Archive · 7 Oct 2026
MJ Akbar Calls Partition a Continuing Tragedy for India
MJ Akbar says the 1947 division of India continues to hurt the region.
He believes it cost India opportunities as well as causing violence and loss.
In a discussion of his book, he described Gandhi as believing that people of different religions share one creator.
Akbar said faith should bring people together, not divide them into nations or groups.
He criticized Jinnah’s role in the events that led to Partition.
He also blamed British colonial policy for helping create the division.
Akbar said colonial rule affected how people remember India’s past.
His book, he said, aims to help readers look at history through facts.
MJ Akbar said Partition’s consequences continue to affect India’s present and future, describing it as a continuing tragedy.
Discussing his book Gandhi's Hinduism, the Struggle Against Jinnah's Islam, Akbar argued that Partition destroyed India’s potential.
He said Gandhi viewed religions as different paths to one God and rejected confining faith within national borders.
Akbar criticized Jinnah’s role in Partition while acknowledging his intelligence, and said British colonial policy also bore responsibility.
He argued that colonialism shaped how India remembers its history and said his book encourages readers to examine facts.
- Who
- MJ Akbar, veteran journalist, author and former parliamentarian.
- What
- Akbar described the Partition of India as a continuing tragedy and discussed its causes, consequences and religious ideas in his book.
- When
- The article does not specify when the remarks were made.
- Where
- The remarks concern India and the subcontinent; the location of the discussion is not specified.
- Why
- Akbar argued that Partition continues to affect the region and that readers should examine history through facts.
Akbar's arguments
Positions criticized by Akbar
Religion and national identity
Akbar's arguments
Akbar argued that religion cannot be the basis for nationalism and that faith should not be confined within nation states.
Positions criticized by Akbar
Akbar criticized the idea that Islam could serve as the basis of a nation and described Pakistan as an artificial intrusion into India's psychological geography.
Responsibility for Partition
Akbar's arguments
Akbar placed significant responsibility on British colonial policy and criticized Jinnah's political project.
Positions criticized by Akbar
Akbar's account presents the political project that led to Pakistan, and British policy, as contributors to Partition; the article does not include responses from Jinnah's or Britain's defenders.
- Speaker
- MJ Akbar
- Book discussed
- Gandhi's Hinduism, the Struggle Against Jinnah's Islam
- Central description
- Akbar called Partition a continuing tragedy.
- Views on Gandhi
- Akbar said Gandhi saw religions as different paths to the same God.
- Views on Jinnah
- Akbar acknowledged Jinnah's intelligence but sharply criticized his political role in Partition.
- Colonial responsibility
- Akbar argued that British colonial policy bore significant responsibility for Partition.