PEACE? - A Study of
Ideological Peace in Toba Tek Singh
Kingshuk Das,
Master of Arts,
Banaras Hindu University,
Uttar Pradesh, India.
Abstract: The concept of peace exists as an imagined
endpoint, which occurs after wars because it represents the moment when
hostilities cease and order are restored. Historical evidence demonstrates that
peace agreements do not create lasting solutions because they establish new
political frameworks which change essential elements of identity, territorial
control and social structures. This paper examines Toba Tek Singh by Saadat
Hasan Manto to demonstrate post-Partition peace as a paradoxical state that
serves as an ideological method for political powers to establish control over
others instead of achieving real peace.
This
study investigates whether peace resulting from political partitioning of the
subcontinent constitutes actual peace or whether it hides fundamental conflicts
that subsist within the development of national identity via the theoretical
frameworks of Louis Althusser
and Michel Foucault. The asylum
inmate classification and exchange system exposes the absurdity of ideological peace. Bishan Singh’s
question, “Where Is Toba Tek Singh” demonstrates
the fissure between political narratives and human experiences, while the
no-man's-land represents the limits of such peace. Therefore, this paper argues
that ideological peace produced in the aftermath of Partition remains
temporary and unstable, sustained more through administrative authority and
ideological persuasion than through genuine reconciliation.
Keywords: Ideological Peace, Partition Literature,
National Identity, No-Man’s Land, Saadat Hasan Manto
Why The Question
Mark?
The question mark in the title lives to fight
against the common belief that peace exists as an unchanging state which people
should not doubt. Peace exists as a perfect state of harmony
and order which societies should pursue as the ultimate objective of their
political and social systems. The way peace is represented to people always
hides the methods which authorities use to maintain control through their
ability to persuade and force others.
Throughout
history peace has shown itself to be a political creation which requires people
to accept its existence as a right without needing to prove its presence.
Ideological systems present peace as an ultimate standard which people must
treat as unchanging which prevents them from examining the dangerous effects of
maintaining such systems. The question mark in the title therefore signifies
a critical intervention: it reopens the possibility of questioning whether the
peace produced through political and ideological mechanisms truly represents
harmony, or whether it suppresses the fundamental human freedom to question,
dissent, and resist imposed realities.
The
notion of peace carries an underlying contradiction, shown clearly in the
Partition of India (1947). Though splitting British India aimed to ease
religious tensions while bringing order, it instead triggered chaos for
countless lives. Boundaries drawn with intent often led to upheaval rather than
calm. Saadat Hasan Manto's writings dissect this irony with sharp clarity. His
story Toba Tek Singh reveals how transferring lunatic asylum prisoners
highlights the irrationality of national lines. What looked like resolution
on paper became confusion in reality. Stability promised by new states felt
distant amid mass movement and grief. Through fiction, Manto asks whether peace
built on division can ever hold.
Madness, Ideology, and the Fragility of Peace
The political narratives present peace as a stable
and desirable state which proves to be their main misconception about peace.
Permanent peace does not exist because historical events bring forth peace
through violent conflicts and forced migrations and control of belief systems.
In the context of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent, the promise of
peace was closely tied to the creation of new national identities. Political
authorities presented the division of India and Pakistan as a necessary step
towards order and stability yet the lived experiences of individuals often
reflected confusion and loss rather than reconciliation. Toba Tek Singh by
Saadat Hasan Manto shows this contradiction through its depiction of asylum
inmates who cannot comprehend the unexpected changes that brought new
conditions to their lives.
Inside
the setting of asylum, peace shows its strange face - contradictory, uneasy.
What the patients do not know about Pakistan’s whereabouts reveals how thin
belief systems around nationhood really are. They cannot say where Pakistan
lies; one line from Manto says it plainly: “As to where Pakistan was
located, the inmates knew nothing” (Manto 12). That lack of knowledge? It
points beyond mere gaps in learning - it mirrors the blur of borders and
identities during upheaval. People beyond locked doors also stumbled, trying to
grasp shifting maps and new claims on loyalty.
The
story demonstrates how institutions and discourse create their power to shape
human understanding of actual existence. The narrator remarks that “newspapers
were no help either” (Manto 12). The newspapers serve as information
sources which fail to bring understanding about this particular situation. The
system operates as a medium through which competing ideological stories spread.
The concept of ideology which Louis Althusser created provides a
framework to understand their functions. By repeating official narratives
without questioning them media institutions may create political constructs
which enable them to control public perception of actual human experiences (Althusser
85).
