Businessmen and the Partition of India

Abstract

The vast and still growing literature on the parti-tion of India does not place much emphasis on its economic aspects, and the role of businessmen remains one of the most obscure points in the story. It is not claimed here that the attitudes of the Indian capitalists were a central factor in the most dramatic event in the modern history of the subcontinent. The underlying causes of Partition are to be sought in long-term trends and policies which, after a certain point in time, were beyond the control of any of the actors involved. Therefore, even if Indian big business had, on grounds of economic rationality, unanimously opposed Partition, it would not have been able to prevent it. The interesting point, however, is precisely that, on the whole, Indian big business did not oppose Partition, but, at least from 1942 onwards, seems to have been increasingly favourable to it. This is true not only of Muslim businessmen, but also of their non-Muslim colleagues. On the first point, an apparent rationale is furnished by W.C. Smith’s thesis of the contrast between a relatively advanced Hindu bourgeoisie and a retarded Muslim capitalist class. But the second point is more puzzling.

From D. Tripathi (ed.), Business and Politics in India: A Historical Perspective (New Delhi: Manohar, 1991), pp. 284–307.