Partition Remembrance Day: ‘Politicians, historians have ignored Punjab’s pain’

“Partition’s pain can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence,” PM Modi tweeted on Saturday.

Ex-serviceman, environmentalist and writer, Lahore-born Partition victim Parkash Singh Bhatti (83) is not amused by PM Narendra Modi’s call of observing August 14 as Partition Remembrance Day.

“Partition’s pain can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence. In memory of the struggles and sacrifices of our people, 14th August will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day,” tweeted PM on Saturday.

However, angry with politicians and historians for ignoring Punjab’s pain, Bhatti said: “Observing remembrance day doesn’t make any sense. I am afraid that now it is more like gimmick to counter the ongoing farmer protest in Delhi. PM must understand that many of the farmers sitting in Delhi are also partition victims and they have not got any justice since Independence.”

He added, “When Jawaharlal Nehru was delivering a speech on Independence, lakhs like me turned dependents. My family was still better and had connections. We somehow reached from Lahore to Amritsar after some of our family members were killed….I am also angry with the so called historians who wrote at length about Jallianwala Bagh massacre, but remained silent on Partition where lakhs were killed. I am not comparing Jallianwala Bagh and Partition, but I am questioning the silence of historians…”

Bhatti claimed that “neither Jawaharlal Nehru nor Narendra Modi or any other politician for that matter has any understanding of what happened during Partition”.

“Nehru remained Prime Minister for almost 16 years after the Partition. He did nothing for victims. He could never get the tragedy of Partition. If PM Modi is really serious about Partition victims then there should be no Punjabi farmers sitting on Delhi borders….There can’t be worst than what happened in Punjab during those days and that chapter was just closed. So an announcement to observe the day would not do any justice to Partition victims.”

Recalling his family’s trials after Partition, he said: “My maternal uncles, my younger sisters were killed and my mother was seriously injured. We could only get 10 per cent of farming land we had in Lahore.”

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