INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

POST-PARTITION
In the Census report of 1951 the Indian commissioner Rejshwami Prasad commented
on the backlash of India’s independence from Colonial rule:
The partition of the country and creation of Pakistan was attended
with tribulation and the Punjab, Sindh and the North West Frontier
Province in particular, witnessed carnage on a colossal scale. Millions
were driven from their homes and being helpless and homeless had to
change their nationality. About half a million came to Uttar Pradesh
during 1947‒ 48. 128
In Varanasi the numbers of individuals having Punjabi as their mother tongue doubled
six times after the partition, and Sindhi appeared as a new vernacular to report
in the district. 129 From the Census reports and oral recollections of elderly Sikhs it is
evident that the families constituting the backbone of the Sikh community today
originate from different districts of the present Pakistan ‒ Peshawar, Rawalpindi,
Gujarat, Gujranwala, Kashmir, and so on ‒ and settled in Varanasi in the years surrounding
the partition. By the year of 1951 a total number of 1285 Sikhs were reported
in Varanasi district and 3067 in Varanasi division (including the towns of
Banaras, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ballia). The major part of the new inhabitants
was domiciled in urban areas. 130 Migration histories of the newcomers and their
grounds for ending up in a Varanasi were differing. While some were given refugee
status after passing the new border of India and were tranfered compulsorily through
governmental rehabilitation actions, others arrived in the city as voluntary migrants
primarily because of business or family connections.
Any person who entered India having left because of being compelled to leave
his and her home in Pakistan after March 1, 1947, on account of setting up the new
domains of India and Pakistan was to be enumerated as a displaced person. The transitional
regulation applied up to July 25, 1949, after which no migrant from Pakistan
was to be treated as displaced person or Indian citizen without special registration. 131
The total population of displaced persons reported for Varanasi district by 1951 was
9112 persons. Of these, the large majority came from the Punjab and the distribution
according to gender and age indicates that they arrived with families. 132 To compensate
the loss of home and property in Pakistan caused by the partition, the government
was to provide displaced persons shelter or give grants for procuring housing.
In the urban outskirts of Varanasi the Municipal Corporation established refugee
128
Census of India 1951, Vol. II, 1953: 58.
129
By 1951 there were 4054 individuals with Punjabi as their mother tongue in Varanasi district.
Census of India 1951, Vol. II, Part II - C, 1953: 510 ‒ 515.
130
Census of India 1951, Vol. II Part II - C, 1953: 568 ‒ 569.
131
Census of India 1951, Vol. II, Part I - A, 1953: 51.
132
Census of India 1951, Vol. II, Part II - C, 1953: 676 ‒ 677.
49
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008