Reading Manto's Toba Tek Singh amid Kuki-Meitei war

Th Shaktigandhi Singh *

Books are wonder of wonders ! Saadat Hasan Minto's Toba Tek Singh is one of them ! Toba Tek Singh, a short story written in the year of 1953, and published in 1955, penned by Manto, who was originally born in Ludiana in Punjab, India and migrated later to Pakistan because of partition of India, details about anxiety, trauma, identity, wonder and dilemma brought on by partition of India, 1947.

The consequences of India partition 1947 are similar, in some degree, to the consequences of Meitei-Kuki War. We may give Manto's Toba Tek Singh as a reference of Meitei-Kuki War. Once there was no land named Pakistan. The land of Pakistan was also a part of India until the partition on August 16–17, 1947.

The one thing we must know about war is that 'behind every war whether the war is big or small there is always a long plan and a long preparation' and 'behind every action, there is always a man who ignites the action'. India was not bifurcated suddenly like the sudden thunderstorm, it was divided after planning for a long time.

History tells us that partition was effectuated under a long plan. Some of the significant timelines are:

1. For the first time, the idea for a separate homeland for Muslims was introduced in 1930s though the thought of keeping aloof from Hindus was born since the end of World War 1.

2. In 1940, Muslim leader Jinnah, who was serving as president of All-India Muslim League from 1913 until India's independence in 1947, and later was known as the founder of Pakistan demanded the establishment of Pakistan as a separate State for Muslims in India.

3. In March 1947, the British Government sent Louis Mountbatten, the last British leader of India, to determine a plan for transferring power to Indians before June 1948.

4. On June 3, 1947, he declared the partition plan and he said the transfer of power would end by ten months.

5. On August 16–17, 1947, 'decision for partition' was published.

Therefore, Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan migrated to India whereas Muslims in India migrated to Pakistan. In record, approximately 15 million people migrated.

Okay let's stick to Manto's Toba Tek Singh ! Taba Tek Singh is a fiction, but the theme it carries is not fictional. I request you not to underestimate fiction at all because behind every fictional story there is a truth which is not fictional.

Toba Tek Singh manifests us clearly how people who had to migrate to India and to Pakistan feel. The story also seems to show us that even lunatics are deep thinking and wiser than politicians and other related officials who divided India.

In the story, officials from both sides, India and Pakistan, agreed that Hindu lunatics and Sikh lunatics in Pakistan should be exchanged with Muslim lunatics in India and when the insane characters in the story heard that they would be sent to their lands according to their religion, they felt anxious and they were in dilemma.

Bishan Singh was one of them. He had been confined for 15 years in a lunatic asylum in Pakistan. He asked everyone in the story where the exact location of Toba Tek Singh is as he did not know whether it is in India or in Pakistan. Originally, he was from Toba Tek Singh, a place now somewhere in Pakistan.

One of his friends came to visit him and said that Toba Tek Singh is in Pakistan and your family has migrated to India because of religion. Pakistan for Muslims and India for Hindus and Sikhs ! The Hindu and Sikh lunatics including Bishan Singh were forced to go to India. Buses, full of lunatics, were brought guarded by police and soldiers of both sides, to Wagah border between India and Pakistan.

There were so many people who didn't want to leave Pakistan although they were not Muslims. Bishan Singh was also one of them. Many people jumped out of the bus and started running in different directions crying, weeping, shouting and at the same time showing dissatisfaction and disappoint- ment with the activities, actions and rules made by politicians and other related officials.

Bishan Singh, though he was a lunatic person, knew his original residence and was reluctant to go to India. Soldiers forced him to go to India, but as he didn't show any intention to go, he was allowed to stand where he wanted.

He was standing between the barbed wire of India and Pakistan. He didn't move even an inch. There he stood in no man's land. Just before sunrise he was heard screaming and collapsed to the ground. Both officials rushed towards him and saw him lying in no man's land. Thus, this story carries the themes of anxiety, wonder, identity, trauma and dilemma.

In Meitei-Kuki war context, the war itself is performed under a long plan. Kuki had already fought many wars with other communities in different countries. We all know that the ongoing war was started by Kukis. We know there was a man who introduced the idea of dividing India. Just like it, there must have a leader or at least an organization who injected Kukis to start a war against Meitei.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah called for a separate land or a homeland for Muslims called Pakistan. Likewise, some Kuki organizations have been calling for a separate administration or a Kuki homeland like Pakistan.

When India was partitioned, many Muslims were against it. Manto himself was against it. He wrote against it. Likewise, there might have many Kukis who actually do not want war, and therefore, I request them to come out and stand against their leaders and vocalize their attitude.

In an interview with Lord Mountbatten, the last British leader of India, he said, 'if I knew that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the mastermind of India Partition, would die soon (he died of tuberculosis in 1948), I would not have divided India'.

From here, we know there is always at least a leader behind a war or to start a war. We are very lucky that till now Manipur is not divided, though India was divided. To save Manipur from dividing, we should find out the leaders who continuously order to attack Meiteis. We can never solve Meitei-Kuki war if we only take revenge on those who follow the orders; to solve, we must uproot the leaders.

It is because it is easy to stop those who follow orders if we remove those who order. After all, the one thing we must not forget in life is that there is no benefit in war. War may bring victory, but there is blood.

Many displaced people have not stopped wiping their tears, and at the same time are murmuring something in a way no one can understand. Yes, their houses may be rebuilt again, but the trauma will stay even though Government pays a considerable amount as compensation.