ABSTRACT
The struggle for independence led by Gandhi and the Indian National Congress dominated the history of the last twenty-five years of British rule in India. Parallel to this struggle, there took place a gradual shift of opinion among Muslims towards separatism. Yet a closer study of the period tells us that separatism was not inevitable. Until the end of the 1930s, it was almost inconceivable that there could be a separate Muslim nation; most political efforts were directed at accommodating Muslim interests within the wider body politic of India. The Second World War, however, changed the situation. What appeared in 1939 a possibility became inevitable by 1945 and a certainty by 1947. Then, out of the maddening confusion of the years 1945 to 1947, there came about a double partition of the subcontinent with its human tragedies. This momentous story of the twentieth century, told in the first two sections, is the centrepiece of this chapter. It is a depressing story, the origins of which lie in historical circumstances, human follies and lack of empathy on the part of principal players. The mood will be lightened in the last two sections that tell a positive story of Muslim women and literary personalities.