The
asylum's confusion demonstrates how its boundary between sanity and madness
remains unstable. Michel Foucault argues that societies create
institutions that define and regulate what counts as rational behaviour (Foucault
38).In Toba Tek Singh political authorities who appear to be sane actually
display the same level of irrationality as the inmates. The narrator even
comments that “whether this was a reasonable or an unreasonable idea is
difficult to say” (Manto 11), suggesting that the distinction between
reason and madness collapses when confronted with the absurdity of Partition. The
authorities' response to dissent in the asylum demonstrates their control
methods which operate through their ideological systems. When certain inmates
behave unpredictably, “the authorities declared them dangerous, and shut
them up in separate cells”(Manto 13).The institutional practice of isolating
individuals who disrupt established order shows how organizations use isolation
to maintain their systems of control. The authorities consider these
inmates to be dangerous which helps them create the false impression that the
political system operates with stable and rational characteristics.
In the
middle of disorder, Bishan Singh takes shape - not as a hero, yet hard to
overlook - his endurance mirroring what people lose when politics masks itself
as harmony. On shaky limbs, year after year, he mutters phrases that seem
nonsense at first hearing: “Uper the gur gur the annexe the bay dhyana the
mung the dal of the government of Pakistan” (Manto 14). Though odd, such
words carry weight; they echo how speech unravels when power shifts without
reason. Once language splinters, so does the framework through which meaning
is built. Behind broken syntax lies a deeper fracture - one where belief
systems once held things together, now falter under strain.
Bishan
Singh’s persistent question, “Where is Toba Tek Singh?” (Manto 17),
reveals the deeper crisis of identity created by Partition. The official who
records inmate names for nationality determination brings him in to ask again
whether his homeland belongs to India or Pakistan. The official casually
replies that it is in Pakistan. Bishan Singh refuses to accept this answer and
attempts to run away, only to be restrained by guards. His resistance
reflects his inability to internalize the ideological categories imposed upon
him.
The refusal can be understood through Louis
Althusser's interpellation concept which explains how people respond to
ideological demands that create specific social identities (Althusser 96).
The Partition required people to establish their identity according to their
religious and national background. The ideological framework fails to
interpellate Bishan Singh because he does not fit within its boundaries. His
apparent madness reveals the limits of ideological power.
Another
inmate expresses a similar rejection of national identity when he declares,
"I wish to live neither in India nor in Pakistan. I wish to live in this
tree" (Manto 13). The unusual statement indicates that the speaker
wants to break free from political boundaries which separate different territories.
The tree functions as a symbolic space which allows him to form an identity
without being restricted by national borders.
The
story contains a satirical scene which shows an inmate who asserts
himself as the divine. The self-proclaimed deity explains to Bishan Singh that
Toba Tek Singh does not belong to either India or Pakistan because no official
orders have been issued yet. Bishan Singh then begs “God” (Manto 16) to
issue the necessary orders so that his confusion might finally be resolved. The
response, however, is dismissive. This moment shows how the absurd political
systems operate through preposterous bureaucratic procedures which determine
where people can consider their homeland to be located.
The
climax of Toba Tek Singh takes place at the boundary point which functions as
the location for prisoner exchanges between India and Pakistan. Bishan Singh
refuses to move when he is pushed toward India. He remains planted in the
territory which separates the two countries. The narrator describes him
standing “in no-man’s-land on his swollen legs like a colossus” (Manto 18). The
strong visual representation of Bishan Singh transforms him into a great figure
who uses his existence to oppose the control of both governments. The guards
eventually abandon their effort to relocate him because they determine he
presents no danger. The narrator describes him as "a harmless old
man" which stops all border movement attempts to push him through (Manto
18). The person appears non-threatening but his resistance works as a
powerful symbol. Bishan Singh remains in no-man's-land to expose the fragility
of the political order that seeks to divide the world into neat categories.
The
same idea resonates in The Shadow Lines, where Amitav Ghosh
reflects on the invisible nature of borders and the violence they can produce (Ghosh
228). The novel demonstrates that political boundaries exist mainly as
mental constructs yet these boundaries have the ability to separate communities
and transform their cultural identities (Anderson 6). This insight
echoes the main conflict of Toba Tek Singh which also shows how the
India-Pakistan border exists as both a tangible reality and an impossible
absurdity.
The
story concludes with its most unforgettable scene which Partition literature
presents through Manto's description of the border: "There, behind
barbed wire, on one side lay India and behind more barbed wire, on the other
side lay Pakistan. In between, on a bit of earth which had no name, lay Toba
Tek Singh" (Manto 18). The homeland that Bishan Singh has been
searching for throughout the narrative exists not within either nation but in
the unnamed space between them.
