Through headlines, exhibition rekindles Partition sentiment

Nagpur: ‘2,000 Hindus and Sikhs killed near Tadlianwala; 23,000 persons starving at Wah camp’ reads the headline of a newspaper. The images of newspapers reporting events of the Partition are among the displays at the gallery near Setu Kendra of district collector’s office.
‘10,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Danger’, reads another. Next to one such clipping in English is the Hindi translation which says ‘Young girls were abducted and kept as slaves in the frontier provinces of Pakistan’. ‘Muslims pass through Amritsar safely’ is the headline of another newspaper clipping on display.
The exhibition at the collectorate was part of the events to observe Vibhajan Vibhishika Diwas (Partition Horror Day). This was being held following announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe August 14 as the day to mark Partitition, said the speakers at the function.
The function had the deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as the chief guest. Freedom fighters and migrants from the Sindh province of Pakistan were felicitated. Two of them, Khaturam Kukreja, 66, and Sadhana Batra in her twenties were granted Indian citizenship papers on the occasion.
Kukreja had come to India 23 years ago. Sadhana had come along with her family as a one-year-old.
“We came here because the general conditions were not very conducive for the minorities. My kids had to face secondary treatment in the school and were often bullied,” Kukreja told TOI. He got the citizenship after applying two years ago.
Sadhana’s father Leelaram Batra also had a similar story.
“Still, a number of persons continue to migrate,” said Rajesh Jhambia of Sindh Hindi Panchayat and added, “ Getting citizenship has become faster after easing of procedures by the government.”
Anant Asudani, who retired as a postmaster, was handed over the ownership document of the leasehold land his family got as refugees when they reached Nagpur after Partition.
Fadnavis said that over 300 individuals coming from Pakistan have been given Indian citizenship and another 500 applications are pending. “It is the government’s agenda to make the process easier,” he said.
The deputy CM said the Partition is something that cannot be forgotten. “Those from the Sindhi and Punjabi committees have suffered the most. The wounds of Partition have not been healed yet. For the country to remain integrated, we need to fight the hatred,” he said.
Another speaker targeted Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah for the Partition.