Muslim Businessmen and Partition

The story of Bengal partition (1947) cannot be understood through a general analysis of the so-called “high politics` of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. There are many ‘silences` in the pre histories of partition as well as in the making of nation states in India and Pakistan afterwards. Historians have laid scant attention on the role played by the Muslim business and mercantile communities in the modern history of south Asia.. In general the Muslim businessmen were not taken seriously rather they were cornered at a point of historical stagnation.This monograph deals with the Muslim businessmen of Bengal, their political aspirations as well as their attitude of adjustment to the Pakistan proposal. Since the interests of the non-Bengali Muslim businessmen were different from the Bengali Muslims, this book takes note how the issues of Muslim big business and partition was settled in Bengal and how the personalities like M.A Jinnah, Ispahani, Adamjee and others had emerged as the source of inspirations for the Muslim businessmen in the ‘end game of empire`.