Indian High Commission in London marks Partition Horrors Remembrance Day

The Indian High Commission in London commemorated Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on Monday with a particular photographic exhibition and musical and poetic tributes to the sacrifices and resilience proven by individuals throughout India’s Partition in August 1947.

The solemn gathering of group leaders and Indian diaspora members recounted a number of the painful recollections of the previous and noticed a minute’s silence to commemorate the day of remembrance, a day earlier than the 77th Independence Day celebrations.

“Our joy and our celebration in independence were always a somewhat mixed one because that independence came at a very heavy human price,” mentioned Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami in his deal with to the gathering.

“It came at the price of what people of that generation could not expect, and indeed could not believe, that it would be possible that independence would happen with a division of our own homes, and that villages, towns in both the east and the west of India would celebrate freedom as refugees; as people displaced for no fault of their own except for the fact that they had miraculously become citizens on the wrong side of the border. That is a very unique and tragic story of one of the largest displacements in human history,” he mentioned.

The High Commissioner mentioned the mission’s Remembrance Day was conceived as a memorial train to replicate upon the poignant historical past of this mass displacement and be taught some classes with “one moment of pause” earlier than we rejoice India’s independence.

A violin recital of ‘Vande Mataram’ and poetry renditions by British Indian filmmaker Lalit Mohan Joshi from the works of pre-Partition creator Dr Gautam Sachdev was adopted by some uplifting ghazal recitals by Dr Hilal Fareed of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The gathering included diaspora members now of their 90s, who have been youngsters on the time of Partition, together with Shakuntala Kaushal and Brij Mohan Gupta.

The memorial occasion, held within the Gandhi Hall of India House, concluded with the Indian National Anthem earlier than shifting to the Nehru Hall for a tour of the photographic exhibition tracing the historical past of the Partition.

Published On:

Aug 15, 2023