Did Congress Underestimate Muhammad Ali Jinnah? NCERT’s New Partition Lessons Spark Debate

NCERT’s new special modules on the Partition of India have placed significant responsibility on the Congress leadership for the division of the country, saying they “accepted the plans of Partition” and “underestimated Jinnah” while failing to anticipate the long-term horrors that followed.

Two modules, one for the middle stage and another for the secondary stage, were released this August to mark Partition Remembrance Day.

“The Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan were by no means inevitable,” the module states. Instead, they argue, three actors shaped the division, “Jinnah, who demanded it; the Congress, which accepted it; and Mountbatten, who formalised and implemented it.”

The secondary stage module notes, “None of the Indian leaders had experience in running national or even provincial administration, the army, police, etc. Hence, they had no idea of the massive problems that would naturally arise… Otherwise, such haste would not have been made.”

NCERT modules say Partition as a “human tragedy”

The modules describe Partition as an “unprecedented human tragedy, with no parallel in world history.” They document mass killings, the displacement of nearly 1.5 crore people, large-scale sexual violence, and trains of refugees arriving “filled only with corpses, having been slaughtered en route.”

One section notes, “Some horrors began even before Partition was finalised… The horrific events in Noakhali and Calcutta (1946), and Rawalpindi, Thoha, and Beval (March 1947) stand as chilling examples.”

The content highlights that the Muslim League’s Direct Action Day in August 1946, accompanied by violence, was a turning point. It cites Jinnah’s warning, “Either a divided India or a destroyed India,” as pressure that led Congress leaders Nehru and Patel to finally concede.

The secondary module also links Partition directly to enduring challenges, including the Kashmir conflict, communal politics, and external pressures on India’s foreign policy.

“Pakistan has waged three wars to annexe Kashmir and, after losing them, adopted a policy of exporting jihadist terrorism… All this is a consequence of Partition,” it states.

NCERT modules quoting Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Even Jinnah, the module notes, later admitted he had not expected Partition to materialise in his lifetime: “I never thought it would happen. I had never expected to see Pakistan in my lifetime.”

For younger students, the middle stage module narrates the Partition in simpler terms but strikes the same note of shared responsibility. It states, “There were three elements responsible for the Partition of India: Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it.”

The section also emphasises Mountbatten’s role in advancing the transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947, calling the haste “a great act of carelessness” that left millions unaware which country they belonged to even after Independence Day.

The modules conclude by framing Partition as a warning for future generations: “Shortsightedness in rulers can become a national catastrophe. Giving concessions to violence to gain peace results in whetting the appetite of violence-prone groups.”

They emphasise that recalling the “horrors of Partition” is crucial only if India draws lessons, rejecting communal politics and ensuring leadership that prioritises national welfare over personal or party interests.

(With ANI Inputs, except headline and subheads, nothing has been edited)

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