I do agree with you on most of your points. I would like to add a few things here;
In Pakistan there is a a belief that Jinnah was a British agent and Jinnah who was a pork eating shia muslim who didn't really practice islam suddenly decided to bat for an islamic state because of this reason. There is also a belief that he never thought that the partition would actually happen for he thought Gandhi and Nehru would accept the Cabinet Mission Plan, which never happened.
On Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah......
While Nehru vehemently criticised Jinnah for using the Islamic religion in politics, he turned a blind eye to the use of Hindu religion from the platform of Congress by his own Mahatma. Was Jinnah wrong in complaining that Gandhi "had destroyed the very ideals with which the Congress started its career and converted it into a communal Hindu body"? Not really because under Gandhi's leadership, the Indian nationalism was Hinduised as "his basic concepts, his moral values and ideals, even his fads and foibles, were of Hindu origin; in his writings and speeches he constantly employed language, imagery and symbolism undisguisedly derived from the Hindu sources "¦" All this alienated the Muslims from the Congress yet regrettably Gandhi insisted that only the Congress represented the Muslims. The Muslims suspected that the Congress was primarily a Hindu body and Jinnah used their suspicions to the maximum effect, still the Congress made no serious effort to allay their fears.
Instead of engaging Jinnah and the League to find out what was irking the Muslims to demand a separate state, the Congress adopted the uncompromising policy of outright condemnation. Gandhi made a tactless attack on Jinnah's thesis of Muslim nationhood in his journal "Harijan": "The 'two nation' theory is an untruth"¦. Those whom God has made one, man will never be able to divide"¦. My whole soul rebels against the idea that Hinduism and Islam represent two antagonistic cultures and doctrines. To assert such a doctrine is for me the denial of God"¦" The Congress wasted precious years by not bringing on the negotiating table any concrete alternative to the demand of Pakistan. The World War Two years and the imprisonment of the Congress leadership in the botched "Quit India" Movement provided time and space for Jinnah to strengthen his position which became invincible after the results of the 1945-46 general elections. The very League which could not back up its claim of being the true representative party of the Muslims due to its weak performance in the 1936 elections, won all the Muslim seats in the Central Assembly in the 1945-46 elections. The Muslim apologists of the Congress were wiped out and electorally the Muslim community stood solidly right behind Jinnah. For Congress, now, the most crucial question was not to win independence from the British but to save India from disintegration.
Jinnah knew that Gandhi was the key to the Congress and that is why he said,
"We could settle the Indian problem in ten minutes if Mr Gandhi would say, 'I agree that there should be Pakistan"¦'" Gandhi did show his inclination to consider the division but insisted that it must be by mutual agreement of both the communities and first the two should join hands to evict the British. This was a trap because had the British left without partition, the Muslims might have to fight a civil war to wrestle Pakistan from the Hindus and Jinnah could see through this trap. That is why he told Gandhi, "The question of the division of India, as Pakistan and Hindustan is only on your lips and does not come from your heart."
Source :
Stop blaming Jinnah for partition | Pakistan Today
Turning to the Cabinet Mission plan, Dalwai argues that Jinnah accepted this because it "not only enabled the Muslims to enjoy political power in the Muslim-majority provinces but also to get a fifty per cent representation at the Centre, thus allowing them to rule over the Hindu majority". Jinnah further "welcomed the plan because it left the Princely States as they were, and he thought he could use 'Muslim India' and 'Princely India' as counterweights against 'Hindu India'". Jinnah upheld the rights of sundry nawabs and maharajas, while, as Dalwai notes, "persistently oppos[ing] the demands of the subjects of the Princely States for more rights for themselves".
Revisionist or nostalgic historians blame Gandhi and Nehru for not agreeing to the Cabinet Mission plan; had they done so, there might still have been a united India. Dalwai agrees that
"in a sense it is true that if Gandhi and Nehru had satisfied Jinnah's demands, partition would have been avoided". However, as he tellingly adds, "
t was not the prime objective of Gandhi and Nehru to avoid partition at any cost. If any cost were paid for avoiding partition, every Indian would have been converted to either Islam or Hinduism to achieve such a goal."
Source: Jinnah reassessed
On Bengal and Punjab.................
I agree these two states were the ones to bear the brute force of partition however we must not ignore Sindhis who lost their access to their home forever and Hindus from north west frontier who aren't necessarily punjabis in the strictest sense. Also one can't forget Indian muslims who migrated from within India especially the biharis and UP muslims who are to date unhappy in their adopted land and face army operations. Even now an operation against the "Mohajir" community is unfolding in karachi. The partitioning of bengal doesn't seem to have worked because not only did the east bengalis separate from pakistan, migration from bangladesh to India is proof that the partition has not really worked. "The exodus from Bangladeshis into India has for the first time been termed by the United Nations as "the single largest bilateral stock of international migrants" in the eastern hemisphere and also in the developing world".
Given the above the north -east states of India are also a victim of partition because their demographics have changed because of it.
In Punjab too we had the Khalistan movement and it cost the Gandhi family dearly.
Partition gave birth to the Kashmir problem which has left both pandits and muslims divided and caught in a battle between India and Pakistan. So kashmir is another casualty of the partition.
I make these points to clear out that the fallout of partition has affected a lot more people than just in geographically divided states of bengal and punjab.
On Subhash Chandra Bose....
What you say is the truth and given the recent breaking of the story of how Nehru spied on Bose, i think the truth will soon come out.
On the British leaving India .......
Given this entire landscape Pakistan is now a reality and a troublesome reality for us. We have our leaders to thank for this baggage which might destroy the sub-continent.
@<a href="http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/member.php?u=16062" target="_blank">Rashna</a>,
I have no time for 'hero worshipping' or acquiring 'gurus' to bring solace to the tormented soul.
Gandhi served his purpose and was duly projected as the one who gave India its freedom and Nehru as the sole saviour, with others being hanger ons.
However, things are changing and all are getting their due in the freedom struggle, a fact suppressed to give Gandhi Nehru the sole piece of the cake.
Gandhi said Partition over his Dead Body. He proved to be a false 'God'. Partition came and he was gleefully delighted. Millions died. Millions were homeless and deprived. It was Bengal and Punjab alone that took the brunt. Rest of India rejoiced and accepted the fairy tale spun by the Nehru Gandhi lobby that they alone were the architect and saviour of India and it Independence.
The truth is unravelling and the false propaganda is being exposed.
This is contrary to historiographers' interpretations of Indian freedom struggle. It was not because of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but because of Subhas Chandra Bose the British left India.
This would certainly be a great surprise to those who believe in Nehruvian interpretation of history. But the fact of the matter is that this was the truth.
It was one of the best kept secrets till date, thanks to Jawaharlal Nehru and his Congress.
It was the year 1956. Justice Phani Bhusan Chakravartti, then Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, asked visiting British Prime Minister Clement Atlee about why the Britishers left India.
Atlee said
This was also aired by AIR.
it is time to call the bluff.