Big Men, Small Men: The Human Cost of Partition Politics

Abstract

The Partition of India was more than just a line drawn on a map–it was blood on the streets, tears in living rooms, and silence where laughter used to be. This paper digs into the mess that was 1947, looking beyond the big shots like Nehru and Jinnah to the ordinary folks who got caught in the crossfire. Friends becoming enemies, neighbours becoming strangers, and families forced to choose between home and safety. These are the real stories of Partition. The paper peels back the layers to show that the pot had been getting stirred for years, intentionally or otherwise, planting the seeds of division long before the idea of Partition was fully formed. Through the eyes of writers like Manto, the paper shows how the grand ideals of nation-building translated into street-level violence. The Big Men might have been pulling the strings, but it was the Small Men who bled. The paper challenges the notion of Partition as a natural disaster, revealing it instead as a man made catastrophe fueled by misinformation, fear, and British policies. It is a hard look at how easily neighbours can become enemies, how politics can poison friendships, and why South Asia is still nursing wounds from 75 years ago. 

Keywords: Partition, Indian Partition, Manto, Politics, History, Sociology, Jinnah, Nehru, South Asia, India, Pakistan, Colonialism