Why did Partition happen ?

Before we begin, I would like to clarify that the following content is my personal opinion and readers have every right to differ from it.

Background
Some people blame Nehru for partition, some blame Gandhi for partition, some blame Sawarkar for partition, some blame Jinaah, while some blame Hindu Mahasabha and so on, the list is endless. Its easy to sit in a room with a coffee mug in hand to judge people from the past and compare them with one another. So we need to understand that there are a lot of factors which contributed to the partition of India into India and Pakistan (including East Pakistan). So let us first look into the backdrop to understand it.

The beginning
India in 18th century was politically disintegrating after the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Powerful states like Bengal, Marathas, Awadh, Hyderabad, Mysore, Punjab were emerging on the scene as independent/autonomous centers. Mughals were getting weak. East India Company (EIC) were expanding its control. After battle of Buxar, EIC has started its dominance in India (Technically there was no India at that time). Peasants were getting exploited due to high tax rates and rules like Permanent Settlement, Mahalwari Settlement and Ryotwari Settlement. Although the rule of British was also a blessing in disguise in fields of technology and education. Indian education methods were backward and outdated. British introduced some educational reforms. British also help in reforming society by banning some acts like 'Sati' etc. Railways were introduced which connected India and helped bridge the gap between high caste and low caste Indians. The Railways also ruined Indian Industries but the positives cannot be overlooked.

1857 revolt
The first major event when the people from different parts of India united to revolt against can be traced back to 1857 war of Independence (not for the 'idea of unified India', but for independence from British). Some call it 'First war of independence' but there have been uprisings like Santhal uprising etc here and there which were confined to a particular section of Indian subcontinent. 1857 cannot be called as the war for India because there was no idea of 'India' back then and most people were fighting for their own personal reasons against a common enemy. For example, Mangal Pandey revolted because the bullets for new rifles were using cow and pig fat; Awadh was fighting because the state was annexed by British and Begum Hazrat Mahal wanted her minor son to rule; Rani Lakshmi Bai fought because she wanted Jhansi back; Bahadur Shah Jafar fought under the pressure. All of them had a common enemy and of course all of them wanted independence from British. Ofcourse there were some who fought for the purpose of unity but it cannot be generalised to all the fighters. Professional Historian like Ramesh Chandra Majumdar said that it was neither first nor national war of independence.
Unfortunately the revolt failed because it was not coordinated, not organised and it was deinitely not 'all-India'. Only a limited number of people had participated.

Contributions from movements
Then there were Reformist and Revivalist movements too. People like Raja Ram Mohan Roy  promoted rational thinking. Revivalist movements like Wahabi Movement wanted to convert India from Darul Harb( land of non-believers) to Darul Islam( Land of Peace). Organisations like Hindu Mahasabha wanted a Hindu Rashtra (Nation for Hindus). So this period also saw a rise in communal activities by communal elements.
The socio-religious movements also brought reforms in the society during this period. Organisations like Brahmo Samaj, Prarthna Samaj led to cultural consciousness among people which also resulted  in political consciousness of Indian nationalism later on in 1860s, 1870s onwards. This also faced challenges as it gave wrong impression to Muslim community that the emerging nationalism was actually Hindu nationalism. It also led to communal consciousness. Feeling of communalism was on a rise. It also led to birth of two-nation theory.

Ideas of unity
The freedom struggle for the 'idea of India' can be traced from 1885 (which is ofcourse debatable). In 1885, Indian National Congress(INC) was formed. It was of course inspired or motivated from events like 1857 revolt. It was very democratic from beginning and held sessions in different parts of country to give strength to the idea of India. But their demands were very limited in the beginning. India at that time was divided on the basis of caste, religion, region, language and ethnic identities. Events like French Revolution had given rise to ideas of Equality, Liberty, Fraternity among educated people. The cultural consciousness was slowly transforming into national consciousness in which Railways played a big role by connecting people from different parts. Initially Congress had demanded some reforms within British system only. Congress was led by middle educated class and was not connected to rural India untill Mahatma Gandhi arrived into the scene. But Congress has succeeded in politicising some local issues. Initially it comprised of mostly leaders from upper caste and women participation was low. The partition of Bengal in 1905 led to first mass movement under Congress and thus it included common people also. Leaders mobilised masses.

