Radcliff Line

When India was divided into India and Pakistan into the eastern (now Bangladesh) and western sides. The line dividing these countries was referred to as Radcliff Line. Named after its architect Sir Cyril Radcliff,  Who was given the responsibility with his team to divide a nation within 88 million people. This division was official on 15 August 1947. 

How did this partition take place?

Under British rule, Hindus were the majority of the population in the country, and Muslims were the largest minority community. Initially British wanted to control India but there was great resistance from Indian people, especially after the sepoy mutiny in 1857 which is also called as First Indian Independence war. Then Britishers came up with another strong idea to divide and rule. Which was the starting point of the division of India and Pakistan.

During that time INC demanded their representative in the legislation of India. And Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru were demanding a strong unitary centered nation. And the minority community suspected that there will a political dominance of Hindus. 

Under British rule minority Muslims also had their religion and identity secured by a system of reserved legislation and separate electorates as their divide and rule ideology. 

During 1942 when the quit India movement was going on our national leaders were locked up until 1945. And it was that time when world war II was going on. And Britishers needed allies for their wartime needs. So, they offered the Muslim league their political safeguard to co-operate with them. But Muslim league “Pakistan” resolution was already called in March 1940. Whom they referred to as a separate nation. 

And at the instance because of war Mt. Atlee’s Labour Government, the economical situation was so bad that they can not cope with the cost of extending empire. Thus, A cabinet mission was sent  to India in 1946 whose aim was to transfer the power by June 1948. But since the legislation ideology and federation was loose this idea was rejected by both Hindu and Muslim Leagues. And Muslim league wanted a separate Pakistan as early as possible. 

Then, Lord Mountbatten arrived in India in March 1947. On June 3 he announced that Independence would be brought in August with the creation of two separate nations namely India and Pakistan on which both leagues agreed. 

And during the same time when Mountbatten announced this separation, the British government called Sir Cyril Radcliff to chair both boundary commissions for Bengal and Pakistan equally. But later Radcliff announced that he had referred out of date maps and census. 

And as we all know on August 15, 1947 partition took place which caused the mass transfer of millions of people to and fro. Also which caused several casualties in that transfer. And the creation of the Radcliff line was done. 

Members of Radcliff Commission

Both the boundary commission of Bengal and Pakistan were composed of Chairman Sir Cyril Radcliff, two members by INC, and two by Muslim league. Bengal partition commission consisted of Justices C. C. Biswas, B.K. Mukerji, S.A. Rahman and Abu Saleh Mohamed Akram. And Pakistan Partition commission includes Justices Teja Singh, Mehr Chand Mahajan, Mohammad Munir, and Din Mohammad. 

Problems in the creation of Radcliff Line 

During the creation of the Radcliff line, there were various problems faced by Sir Radcliff and the committee. First, there was no boundary-making procedure. Britain wanted to spare no time in the transfer of power so they didn’t have any survey before partition. And also none of the people in the committee was experienced to divide a country. 

Second, there was own hatred among the committee between Hindu and Muslim leagues because of which proper judgment was tough. They hardly spoke with each other when Hindus were killing Muslims and Muslims were killing Hindus. 

Third, Radcliff visited India first time, and he was not aware of the situation of India and also knew no one there. So, there was also a lack of knowledge. Radcliff just saw to be dividing an asset into two portions. 

Radcliff knew that no matter how he divide the territory people would suffer. So, Radcliff created the partition line and burnt the justification paper. And departed one the day of Independence. 

The fourth and the last problem was, secrecy and implementation of the Radcliff Line, The creation of the Radcliff line was all-time kept secret and not to be shared with everyone until two days after partition. After the partition, the people of India and Pakistan were responsible for the implementation of the Radcliff Line. So, when Lord Mountbatten reached Lahore in august he deployed 50,000 people as Punjab boundary force to keep the peace which was very tough to maintain.

Conclusion

To sum up, when Lord Mountbatten came to India and proposed two separate nations everyone agreed upon it. Which led to the creation of a committee led by Sir Cyril Radcliff to partition between India and Pakistan and India and Bengal. And on his name, the partition line is said as Radcliff Line. During the creation of this partition, they faced many difficulties as Radcliff was very new to India and knew no one here. And he was aware of the consequences this partition would bring. Also after creation and Implementation, there were various disputes in Punjab and Bengal regions. Which was later resolved and settled.