Remember Partition To Reject Communal Division and Hate, Not Perpetuate It

14 August 2021

If we really want to learn from the horrors of Partition, we must delink nationalism from religious identity, respect India's internal diversity and promote friendly ties among Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, the three countries that have emerged from the tragedy of Partition.

By declaring August 14 as #PartitionHorrorsRemembranceDay, Modi government seeks to reduce undivided India's glorious history of freedom movement to the tragedy of Partition and turn the wound into a permanent ailment. This is derailing and diverting free India to a blind alley.

We certainly don't want to return to or reenact the horrors of Partition. We want to learn from past mistakes and move on. That's the spirit of free India and the Constitution's vision of a secular democratic socialist Republic built on the pillars of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice is rooted in this spirit. Modi government's announcement insults and negates this basic spirit on the eve of the 74th anniversary of India's independence.

Dipankar Bhattacharya
General Secretary, CPIML Liberation