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Jinnah
before 1930
By
Nouman-ul-Haq
50
Jinnah before 1930
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was born in an ordinary if comfortable household in
Karachi, not far from Islam first came to the Indian subcontinent in AD 711 in
the person of the young Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim. Just before Jinnah’s
birth, his father, Jinnah bhai Poonja, had moved from Gujarat to Karachi.
Significantly, Jinnah’s father was born in 1857 –at the end of one kind of
Muslim history, with the failed uprising in Delhi-& died in 1901.
Jinnah’s family traced its descent from Iran & reflected shia,
Sunni & Ismaili influences; some of the family names-Valji, Manbai &
Nathoo- were even akin to Hindu names’. Such things mattered in a Muslim
society conscious of underlining its non-Indian origins, a society where people
gained status through family names such as Sayyed & Qureshi. Another source
has a different explanation of Jinnah’s origins. Mr. Jinnah according to a
Pakistani author said that his male ancestor was a Rajput from Sahiwal in the
Punjab who had married into Israeli Khojas & settled in Kathiawar. Although
born into a Khoja family who were disciples of the Ismaili Agh Khan, Jinnah
moves towards the Sunni sect early in life. There is evidence later, given by
his relatives & associates in court, to establish that he was firmly a Sunni
Muslim by the end of his life.
One of eight children, young Jinnah was educate in the Sind Madrasatul
Islam & the christen Missionary Society High School in Karachi. Shortly
before he was sent to London in 1893 to join Graham’s Shipping & Trading
Company, which did business with Jinnah’s father in Karachi, he was married to
Emibai, a distant relative. It could be described as a traditional Asian
marriage – the groom merely 16 years old & the bride a mere a child.
Emibai died shortly after Jinnah left for London; Jinnah barely knew her. But
another death, that of his beloved mother, devastated him.
Jinnah
asserted his independence by making two important personal decisions. Within
months of his arrival, he left the firm to join Lincoln’s Inn & study law
It has been said that Jinnah chose Lincoln’s Inn because he saw the
Prophet’s name at the entrance. In London, Jinnah had discovered a passion for
nationalist politics & had assisted Deadbeat Noaroji, the first Indian
Member of Parliament. In 1896 he returned to India to practice law at Bombay bar
after a brief stopover in
51
Jinnah before 1930
Karachi.
He was then the only Muslim barrister in Bombay. On one occasion in Bombay, when
Jinnah was arguing a case in court, the British presiding Jude interrupted him
several times, exclaiming ‘Rubbish’ Jinnah respond:’ your honor, nothing
but rubbish has passed your mouth all morning.’ Sir Charles Ollivant, judicial
member of Bombay provincial government, was so impressed by Jinnah that in 1901
he offered him permanent job at 1500 rupees a month. Jinnah declined, saying he
would soon earn that amount in a day. Not to long afterwards he proved himself
correct.
Stories like these added to Jinnah’s reputation as an arrogant
nationalist. His attitude towards the British may be explained culturally as
well as temperamentally.
Jinnah often antagonized his British superiors. Yet, he was clever enough
consciously to remain with in boundaries, pushing as far as he could, but not
allowing his opponents to penalize him on a point of law. In short, he learned
to use British law skillfully against the British. At several points in his long
career, the British threatened Jinnah with imprisonment on sedition charges for
speaking in favor of Indian home rules or rights. Those British officials who
wished their natives to be more deferential froze him out. For example, Lord
Willingdon, Viceroy in 1931-6, did not take to him, & even the gruff but
kindly Lord Wavell, viceroy in 1943-7, was made to feel uncomfortable by
Jinnah’s clear-minded advocacy of the Muslims, even though he recognized the
justice of Jinnah’s arguments. The last viceroy, however, Lord Mountbatten,
could not cope with what he regarded as Jinnah’s arrogance & haughtiness,
preferring the natives to be more friendly & pliant.
About this time, he fell in love with a Parsee girl, Rattanbai Petit,
known as ‘the flower of Bombay’. Sir Dinshaw Petit, her father & a
successful businessman, was furious, since Jinnah was not only of different
faith but more than twice of her age, & he refused his consent of the
marriage. As Ruttie was under-age, she & Jinnah wait until she was 18, in
1981, & then got married. Shortly before the ceremony, Ruttie was converted
to Islam. In 1919 their daughter Dina was born.
