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Updated August 14th, 2021 at 15:57 IST

Partition Horrors Remembrance Day: PM Modi wants history remembered, not repeated

From slave trade to Holocaust to Bangladesh genocide, nations mark days as occasions to underscore lessons of history lest the pain be repeated

Reported by: Ananya Varma
Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
Image: PTI/ Dr Harsh Vardhan Twitter | Image:self
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On the eve of Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to announce that August 14 would be commemorated as 'Partition Horrors Remembrance Day'. PM's decision to earmark August 14 as a day to memorialise the Partition comes as an attempt to honour the pain of the millions of citizens who were displaced due to the evils of hatred and social division. 

Issuing a statement, PM Modi said, "Partition’s pains can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence. In memory of the struggles and sacrifices of our people, 14th August will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day."

Why it is important to learn from history

There is a common saying that those who don't learn from history are forced to repeat it. For any nation or civilization, history is far from just black-and-white. It is riddled with memories of pain, and it is up to its people to draw lessons from these memories to avoid the same mistakes. 

A lesson that India has drawn from the horrors of Partition is that appeasement politics does not serve the interests of a country in the long run. In turn, it allows divisive forces to dominate discourse and thereby has disastrous effects on a nation and its people. To ensure that we never allow such mistakes to dominate our future, the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day should serve as a reminder that those who do not learn from history are forced to repeat it. On this occasion, India as a nation should strengthen its resolve to never allow such circumstances to repeat. 

Forces that caused partition still active in neighbourhood & in India

As we mourn the horrors of Partition, its history, and the pain it inflicted onto countless lives, it is equally important to reflect on the present and realize that forces that caused Partition and the deaths of thousands are still active in our neighbourhood. They are operating from a country that has been actively sponsoring terror onto Indian soil. 

However, it is even more important to recognize that there are forces within India, including mainstream political parties, who are willing to appease such forces and raise calls to divide and tear apart India just to milk support from a certain section of the political spectrum. The Partition Horrors Remembrance Day should serve as an attempt to create awareness against this mindset. A mindset that enables tearing apart a nation by creating dissatisfaction amongst segments of the population. We have to ensure that India's long-standing values of diversity, assimilation, and coexistence override all separatist and divisive forces in the country.

Why countries across the world observe such days

Some may argue that recalling such days of horror do not allow us to move forward. Some feel that they hold us back in time, however, it is important to understand why so many countries across the world mark memories of solemn days such as the Holocaust. It is important to honour such days to remember the pain and suffering millions went through. 

The world observes the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on August 23. The day helps highlight the evils of the practice to a generation that has not directly experienced it. It also helps strengthen their resolve to never allow nations to descend into such an abyss again. Our neighbour Bangladesh marks March 25 as Genocide Day, to recall the day Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight that caused the brutal killing and rape of millions of Bangladeshis.

While no cost can be put on human tragedy, given the millions of lives that were uprooted during the Partition, and the dangers of a similar mindset that is still plaguing our country’s surroundings, it is important to remember and to reinforce the idea that - results of such cynical politics can have a disastrous effect on generations.

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Published August 14th, 2021 at 15:53 IST

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