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• After withdrawal from Cabinet Mission, Muslims league decided on direct action for
winning its Pakistan demand. It announced 16th August, 1946 as ‘direct action day’.
Initially riots broke out in Calcutta and gradually spread to other parts of Northern India.
• In March 1947, Congress accepted division of Punjab in 2 halves, one will be Muslim
majority and other will be Hindu/Sikh majority. Similarly, Bengal was a ho divided.

The Withdrawal of Law and Order Situation:

• Large scale bloodshed took place in the year 1947. Governance structure of the country
was totally collapsed, there was complete loss of authority. British officials were reluctant
to take decisions and did not know how to handle the situation. British were busy
preparing to quit India.
• Top leaders barring Gandhiji were engaged in negotiation regarding Independence. Indian
Civil Servants in the affected areas were concerned for their own life. Problem became
more complicated when soldiers and policemen forgot their professional commitment and
helped their co-religionist and attacked members of other communities.

Condition of Women during the Partition:

• During the partition women suffered the most. Women were raped, abducted, sold and
forced to settle down to a new life with stranger in unknown circumstances. Some began to
develop a new family bond in their changed circumstances.
• Government of both India and Pakistan showed lack of understanding of emotions and
sometimes forcefully sent women away from their new relatives. They did not consult the
concerned women and undermine their rights to take decisions.
• Notion of honour drew on a conception of masculinity, defined as ownership of zan
[women] and zamin [land]. Virility, it was believed that lay in ability to protect your
possession i.e. zan and zamin from outsiders.
• So when men feared that their women-wives, daughters, sisters would be violated by
enemy, they killed their women themselves. There was an incident in village of
Rawalpindi, where 90 Sikh women voluntarily jumped into w’ell for protecting themselves
from outsiders.
• These incidents were seen as ‘martyrdom and it is believed that men at that time had to
courageously accept the decision of women and in some cases even persuade them to kill
themselves.

Role of Mahatma Gandhi during Partition:

• Using Turmoil, Gandhiji took brave effort to restore peace, toured villages of Noakhali
(East Bengal), villages in Bihar then riots torn Calcutta and Delhi to stop communal killing
and reassure the safety of minority community.
• In East Bengal, he assured safety of Hindus, while in Delhi he told Hindus and Sikhs to
protect Muslims and tried to build a spirit of mutual trust.
• Gandhiji begem a fast to bring about a change in the heart of people. Many Hindus, Sikh
migrants fasten with him. The effect of the fast was ‘electric’ as people started to realise