By
this time, even British recognized the abilities of Jinnah. Edwin Montague, the
secretary of the state for the India, wrote of him in 1917: Jinnah is a very
clever man, & it is, of course, an
52
Jinnah before 1930
outrage
that such a man should have no chance of running of the affairs of his own
country’.
Jinnah cut’ a handsome figure at this time, as described in a standard
biography by an American professor: ‘raven-haired with a moustache almost as
full as Kitcheners & lean as a rapier, he sounded like Ronald Coleman,
dressed like Anthony Eden, & was adored by most of women at the first sight,
& admired or envied by most man’. A British general’s wife met him at a
vice regal dinner in Simla & to her mother in England:
After
dinner, I had Mr. Jinnah to talk to. He is a great personality. He talks the
most beautiful English. He models his cloth & manner on Du Maurier, the
actor, & his English on Burke’s speeches. He is a future Viceroy, if the
present system of gradually indianizing all the services continues. I have
always wanted to meet him, & now I have had my wish.
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the nationalist poet, was
infatuated: to her, Jinnah was the man of the future. He symbolized everything
attractive about modern India. Although her love remained unrequited. She wrote
him, passionate poems; she also wrote about him in purple prose worthy of a
Mills & Boon romance.
Tall & stately, but thin to the point of emaciation, languid &
luxurious in habits. Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s attenuated form is a deceptive
sheath of a spirit of exceptional vitality & endurance. Somewhat formal
& fastidious, & a little aloof & imperious in manners, the calm
& hauteur of his accustomed reserves & masks, for those how know him, a
native & eager humanity, an intuition quick & tender as a women’s, a
humor gay & winning like a child’s. Pre-eminently rational &
practical, discreet & dispassionate in his estimate & acceptance of
life, the obvious sanity & serenity of his worldly wisdom effectually
disguise a shy & splendid idealism, which is of the every essence of the
man.
However,
Gandhi’s emergence in 1920s – & the radically different style of
politics he introduces, which drew in the masses – marginalized Jinnah. The
increasing emphasis on Hinduism & concomitant growth in communal violence
worried Jinnah. Throughout the decade, he remained the president of the Muslim
League but the party was virtually non-existent. The congress had little time
for him now, & his unrelenting opposition to British imperialism did not win
him with the authorities.
In 1929, while Jinnah was vainly attempting to make sense of the
uncertain political landscape, Ruttie died. Jinnah felt the lost grievously. He
moved to London with his daughter Dina & his sister Fatima, & returned
to his career as a successful lawyer. At this point, Jinnah’s story appears to
have concluded as far as the Indian side was concerned.
53
Jinnah before 1930
SECURING
A FINANCIAL BASE:
Jinnah has
successfully resolve the dilemma of all those who wished to challenge British
colonialism he had secured himself financially. Sir Sayyed Ahmed khan had to
compromise, Jinnah did not. This difference was made possible by the changes in
the early part of the century; Indians now entered into the profession, which
gave them financial, & social security irrespective of their political
opinion. Earlier, Indians had either been seen as either friendly or hostile
natives. The former were encouraged, the latter were victimized, often losing
their land & official positions.
Jinnah’s lifestyle resembles that of the upper class English
professionals. Jinnah prided him on his appearance. He was said never to wear
the same silk tie twice & about 200 hand-tailored suits in his wardrobe. His
clothes made him one of the best-dressed man in the world, rivaled in India
perhaps only the Motilal Nehru, the father of Jawaharlal. Jinnah’s daughter
called him a ‘dandy’ a very attractive man’. Expensive clothes, perhaps an
essential accessory of a successful lawyer in British India, were Jinnah’s
main indulgence. In spite of his extravagant taste in dress, Jinnah remained
careful with money throughout his life. Dina recounts her father commenting on
two communities;’ if Muslims got ten rupees they would buy a pretty scarf
& eat a biriani whereas Hindus would save the money.’
In the early 1930s Jinnah lived in a large house in Hampstead, London had
an English chauffeur who drove his Bentley & an English staff to serve him.
There were two cooks, Indian & Irish, & Jinnah’s favorite food was
curry & rice, recalls Dina. He enjoyed playing billiards. Dina remembers her
father taking her to theater, pantomimes, & circuses.