The Congress composed of Moderates and Extremists which led to Surat split in 1907 due to difference in opinions. Muslim League was formed in 1906. Now we must be very clear in understanding that Muslim League was not communal from beginning. They had secular leaders. It was very late around 1930s and 1940s when the demand for separate Pakistan for Muslims came on the scene. Jinnah was very secular who never involved religion in politics untill late 1930s. There was also a third group of revolutionaries which comprised of people like Bhagat Singh. They believed in achieving the goal through revolution, like violence etc.
British had started its 'Divide and Rule' policy by providing separate electorate constituencies for minorities which was opposed by Congress. Jinnah too had opposed it in the beginning.

Arrival of Gandhi
The arrival of Gandhi changed the course of freedom struggle. Gandhi had fought against Imperial powers and South Africa and returned to India in 1915. Gandhi insisted on Satyagraha and non-violence. Gandhi practised whatever he professed. He believed in the role of religion into politics but his idea of religion was different. It was based on truth, love and harmony and not on communal politics. He toured India extensively till 1917 to understand the plight of rural Indians and thus connected the rural poor people to the idea of 'India' under Congress. He also mobilised women support by his Gandhian methods like Anti liquor movement, Charkha movement etc. He led the poor in Champaran Satyagraha which was his first mass movement in India. Gandhi always focussed on maintaining the balance of compromise among both the parties. He rejected any immoral activity from either side. He supported the stand, not the people. Thus he was able to mobilise both the parties. Communists blame Gandhi of not supporting peasants' cause whole heartedly but they miss one basic point. For freedom struggle of India, Gandhi needed support of each and every person and hence he could not afford bad relation with anyone. So Gandhi always maintained the balance in between to win the support of both the sides. And thus he was able to mobilise entire India behind him for the freedom struggle. The communists could only mobilise one section behind them. Communal organisations also could mobilise only a few because they all looked from the perspectives of only one section of the society.

Role of Revolutionaries
The revolutionaries were also very secular. Bhagat Singh wrote a piece "Why am I an atheist". He was considered to be a 'mobile library' as he was very well read. They wanted to make India a secular, socialist, republic state. Many considered themselves as atheists and didn't promote religious feelings. Bhagat Singh ideolised Lenin. V.D Savarkar was also a revolutionary and contributed to the freedom struggle but he also believed in two-nation theory and promoted the idea of 'Hindutva'.
These revolutionary forces removed fear from minds of common people, forced government to bring reforms, aroused patriotic feelings. Congress had definitely benefited a lot from their contributions. Bhagat Singh later on decided to give up on revolutionary practices and surrendered himself to promote the ideas of secularism, socialism etc but he was put on trial for the murder in an earlier case. Gandhi tried three times to save Bhagat Singh from death, requesting government to convert death sentence into life imprisonment, but all the efforts were in vain.

There was growing discontent among many that Gandhi ji is not doing enough for the peasants because Congress had not demanded for the abolishment of Zamindari system till very late. It led to formation of Organisations like All India Kisan Sabha which mobilised peasants and politicised them.

Pakistan
'Pakistan' term was coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali in 1932 which was instantly rejected by Congress and Jinnah. The idea of Pakistan only included the Muslim majority provinces in the west and princely state of Kashmir. The muslim majority province of Bengal and Assam were not in their agenda. This is because the idea of Pakistan was the handiwork of some Muslims from Punjab and U.P areas. This was also a major reason of clash between Pakistan and East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) post independence. The muslims of east were compromised at the cost of Muslims in west.

The reason for Muslim Leagues' demand for Pakistan can be traced from Elections after 1935. Out of 11 provinces, Congress had made governments in 8 provinces. Muslim League could not win anywhere, not even in Muslim majority provinces. Even Hindu Mahasabha who claimed that Hindus are with them, did not win anywhere. Before election, Congress had promised Muslim League to form coalition government in U.P. But Congress won in majority. So they put a condition in front of Muslim League that they'll have to join Congress if they want to become ministers. This annoyed Muslim League and they did not join coalition government. Even though Congress was a very secular party and never discriminated minority but arguably this event could be the beginning when Muslim League thought of danger of Hindu Majority over Muslim minority. The  Muslim League then started aggressive campaigning. Jinnah extensively toured and mobilised Muslim middle class. In those days, voting rights were given only to those who were educated and had qualifications. So effectively, it was only 8-10% public which voted to decide the future of entire nation.

