Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a journalist in the movement for the establishment of Pakistan before 1947, was questioned; In villages, neighborhoods or mahallas, both Hindus and Muslims live in harmony. There is a great deal of harmony between them. Then why are you separating them as two Hindu-Muslim races? In answer to the question, Jinnah said that wherever and however they live, they live as two separate nations. Although they are together, they are not one. They are different, they are unique. The issue of living side by side as a separate nation still remains but it is not different as Hindu-Muslim.
Proponent of bi-racial theory
Syed Ahmad Khan is believed to have been the first to introduce the concept of bi-racial theory. At a time when the whole of India was becoming nationalist on the question of independence, he called on Muslims to maintain their independence as a separate nation and discouraged them from joining the Indian nationalist movement. At that time the rulers of that time gladly accepted his preaching. Because this was one of the trump cards to stop the Indian nationalist movement.
Later, the poet and philosopher
Muhammad Iqbal brought forward the idea of Muslim nationalism. Muhammad Iqbal, while presenting his idea at a session of the All India Muslim League in 1930, said that it was not possible to provide security to only 80 million Muslims among the Hindu majority in India. The solution may be to accept the subjugation of the British Empire or to solve the communal problem by separating on the basis of culture, history and religion.
In his speech at the conference of the Muslim League in Lahore in 1940, Muhammad Ali Jinnah expressed his ideas or aspirations. In his speech, he said,
"It is difficult to accept why our Hindu friends are unable to grasp the essence of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religious in the strictest sense, but they appear to be religious in individual and specific social order. Building a common nationalist base of Hindu-Muslim community together is nothing but a dream and if we fail to build our nation in time, this misconception of 'One Indian Nation' will create problems in the past and destroy India in the future. Will pull towards. Both Hindu and Muslim communities are in two separate realities in terms of different religious philosophies, social customs, literature, etc.
They never have a marital relationship or a ceremony together, and in fact they are two separate nations at two different poles, relying on conflicting ideas and plans. Their ideas about life and livelihood are also different. It is clear that Hindus and Muslims have drawn inspiration from different sources in history. They have different epics, different national heroes and different anecdotes. It has often been observed that the hero of one nation is the villain of another nation and similarly the victory story of one marks the defeat of the other. In this way, any attempt to bring the two nations, as a minority and a majority community, under one unitary state will be met with dissatisfaction and any such attempt will ultimately fail. ”
Partition of 1947
After Jinnah's introduction of the two-nation theory, many more things happened in the Indian subcontinent. The main purpose of the two missions from London in 1942 and 1947 was to ensure that India remained independent but still under the Commonwealth. Although their stated goal was to hand over power.
Later, as communalism became more pronounced in the region at the instigation of the British, the Cabinet Mission was moving towards the idea of dividing the Indian subcontinent into three parts. Apart from dividing them as Hindus and Muslims, they also had in mind the partition of Bengal and the abolition of the partition of Bengal. Lord Mountbatten thought that even if everyone agreed, Bengal would want to remain a separate 'Dominion'. But in reality the opposite happens!
Bengal and Punjab had to suffer the most to divide India. Both India and Pakistan wanted these two territories to be with them. But as a result of the communal riots it was not possible to keep everything. Eventually both the Congress and the Muslim League agreed in favor of Bengal and the Punjab. Barrister Radcliffe was flown in from England. Never set foot on Indian soil was considered Radcliffe's qualification. Then he divided the fortunes of about nine crore people of Bengal and Punjab with a pencil. Maybe that's why he was a little upset mentally. Radcliffe left India on 13 August 1947 and Lord Mountbatten unveiled a map of India and Pakistan on 16 August. Thus a large population was divided on the basis of religion.
After partition
Even after partition, many Muslims remained in India. It was later found that there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan! However, soon after the partition, Muhammad Ali Jinnah returned to the secular position of his early life. When he came to Pakistan, he announced that everyone here is Pakistani from now on. Be it Hindu or Muslim, Bengali or Punjabi, all are Pakistanis. Again the number of Muslims who were staying in India, they all became Indians! That is to say, the culture and the contradictions that led to the division of India, the contradictions between the two divided states began to move again.
If all Hindus and Muslims in Pakistan or India would be equal, then what was the need for partition? Is it just greed for power or conspiracy of the English? But even then, was everyone able to be equal? Just as there were riots before 1947, riots continued in both the countries after partition. The fate of the common man has not changed.
The people of East Bengal and Bangladesh thought that Pakistan would be liberated. But then the division was seen on the Bengali-non-Bengali question. In other words, even though both of them were Muslims, it was not possible for them to walk together due to cultural differences. Culture was first hit in 1952. The background of '72, '8, '69, '71 was created due to that injury. But the demand was not for Bengalis, it was for rights. The point was that in an independent state we would not accept discrimination. But inequality has not left behind. So it has to be divided again. Sometimes 3 million people have to die, two million mothers and sisters have to lose their dignity. Then came Bangladesh.
Even after the independence of Bangladesh, the two-nation theory still exists. It was said at the outset that Hindu-Muslim coexistence as a nation is not a problem. The problem is the position of the two rich nations, rich and poor. As a nation, rich and poor live side by side, but they are always different.
Although the country's economic growth has been more than five percent in the last twenty years, the living standards of the common man have not improved much. According to the World Bank, those whose income is less than one dollar and nine centigrade under the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) are extremely poor. As of 2016, according to PPP, the value of every dollar in Bangladesh is 32 rupees. At present, the per capita income of the people of the country is estimated to be around two thousand dollars, but about 241 million people of the country are living below the extreme poverty line. Simply put, these two crore 41 lakh people are not even able to earn Rs 81 per day.
The PPP for the people of lower middle income countries has been set at three point two dollars. As such, 8 crore 82 lakh people of Bangladesh cannot earn 3.2 PPP or 102.40 rupees per day. According to statistics, the poverty rate in Bangladesh stands at 52.9 percent.
A report from Prothom Alo said,
"In September last year, the US wealth research firm Wealth-X said that Bangladesh was the first country to have a very rich growth rate. In January this year, the same organization said in another report, Bangladesh has the third richest growth rate. In the next five years, the number of rich people in Bangladesh will increase at a rate of 11.4 percent.
Based on the two-nation theory, first India-Pakistan and later Bangladesh were divided. But the basic two races - rich and poor - have not been solved, they have not been discriminated against. Although the subcontinent is divided on the basis of religion, India-Pakistan-Bangladesh are living in Hindu-Muslim harmony in all three countries. But power-hungry politicians have divided these billions of people in their own interests. In this context, I am concluding with the speech of Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University,
"It is not easy to build a movement for the one-point demand for the elimination of inequality. Money will not be found, the rich will not give. It will be difficult to propagate, the government media and the private media will not come forward. Creating excitement will not be easy, at all. But not without this movement. Inequality is threatening our very existence and as the days go by, it will take a deadly shape. I want to stop it. If you can now. Because it's too late. "
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