{ SPECIAL MODULE FOR CLASSES 6 TO 8 } Congress among culprits responsible for Partition, says NCERT module

Who is responsible for Partition? And who are the culprits of the humanitarian tragedy that killed at least 600,000 people and displaced 15 million?

- Sanjay Maurya

Anew special module created by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) on “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” (August 14) holds three people responsible: “Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it”.

This quote is part of a section in the module, titled Culprits of the Partition. The section features a quote by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, from a speech in July 1947: “We have come toa stage when we must either accept division or face continued conflict and chaos. Partition is bad. But whatever the price of unity, the price of civil war would be infinitely greater.”

The modulesare separate short publications that are not part of the textbooks; one is meant for Classes 6 to 8 (middle stage), and another for Classes 9 to 12 (secondarystage). The section on Culprits ofthe Partition appears in the first.