The background to partition

[Bhakti Vikasa Swami]

In India, the Muhammadans, the Muhammadans who claim to be partitioned:
Pakistan and Hindustan. There are number of Muhammadans, they protested that
"India is going to be independent, but we do not wish to participate with the
Hindus. We must be separate." Why? Because they have got a bad experience that
the Hindus did not treat them very well

These Muhammadans who came, who grown in India, they were not imported from
Afghanistan or Turkey or any Muhammadan country. They were Indians. But they
were not given any facility for spiritual culture. The brahmanas monopolized
it. Although they would not do anything, they would all, degraded form. But
still, they would keep these sudras and the candalas downtrodden and
ill-treated. So therefore, when Aurangzeb passed a law, Jizya tax... Jizya tax
means all the non-Muhammadans would pay a tax. So these low-class people were
so neglected. They thought -- it is natural -- that "Why should we pay this
tax? We are not very much well treated by the Hindus. So what is the use of
remain Hindu and pay the tax?" So the wholesale, this neglected class of men
became Muhammadans. This is the history. Otherwise, these Muhammadan did not
come from the Muhammadan country.

So in this way a community was formed, Muhammadan community, gradually. And
this British government took advantage of this ill-feeling between Hindus and
Muhammadans. And they wanted to rule over India. They felt that ill-feeling.
There is a great history. They are very big politician. In this way, at last,
Jinnah, he was bribed by the British government and all the Britishers, that
"You take as much money as you like." Because the Britishers thought that
"India is going to be independent, that cannot be checked, so make them
smaller, smaller, smaller."
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From Srila Prabhupada's lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.2 – May 26, 1974, Rome