Congress, while in power, showed the power of democracy and took up issues. But they had only limited powers. They could not curb the communal riots. But they proved that Indians are capable of ruling their own country. But muslim minority (the voters) were not very enthusiastic with Congress government anymore. This was the turning point in history of India.

World War - Blessing in Disguise ?
During 2nd world war, there were differences within Congress whether to take advantage of British weak conditions in war and start a movement. Gandhi didn't want to do this because he thought it was immoral. Subhash Chandra Bose wanted to start a mass movement. Bose then resigned from Congress in 1939. Now we must understand that this did not lead to a bad relationship between Bose and Gandhi. It was Bose who gave Gandhi the title of 'Father of the Nation' later on. Both of them had great love and respect for each other and both were correct in their own way.
The 2nd World war broke British economically and then Congress started Quit India Movement in 1942.

Muslim League
Muslim League did not have a good relationship with Congress anymore. Earlier, both had almost same kind of manifestos. But now the central leadership did not support the movement. But the regional Muslim League leaders played a big role in movement.

Hindu Mahasabha
The Hindu Mahasabha had an agenda of Hindu Rashtra since 1915. They were taking contentious issues like cow protection, Urdu Hindi issue etc. They promoted two-nation theory. Arguably, their nationalism was confined to Hindu nationalism. But they could never gather support from Hindus. The masses were always with Congress and Gandhian movements. But they definitely succeeded in polarising the society and creating doubts in the minds of minorities.

S.C.Bose
Subhash Chandra Bose continued his fight from Singapore and Tokyo via Azad Hind Fauz (INA). INA and Japanese jointly attacked British in India. But they lost once Japanese withdrew. What happened to S.C.Bose and where did he go is still a mystery.

Muslim League demands
After 1945, Muslim League demanded the Muslim ministers to come from their party and this posed a big problem. Because if Congress cannot put its own Muslim members as ministers then they would become a Hindu party. So Congress rejected it. In the next election, Muslim League frightened the Muslims of Hindu majority and played religion cards. They mobilised the muslims (only the voters, 8-10%) middle class and won 492/507 seats reserved for Muslims in 11 provinces and all 30/30 seats reserved for Muslims in Central Legislative Assembly. This result turned the entire course of history. British decided that partition will happen if Muslim majority province governments agree to it. Muslim League were in majority in all such provinces.

While forming government, Gandhi ji advised Congress leaders to accept Jinnah as Prime Minister to avoid partition. Historian Saumya Sarkar writes that some top leaders ignored Gandhi here and Gandhi was sidelined at this critical juncture. Gandhi was not even invited in some important meetings.

In 1946, Muslim League declared Action Plan and started protests for Pakistan which led to communal riots from both Muslims and Hindus side. Top leaders of Congress and Muslim League appealed to people to maintain peace but it was not in their control.

Partition Plan
Finally the Mountbatten plan laid the grounds for Partition. This was great injustice to common people. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, who was also known as Frontier Gandhi was deeply shocked. He was among poor peasant Muslims who supported Gandhi but because of some leaders and handful of voters, their fate was being written into Pakistan. This also confirms that the decision of partition was taken without consulting the actual masses. Hindustan Times reported in 1946 that almost 10,000 Muslims gathered in Jama Masjid of Delhi who opposed partition, but it was all in vain. Thus it was a demand from only a handful of Muslims.

