The Partition of India: Aftermath and Reconciliation in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab

Although it took place over 75 years ago, the Partition of India has left an immense, and long-lasting impact upon its society. Arguably, India continues to suffer theconsequences of the division, having yet to attain a successful recovery. Among the most heavily impacted, the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh struggled to cope with the aftermath. Punjab had been geographically split in half by the newly formed border between India and Pakistan, which inevitably entailed chaos, frenzy, and total disruption of life for all residents. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh experienced a slew of complications regarding communalism, mass migration, and internal unrest following the split despite not having been physically bifurcated. In my research, I searched for an answer as regards to India's process of recovery from this disturbing event that divided communities, and looked for any lingering effects from the traumatic past. I chose to focus on specific challenges each of the two provinces faced, analyzed responses to such challenges, and investigated the persistence of such challenges today. Communalism, migration, and psychological impacts illustrate that each of the issues has yet to be thoroughly addressed, and neither Uttar Pradesh nor Punjab has properly overcome the internal trauma which the Partition had unleashed. By analyzing a wide variety of sources accessed at Wake Forest University and at the British Library in London, I have delved into the conditions of society during the immediate post-partition period in both provinces as well as the decades thereafter, which represented India’s “new normal.” Lastly, I have made connections to the present day, using evidence of persisting psychological ramifications and communal tensions to argue that India has had difficulty in restoring the internal peace that the Partition of 1947 destroyed. Its aftermath continues to shape India's politics, even today.

My poster presentation seeks to capture my research project by displaying concisely formulated key points and findings accompanied with relevant visual images. It includes maps that demonstrate the border formed by the divide in 1947 and outline the geographical borders of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, images reflecting the horrors witnessed during the Partition’s aftermath, and a conceptual map of the events and impacts across the two states under study. I argue that recovery from devastation and violence is historically a complex process that continues to affect our present. As an extension, I critique the supposedly recovered society in India today, arguing that Uttar Pradesh and Punjab continue to suffer the consequences of the Partition till date.