DU to set up Centre to research partition politics  

Delhi University will establish a Centre for Independence and Partition Studies to facilitate research on the "high voltage politics" accompanying Partition, reports PTI. The Centre will examine how the then central leadership failed to contain the "germs of separatism", documents reveal.

The documents also show that the Centre’s research will further focus on the "non-insistence of central leadership on having the Frontier Province with India," and the way the "Congress Working Committee consented to Partition without consulting (Mahatma) Gandhi." These "priorities" for research subjects were listed in a draft concept note for initiating the Centre for Independence and Partition Studies.

The eight-point concept note laid stress on how Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised "revisiting and remembering the horrors associated with the partition of India" in 2021.

“Different departments in Social Sciences and Humanities at the university briefly touch upon the history, politics, and literary narratives around Independence and Partition, but that is hardly based on field research, dedicated archival sources or the studies of affected groups,” the note stated.

The concept note, which was prepared by an eight-member committee, will also be presented to the statutory bodies of Delhi University, namely the Academic Council and the Executive Council. It is on the agenda of the upcoming academic council meeting on May 26 for the members to consider the recommendations of the committee.

Prakash Singh, Delhi University South Campus Director and head of the committee said that despite the concept note containing suggestions, researchers can explore other subjects as well. "There is a lot that needs to be studied and the Delhi University felt the need to provide a platform which can be used to study the cause and effect of Partition," Singh told PTI.

The committee states through its note that the proposed Centre should examine different aspects of the freedom struggle, the conditions and developments that led to the Partition, and its impact. Further, it also states that the Centre should emerge in due time as an established resource and research centre to facilitate similar studies.

The Centre’s priorities for the research include studies about the intricacies surrounding Partition, stories of unheard-of and unsung heroes of the Freedom Struggle and Cyril Radcliffe’s role in the Partition.

"Within this context, many questions need further research. For instance, the role played by Radcliffe (who was hardly familiar with Indian culture, geography and demographic pattern) in Partition; the game plan and the strategies of the imperial government; the high voltage politics accompanying Partition; the germs of separatism that the central leadership failed to contain; the way Congress Working Committee consented to Partition without consulting Gandhi," the note reads.

"The reason for the non-insistence of central leadership on having the Frontier Province with India; the uncertainty of the fate of the princely states; the steps taken by the government to contain violence and death of innocent people; the strategies adopted for rehabilitation of the Partition victims," it added.

It would be “quite befitting to set up a centre” to carry out studies and research on Independence and Partition, the note said, adding that the centre will be a constituent of the Faculty of Social Science.