Amid the bloody trains of partition, Rajmohan Gandhi sees Punjabi love

Not just about the partition, his book is covers 240 years of Punjab - end of Mughal Empire to end of British Empire.

A silver lining which Indian historian Dr Rajmohan Gandhi sees in the blood splattered trains and the massacre of Punjab during the partition of 1947 was Punjabis helping fellow Punjabis.

“The number of Punjabis protecting other Punjabis outnumbered those who were killing them,” says Rajmohan at the launch of his book, ‘Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten’ on the second day of the fifth Karachi Literature Festival.

Holding a copy high for the crowd at the festival, the Indian scholar said: “This is a thick book with solid details and amusing bits.” Not primarily about the partition, this book is about 240 years of Punjab - from the end of the Mughal Empire to the end of the British Empire.

“I can categorise the period in pre-Sikh time, the Sikh regime of over 50 years followed by the British rule of 100 years in Punjab.”

The speaker, who is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, explained why he wrote about Punjab. “I was raised in Delhi. Earlier from 1858 to 1911, Delhi was administered by the British from Lahore, and therefore was connected to the Punjab. It became part of my life, and I had to understand Punjab’s story.” As a 10-year-old boy at the time of partition, he recalls killings taking place in the province, and Muslim students vanishing from his school. Pressed by Raza Rumi, the writer then read out an excerpt from the book mentioning that during the period of turbulence, there were Sufis coming out with poetry. “If there was war in Punjab, there was also peace.”

The last bit of the one-hour session was about the imperial rule in the Punjab and how Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were part of the British army. “During the partition, it was a tragedy that this army was powerless in controlling the killings,” Rajmohan noted, adding that, though the British were successful in forming relationships with elites of each faith, they kept them divided.

Transferring the ‘amusing bit’ from the book to the session, the writer then read out another excerpt of the book this time about the Kohinoor diamond. A British administrator, John Lawrence, who had to take the diamond back to Britain, put it in the pocket of his waistcoat. He had forgotten about it until a servant told him that he had found a ‘glass object’ in his pocket.

When asked about the Gujrat riots of 2002, Rajmohan says: “If Gandhi was there, he would have surely bowed down his head.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2014.