The Spoils of Partition

Chatterji, Joya

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511497384

Cited by 208 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…115 Therefore, despite the apparent geographical absurdity of their territorial claim, the Hindu Mahasabha argued on their behalf before the Boundary Commission. 116 Even the Congress memorandum to the Boundary Commission listed these territories among the areas it claimed for West Bengal on the ground of being non-Muslim 'contiguous majority areas', a criterion followed by the commission for the apportionment of territories. 117 On the other side of the spectrum, Jinnah accosted the viceroy in June 1947 with the proposal of a referendum for Bengal, 'to give the Scheduled Castes the chance of expressing their dissatisfaction with caste Hindus'; but the viceroy 'refused to be drawn' into any such discussion.…”

Section: Towards Partitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partition in Bengal: Re-visiting the Caste Question, 1946–47

Bandyopadhyay

Chaudhury

2017

Studies in History

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The essay introduces caste as a category for discussing the history of Partition of India, which until now has focused almost exclusively on the Hindus, Sikhs and the Muslims. The Dalit or the ‘untouchables’ of India are usually left out of this discussion, and whenever they are brought in, they are portrayed as either disinterested onlookers or accidental victims. On the contrary, as this essay will argue, the Dalit were deeply entangled in Partition politics, which threatened their natural habitat in eastern Bengal, where they had reclaimed land from marshes and forests, extended cultivation and set up human settlement. Their regional movement was gradually drawn into the broader subcontinental politics that led to Partition, and the movement as a result lost unity, autonomy and purpose. While one group of the Bengali Dalit leaders were opposed to Partition and believed that a Dalit–Muslim alliance was in the best interest of the Dalit, others got closer to Hindu nationalism and demanded Partition of Bengal. Many Dalit peasants were caught in this politics and became both victims and perpetrators of violence. The essay concludes that while the Dalit lacked power to influence the decision to partition, they nevertheless were forced to take positions within the political divide, which they did according to their own perceptions of caste interests and preferred political future of their physical space.

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Section: Towards Partitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partition in Bengal: Re-visiting the Caste Question, 1946–47

Bandyopadhyay

Chaudhury

2017

Studies in History

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“…52 Most have either clung on precariously where they were, albeit in ever-shrinking spaces, or have been displaced to areas within West Bengal where more of their fellow Muslims live in densely concentrated and economically depressed clusters. 53 For these Bengali Muslims, "staying on" in India has meant a rapid downward spiral in prosperity, status, and security. Decades of communist government notwithstanding, they are among the most impoverished communities in the region.…”

Section: S T a Y I N G O N : G H E T T O I Z At I O N A M O N G " N Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispositions and Destinations: Refugee Agency and “Mobility Capital” in the Bengal Diaspora, 1947–2007

Chatterji

2013

Comp Stud Soc Hist

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This study seeks to illuminate patterns of refugee settlement in the Bengali Muslim diaspora since 1947, which replicate global trends identified by Aristide Zolberg in new nation-states. Based on historical research and oral testimony gathered from over two hundred migrants in different settings in India, Bangladesh, and Britain, it suggests why some Muslims crossed borders after India's partition and others did not; why most moved only short distances within the delta; and why so many huddled in the shadow of the new national borders and so few traveled to the West. I uncover the subtle interplay between migrants' agency and structures of coercion, and between histories of mobility and of affect, in the shaping of migration choices, and explain how the recurrent patterns identified by Zolberg were produced in a regional context of critical but unexplored significance. The essay explores the impact of nation-state formation on older forms of mobility in the region, and the continuing interconnections between local micro-mobilities and regional, national, international, and trans-oceanic migrations. I suggest that the concept of “mobility capital” can help to explain not only patterns of migration, but also patterns of staying on. I conclude by questioning “cumulative causation theory,” which has inadvertently lent credence to fears that the developed countries of the West will be “swamped” by immigrants drawn from ever-expanding migratory networks based in the “third world.”

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“…69 With respect to West Bengal in this period, Joya Chatterji has shown that 'the spoils of partition' were distributed among sections of the state elite and upwardly mobile castes and commercial groups, which changed the balance of power and wealth within that society. 70 The chief refugee 'gainers' from the scheme of redistribution of evacuee property in Pakistan were urban migrants who took over the industries and businesses vacated by Hindus and Sikhs, many of which had grown considerably in areas of West Punjab and Karachi during the Second World War. These migrants were largely drawn from Gujaratispeaking Khoja and Memon refugee communities from Kathiawar and Bombay.…”

Section: Refugee Corruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competitions for Resources: Partition's Evacuee Property and the Sustenance of Corruption in Pakistan

Chattha¹

2012

Mod. Asian Stud.

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This paper explores the part that the redistribution of evacuee property—the property abandoned by departing Hindus and Sikhs during the mass migrations after Partition—played in the institutionalization of corruption in Pakistan. By drawing on hitherto unexplored sources, including Pakistan's Rehabilitation Department papers, local police files and court records, it highlights the schemes of illegal appropriation, misappropriation, and paints a wholly convincing portrait of the scramble for millions of rupees worth of abandoned property in the towns and countryside of West Punjab. It shows how politicians, bureaucrats, powerful local notables and enterprising refugee groups grabbed properties, mainly by bribing officers charged with allocating them to incoming refugees, or by utilizing their personal contacts. The paper argues that the fierce competition for resources and temptations for evacuee property encouraged the emergence of a ‘corruption’ discourse which not only contributed to an atmosphere that was detrimental to democratic consolidation in the early years of Pakistan's history, but also justified later military intervention. This not only adds to the empirical knowledge of Partition and its legacies, but also makes a significant contribution towards our understanding of the transitional state in Pakistan.

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The Spoils of Partition

Cited by 208 publications

References 0 publications

Partition in Bengal: Re-visiting the Caste Question, 1946–47

Partition in Bengal: Re-visiting the Caste Question, 1946–47

Dispositions and Destinations: Refugee Agency and “Mobility Capital” in the Bengal Diaspora, 1947–2007

Competitions for Resources: Partition's Evacuee Property and the Sustenance of Corruption in Pakistan

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