‘India started as a Hindu state and Pakistan as a secular state’

The date of independence of Pakistan and India was set on August 15, which was announced by Mountbatten on June 4, but Hindu astrologers declared it an inauspicious hour.

The astrologers of Benares and South India immediately reacted that August 15 was such an inauspicious day that it would be better for India to spend one more day under British rule than suffer eternal torment. Jyotishi Swami Madmanad of Calcutta opined that August 15 falls in Capricorn, which he says is characterized by this center fueling negative forces, divisive tendencies.

So he wrote to Lord Mountbatten that for God’s sake do not give independence to India on August 15. If there are future floods, droughts, famines and bloodshed, it will be only because India was liberated on a date that was inauspicious in the eyes of the stars.’

The problem for Mountbatten and the Indian leaders was what to do now. Finally, a group of astrologers explained to the Indian leaders that ‘August 14th is more favorable than August 15th’. So the Indian leaders put forward an intermediate proposal to Lord Mountbatten that the transfer of power should take place on the night between 14th and 15th August at 12:15. Mountbatten accepted the proposal. Which he mentions in his weekly report to the British Government as follows: ‘I was not informed in advance that I should have consulted astrologers while fixing the date of the demise of power. But fortunately, the matter has now been decided that the meeting of the Constituent Assembly will be held before midnight, i.e. within the twilight hour of August 14, while the ceremony of passing away of power will take place at exactly midnight and that too around the evening hour of Shabb. Will be.’

The superstition of Indian leaders can also be gauged from the fact that they did not just change the date of their independence on the advice of astrologers, but when Nehru passed away on the night of August 14 and 15. As he was being prepared to participate in the ceremony, two respected Sannyasis came to his residence and performed the rituals similar to those performed during the coronation of kings and maharajas in India.

He sprinkled holy water of Tanjore river on Nehru. He received holy ashes on his forehead, placed the five-footed idol on his arms and then wrapped the sacred patambaram of the Lord around him. On the other hand, a bonfire was lit in the garden of Dr. Rajendra Prashad, the first president of the Constituent Assembly of India, in which hundreds of manghis were being lit and Brahmins were sitting around it reciting mantras.

The men and women who would later become ministers of India were forming a line around the fire. A Brahmin used to sprinkle holy water on them. Then they would stop near a woman who would apply red tilak on their foreheads.

It was the first day of secular India. On the other hand, a completely different situation was seen on the transfer of power in Karachi. Neither any religious ritual was performed here nor any impression was given that a religious state was coming into existence. Rather, Mountbatten wrote that on the night of August 13, at the dinner given by Quaid-i-Azam in his honor in Karachi, Miss Fatima Jinnah and Begum Rana Liaquat kept teasing me that I had changed the time of independence celebrations on the advice of Hindu astrologers.

The opening session of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 10 August, the first regular session on 11 August which was addressed by Quaid-e-Azam and the session on 14 August in which Mountbatten gave a speech began with the recitation of the Holy Quran. It was not done while Shaykhul Islam Maulana Bashir Ahmed Osmani was also present in the assembly meeting as a powerful member. Apart from them, Maulvi Tamizuddin and Professor Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi were also present. Joginder Nath Mandal, an untouchable Hindu, was made the temporary chairman of the same assembly and the first law minister in the cabinet.

Quaid-e-Azam’s speech in the Constituent Assembly on August 11 as the first President also provided a secular foundation to the country. He said, “Whether you belong to any religion, caste or belief, it will have nothing to do with the affairs of the state.” We are not starting our kingdom with any discrimination. No distinction between any sect, caste or creed will be tolerated. We are starting our work from the basic principle that we are all citizens and citizens of one country.

“We will always keep this principle before us as a motto and you will see that after some time Hindus will not be Hindus and Muslims will not be Muslims, not religiously because it is the personal belief of each individual. Rather, from a political point of view, they are citizens of a nation.