The
final collapse of Bishan Singh in the nameless space between India and Pakistan
may also be interpreted as the ultimate exposure of ideological peace and its
limitations. The whole story presents Bishan Singh as someone who continuously
fights against the efforts to define him through the new national identities
which politicians established. His repeated question—where exactly Toba Tek
Singh lies—reveals the instability of these ideological structures and the
artificiality of borders that demand unquestioned acceptance. His resistance to
authority shows hidden heroic qualities which existing material evidence proves.
Bishan Singh rejects both identities because the political system requires
people to choose between Indian and Pakistani citizenship. His refusal
demonstrates the failure of ideological interpellation described by Louis
Althusser, for the system cannot fully transform him into a subject who
obediently recognizes the authority of its classifications (Althusser 190).
The
story shows that an individual fails to break down an ideological system which
requires multiple people to achieve its destruction. Political power maintains
its function because administrative power and national narratives together with
public trust provide essential support. Bishan Singh's final collapse shows its
dual significance because both elements create this conflict. He stays in
no-man's-land because he wants to avoid both India and Pakistan, which allows
him to reject the ideological system that tries to determine his identity. His
death functions as a tragic critique of the system itself because it does not
provide any solution to the problem. One might argue that he becomes,
paradoxically, a victim of ideology and peace who is not victimised enough, but
in the end he finds personal freedom beyond the systems that attempt to define
him. His death represents a complete departure from the political world
which operates according to ideological frameworks. The peace which states
offer their citizens proves to be short-lived and unstable because it relies on
administrative powers, while the silence following Bishan Singh's collapse
exists beyond those ideological requirements.
The
narrative presents death as a non-romanticized reality which
shows how Bishan Singh's refusal to choose between India and Pakistan leads to
his permanent ideological withdrawal from all political beliefs. His
no-man's-land descent shows how easily political peace can be disrupted because
ideological systems create social divisions which people can escape only by
leaving the entire political sphere.
Bishan
Singh’s death in the no-man’s-land between India and Pakistan transforms that
space into what may be described as the grave of ideological peace.
More than a geographical border, the no-man’s-land exposes the collapse of the
political narratives that claim to establish stability through territorial
division. In Toba Tek Singh, Saadat Hasan Mantosituates Bishan Singh
precisely where the authority of both nations loses meaning. Lying between
two barbed-wire borders, his body marks the point where ideological claims of
order and harmony confront their own contradictions. The no-man’s-land thus
becomes the symbolic burial ground of ideological peace, revealing how
political structures that promise stability simultaneously produce
displacement, ambiguity, and human loss.
Conclusion
Thus,
the central conflict and paradox of ideological peace reach its ultimate
resolution through the conclusion of Toba Tek Singh. The political division of
the subcontinent was intended to bring order and stability, yet Manto's story
demonstrates that such peace emerges through ideological processes that
disregard the complex nature of human identity. The confusion of the inmates,
the failure of newspapers to clarify reality, and the bureaucratic indifference
of officials all demonstrates that political narratives which claim to create
peace are inherently unstable.
Bishan
Singh's journey to find his birthplace shows how all people seek to establish
their identity through their connection to their homeland. The belief system i.e. the ideology that governs his
life fails to provide him with any substantial solution. Even the
self-proclaimed “God” in the asylum is unable to resolve his dilemma, further
exposing the absurdity of the systems that claim authority over identity.
Bishan Singh thus demonstrates that political systems which attempt to
establish identity through strict territorial borders cannot succeed by
collapsing in the undefined region that exists between India and Pakistan.
In this
sense, the story presents its readers with a challenge which requires them
tore-evaluate their understanding of peace as a fundamental concept. The process of gaining peace through either ideological
persuasion or coercive methods results in a suppression of human
experience-related questions instead of resolving them. The case of Bishan
Singh shows that societies need to address their historical moral issues which
political systems cannot completely resolve. Therefore, the story culminates in
a powerful and haunting depiction of a man who defied all societal
classifications. In that moment, the question of justice becomes unavoidable.
One is compelled to conclude:“In the court of justice, both the
parties and the judge know the truth; it is justice itself that stands on trial.”1
Note
1.
The concluding
formulation is adapted from a remark attributed to J. R. Midha of the Delhi
High Court.
Works
Cited
Althusser, Louis. On the Reproduction of
Capitalism: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Verso, 2014.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities:
Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, 2006.
Foucault, Michel. Madness and
Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Routledge, 2001.
Ghosh, Amitav. The Shadow Lines. Ravi
Dayal, 1988.
Manto, Saadat Hasan. “Toba Tek Singh.” Kingdom’s
End and Other Stories, translated by Khalid Hasan, Penguin Books, 1987.