Two groups emerged within Congress. One group led by Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel who agreed to Mountbatten plan. Many blame this action but maybe Gandhi, Nehru, Patel came under the pressure due to communal riots happening all over the country. Sardar Patel was the first to agree and Gandhi was the last. Nehru and Patel had alleged that members of Muslim League did not cooperate when they had formed the interim government and had caused problems and disturbances in the functioning of the government. It was (maybe) also clear from the fact that Muslim League top leaders other than Liaqat Ali Khan had maintained distance from the interim government and were engaged in Pakistan movement. Historians doubt that Jinnah main intention was to disturb the cabinet from within, so that Nehru could not function independently, in order to prove the point that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together. The Second group was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who never agreed for partition. But this group was in minority. Aruna Asaf Ali wrote that on the eve of Independence, Maulana Azad was in tears in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Maulana wrote in his book 'India wins Freedom' that he regretted resigning frm Congress Presidency in 1946 and squarely blamed Nehru and Patel for accepting this plan.

Who was responsible ?
No single day,no single person, no single Party can be squarely blamed for Partition. Separate electorate by British had divided the society. Role of certain groups, organisations, political parties were equally responsible. Failure of Congress to win the support of Muslim middle class also contributed to it. Gandhi himself said that if it had been a demand only from Muslims then he would have never agreed to it, but Sikhs and Hindus were also demanding for it.
Muslim League and Jinnah had become a big headache for them so perhaps they wanted to let them go with whatever Jinnah wants. Thus maybe it was not Hindu-Muslim clash which led to partition, but clash among the leaders and a small percentage of population. Congress claimed that there was a possibility of civil war too because communal virus had spread in many parts of India. Gandhi was literally helpless.

Migration
Huge number of people migrated. Almost 60 lakh Muslims from India to Pakistan. Almost 40 lakh Hindus to India. I.K Gujral had also migrated who later on became Prime Minister of India. People had lost everything. Lot of wounds to both the sides. The decision was taken on the very highest level and forced upon the very lowest level. Top leaders didn't visit migrants' camps for some time dues to fear of anger of migrants who had lost everything.

Thus, British, Communal forces of Hindus and Muslims, Muslim League, Indian National Congress, all were responsible.

The Big Secret (Source -> The Quint)

Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, in their book Freedom at Midnight, argue that the Partition of India could have been avoided if “the most closely guarded secret in India” had become known – Jinnah was suffering from tuberculosis which was slowly but surely killing him.

If Jinnah had been just an unfortunate victim of tuberculosis, he would have been confined in a sanatorium for the rest of his life. Jinnah, however, was not a normal patient. When he was released from hospital, Patel brought him to his office. Sadly, he revealed to his friend and patient the fatal illness which was stalking him. He was, he told Jinnah, reaching the end of his physical resources.

This could also be one of the reasons why Jinnah was so adamant on having a separate Pakistan for Muslims.

Jinnah knew that if his Hindu enemies learned he was dying, their whole political outlook could change. They might wait until he was in his grave, then unravel his dream with the more malleable men underneath him in the hierarchy of the Muslim League

Gandhi
Gandhi before his death in 1948, had asked to burn all his writings and sayings. He asked to follow two things, Truth and Common Sense. This makes Gandhi very modern. He knew that his work were relevant to a particular time in History. Thus he believed in changes and adaptations with time.

Nehru
Nehru strongly believed in democracy. Under him, India became the first country in world where illiterates got the right to caste vote. Among all countries which got independence after World War 2, India succeeded the most in the field of democracy. Many scholars believe that Nehru showed great character during Partition. He strongly believed in Secularism and assured Muslims in India safety both by words and action. Nehru made sure that India becomes a secular state. This is why Gandhi had so much affection towards Nehru. Nehru also strongly believed in Socialism but not via revolutionary ways. He promoted big and heavy industries, medium and small enterprises. He believed in a mixed economy where both State and Private players have a role. He is considered as an architect of modern India. After independence, India was facing food crisis, illiteracy, health problems, threat from neighbours etc. British had left India exploited. India's share in world trade before and after British rule was 24% and 2% respectively. Nehru took charge of India from that point lead from the front. He gave the ideals of 'Panchsheel', started 'Non-Alignment Movement' to avoid any damage to Indian economy. Among all the nations which got independence after World War 2, India stands at the top, and many countries today see India as a role model. A country with so much diversity survived democracy so successfully, and Nehru's ideals of democracy and secularism played a big role in this.

LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM, BUT YOU CANNOT IGNORE THEM. SUCH IS THEIR CONTRIBUTION.