Secular and Nationalist Jinnah questions many of the myths that have grown round Jinnah's role in the freedom movement and reveals his true character to readers around the world. Dr. Ajeet Jawed is a reader in the Political Science Department of Satyawati College, University of Delhi.
Concerted Hindu propaganda, especially after partition, has painted Mohammad Ali Jinnah, variously, as "a diehard communalist, a Muslim fanatic, a separatist, an egoist, arrogant, an ally of the British imperialists, an opponent of the freedom, an enemy of the Congress and, particularly, of its leaders like Gandhi, Pundit Nehru and Sardar Patel." But truth, at last, seems to have raised its head out of the accumulated detritus of falsehood and a new, clearer, picture of Jinnah has emerged that rubbishes all those negative notions about him.
Title: Secular and Nationalist Jinnah
Author: Dr. Ajeet Jawed
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pakistan
Price: PKR 595
Pages: 274
ISBN: 978-0-19-547674-3
Indians are now acknowledging his true worth. In the new picture Jinnah comes out as a secularist and a non-communal nationalist par excellence, on whom India's partition was forced against his will. One such is Jaswant Singh's book, "Jinnah, - Partition and Independence," launched in August last year.
Dr. Ajeet Jawed's "Secular and Nationalist Jinnah" is another book on the same topic. And, as Singh's book shook the sangh pariwar in India, so Jawed's promises to jolt the rightist Muslims in Pakistan. Consider this sentence for instance: "Jinnah, who ate pork, drank whiskey, seldom entered a mosque, was ignorant of Islamic teachings, did not observe Islamic rituals, could not speak Urdu, wore high-class western suits and had come from Hindu Bhatia family..." But, a change occurred in Jinnah when he found that India would be partitioned on communal basis and to adapt himself to the changed situation, he adopted achkan, pyjama and cap.
This slick, 274-page hardcover packs a world of revelations, both startling and fascinating, backed by copious references to authentic sources. It shatters many shibboleths and uncovers many less known facts. Sample: To build a secular Pakistan Jinnah sought the help of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, because, as he said in his letter to Badshah Khan, he was "surrounded by thieves and scoundrels" through whom he could do nothing. "He also ordered two lakh of spinning wheels ...for Khan's social work." With a mass of evidence the author tries to establish that Jinnah remained a secularist and nationalist up to the last moment of his life. "On Indian Independence Day on 15 August 1947, Jinnah gave a reception. Among the guests were Bhimsen Sachar, Kiran Shankar Roy, Nihchaldas C. Vazirani, Justice Mahajan, M.S.M Sharma and others." It was decided to fly both the Pakistani and Indian flags together.
The book deals separately with a particular facet of Jinnah's life and career; as a man, as an ardent nationalist, as ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity and as a staunch secularist. As a lawyer he earned the sobriquets of "Lord Simon of the Bar and Great Lion of the Bar," whom no judge could bully. "In 1930s he earned Rs 40,000 per month from the bar alone." Jinnah was a man of impeccable integrity, fearless and forthright to a fault, extremely practical and honest. "Jinnah had no purchase price." He would throw out of the window a 100-guinea brief, offered to him as a sop to ask some questions in the Legislative Assembly.
As a political leader, the praises showered on him by Sarojini Naidu and others are well known. Even Arnold Toynbee, a doyen among the historians, hailed Jinnah as "the greatest politician of the century world had produced."
They say he was a communalist. But, when Tilak, a Hindu extremist, was sentenced to jail it was Jinnah, who defended him and had the sentence set aside. And, it was Jinnah again, who spoke in defence of Bhagat Singh and his companions in the Assembly, while Nehru denounced them as "lunatics." As a nationalist, he was often uncompromising with the Brits while Gandhi yielded. Thus, when the government of India organized a Peace Celebration function in the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Jinnah boycotted it while Gandhi participated.
As a secularist he shunned lacing politics with religion. He therefore opposed the khilafat movement. As a constitutionalist he opposed Gandhi's civil disobedience and as an ardent nationalist, at every turn he pleaded the case for national unity. "Jinnah also stood for freedom" like Gandhi, the author claims. "But his way was different." In fact all along the way, he extended the hand of cooperation to the Congress. All he sought was for the Congress to accept him as the sole spokesman of the Muslims and concede to Muslims their just rights even as it had conceded to the Depressed Classes. But he was always rebuffed. He made a last attempt in this regard in 1939. But, instead, "Congress elected Maulana Azad as its president for the Ramgarh session."
"Two months later, by March 1940, Jinnah had given up the ideal of a united, happy and prosperous India" and from an "ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity" became a "destroyer of the unity and integrity of the country." The transition had been gradual. Throughout his political career Jinnah had struggled against both Hindu and Muslim extremists. Yet, he was maligned by both. Savarkar's elder brother, Baba, once, offered Rs 50,000 and gave a revolver to a freedom fighter, Yashpal, to kill Jinnah. And in 1943, on the very day he was to have a crucial meeting with the Hindu Mahasabha chief, Savarkar, a Khaksar fanatic made an attempt on his life. Jinnah pursued every flicker of hope. He was ready to retract from the demand for separate electorate. He was flexible on his 14 points and invited critique. Jawaharlal referred to him with extreme contempt. Gandhi rejected his 14 points. Yet, he went on trying. His appeals would melt the stoniest heart. But on the Hindu-Sikh extremists they had no effect.
Jinnah had armed himself with the Pakistan Resolution. But his heart was not in it. It was a bargaining chip as is evident from his acceptance of the Cabinet Mission Plan. He believed that Congress would never agree to cutting up "Mother" India. As he confided to a Hindu friend, "Look here, I never wanted this damned partition. It was forced upon me by Sardar Patel..."
The chapter "differences and disagreements" juxtaposes Jinnah, respectively, against Gandhi, the Nehrus, and the Congress revealing some amazing facts. "I am a Hindu first and therefore a true Indian," said Gandhi. But Jinnah said, "I am an Indian first and a Muslim afterwards."
He wanted a secular Pakistan. He vowed to constitute himself as the "Protector-General of the Hindu minority in Pakistan." But "the fanatic tolerated Jinnah till Pakistan was achieved." Time and again he was made aware that he was an outsider." His famous speech of 11 August 1947 was allowed to be published in full only after Dawn's editor, "Altaf Hussain, threatened" those who were trying to tamper with it "to go to Jinnah himself if the press advice was not withdrawn."
Jinnah, ultimately, found himself forsaken and forlorn. None of the Muslim Leaguers received him at the airport on his return from Turbat to Karachi, or visited him as he lay in his broken down ambulance by the roadside on his way from the airport, or in his dying moments.
This is the saga of an individual's rise to the pinnacle of fame by the sweat of his own brow and his pathetic end that offers much food for reflection and many lessons.
Secular and Nationalist Jinnah questions many of the myths that have grown round Jinnah's role in the freedom movement and reveals his true character to readers around the world. Dr. Ajeet Jawed is a reader in the Political Science Department of Satyawati College, University of Delhi.
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