, she began with the recognition that the Czechs and Slovaks were one people. Within a few years the Slovaks claimed to be a separate nation. They would not even admit that they were a branch of the same stock as the Czechs. Czechs offered the Slovaks autonomy with a hyphen. They accepted it but only as a matter of strategy. Next they wanted the hyphen to be replaced with a bar. Their nationalism was so intense that they did not hesitate to ask the Germans for help.
5. Thus these two eg show that neither local autonomy nor the bond of religion is sufficient to withstand the force of nationalism once it is set on the go.
6. This is a lesson the Hindus must learn. If they wish to avoid shipwreck mid-ocean they must lighten the draught by throwing overboard all superfluous cargo meaning they must let PAK let go.

Will the Hindus really loose if they agree to divide India into two, PAK & Hindustan?

PAK is an anomalous excrescence on Hindustan and vice versa. Tied together they will make India the sick man of Asia. It is obvious that if PAK has the demerit of cutting away parts of India it also has one merit namely of introducing homogeneity.

Severed each becomes a homogenous unit. Each has a cultural & religious unity. If there is no such unity in Hindustan it is possible to have it without any controversy as to whether the common language should be Hindustani, Hindi or Urdu. Separated each can become a strong and well-knit state. Then Hindustan can have a strong Central government a homogenous population which are necessary elements and neither of which will be secured unless there is a severance of PAK from Hindustan.

‘Friends BRA does not seem to have understood the mind of the Indian sub continent Muslim. A Muslims attitude vs. the Hindu is best summed up the phrase ‘heads & tails we win both ways’. Partition of India has created a homogenous unit in PAK not in India who continues to be plagued by issues that were raised in the 1930-40’s Language – Hindi Urdu is just one of them. Hatred for Hindus and Hinduism not love for Islam was the reason for formation of PAK. The PAK’s cannot see India progress. If it does it would mean failure of PAK. Inspite of having started and lost four wars they refuse to see reality. For twenty years India has faced a low intensity proxy war.

The Muslims that stayed back in India began insisting on minority safeguards in the Constitution putting them in a much advantageous position as compared to the Hindu majority. At various points of time they identify themselves with foreign Muslim invaders rather than Indian read Hindu culture & pride. Although they are only app 15 % of India’s population they insist on imposing their culture & language on the Hindu population for e.g. making India’s lingua franca Hindustani, a corrupted form of Hindi & Urdu.

BRA’s dream of India being a homogenous unit after partition was a misnomer. The problem is deeper. If the Muslims become a homogenous unit ie mix with the Hindus they will loose their identity, be forced to remember their Hindu past. One e.g. how many of us know that the Karachi based don Dawood Ibrahim’s full name is D Ibrahim Kaskar, the last name clearly indicates his Maharashtrian Hindu origin!

BRA made some valid points on population transfer. I wish he had said that Muslims could have PAK if all the sub-continents Muslims were to move to PAK? That would have created a homogenous state in BRA’s words! Muslims of the Indian sub-continent have only one objective. They want to rule India again.

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