In the last year of life, as the Quaid-i-Azam, Jinnah increasiling
adopted Muslim dress, rhetoric, & thinking. Most significant from the Muslim
point of view is the fact that the obvious affluence was self-created. Jinnah
had not exploited peasants as the feudal lords had done, nor had he made money
like corrupt politicians through underhand deals, nor had any government bribed
him by selling his conscience. What he owned was made legally, out of his skills
as a lawyer & a private investor. By the early 1930s, he was reportedly
earning 40,000 rupees per month at the bar alone at that time an enormous
income. Even his opponents like Gandhi considered Jinnah, one of the top lawyers
of the subcontinent & therefore one of the most highly paid lawyer. His
houses were palatial: in Hampstead in London, on Malabar Hill in Bombay & 10
Aurangzeb Road in new Delhi, a house designed by Edwin Lutyens. His wealth gave
him independence which is turn enable him to speak his mind.
Paradoxically, Jinnah’s behavior reflected as much Anglo-
54
Jinnah before 1930
Indian
sociology as Islamic theology. His thriftiness to the point of being
parsimonious, his integrity, his bluntness, his refusal to countenance sifarish
were alien to South Asian society. Yet, he had absorbed these values in Britain.
He later attempted to weld his understanding of Islam to them. His first two
speeches in the constitution assembly of Pakistan in 1947 reflect some of the
ideas of a western liberal society & his attempts to find more than an echo
of them in Islamic history from the time of the Holly Prophet (S A W). Jinnah
was attempting a synthesis.
The
closest member of Jinnah’s family was his sister Fatima, his wife Ruttie &
their daughter, Dina. Ruttie & Dina are problematic for many Pakistanis. For
the founder of Pakistan – Islamic republic of Pakistan – to have married a
Parsee appears inexplicable to most Pakistanis.
Many
as the daughter who deserted her father by marring a Christian see Dina. Because
she did not go to live in Pakistan Dina is regarded as ‘disloyal’.
Pakistanis have blotted out Ruttie & Dina from their cultural &
historical consciousness.
The relationship between Jinnah & his sister Fatima is important in
helping us to understand Jinnah, the Muslim movement leading to Pakistan &
Pakistani history. Her name of course from that of Prophet daughter &
symbolizes traditional Muslim family life. She was born in 1893, & was a
continuous source of strength for his brother, & after his death, she
remained the symbol of democratic Pakistan true to his spirit, a symbol of
modern Muslim womanhood. Closest to Jinnah of his siblings in looks &
spirit. Fatima is known as the Madr-e-Milliat, Mother of the nation in Pakistan.
After their father‘s death in 1901, Jinnah became her education as a
boarder at a convent when she was nine in 1902 & then enrolling her in
dental college in Calcutta in 1919. In 1923, he helped her set up a clinic in
Bombay. When Ruttie died, she gave up his profession as a dentist at the age of
36 & moved to Jinnah’s house to run it & look after Dina; she then
accompanied Jinnah on his exile in London. She accepted the role of her
brother’s confidante, friend, assistant & chief allay.
Fatima attended the league session in 1937 & all the annual sessions
from 1940 onwards when she took the roll of organizing women in the favor of
league she was with her brother on his triumphant plane journey to Pakistan from
Delhi &
55
Jinnah before 1930
stepped
out on the soil of independent nation that he had created in 1947.
In
the last year, she was anxious that Jinnah was burning himself out in the
pursuit of Pakistan. When she expressed concerned his for health he replied that
one man’s health was insignificant when the every existence of hundred million
Muslims was threatened. ‘Do you know how much is it stake? He would ask her.
She was the last person to see him on his deathbed.
Fatima was bitter about the way Pakistan had treated her & dishonored
the memory of her brother by the use of martial law, & by corruption &
mismanagement. The strain of the campaigned hastened her & she died in 1967,
just after the election, at the age of 74. She is buried within the precincts of
Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi. Fatima Jinnah remains as unsung heroine of the
Pakistan movement. A fierce nationalist, a determinate women of integrity &
principle, she reflected the characteristics of her brother.
RUTTIE:
JINNAH’S WIFE:
Rattanbai
Petit, Jinnah’s wife, remains a mystery. Dina Wide remembers her mother as’
warm, intelligent, wonderful. She was humorous & loved poetry & the
arts.’ She campaigned to abolished the brothels of Bombay & cruelty
against animals especially dogs. Since Jinnah said & write little about his
personal life. We can only guess that why he married her & how the
relationship developed. But Ruttie hints at the human side of Jinnah
- in love, vulnerable, unsure, in pain.
Although
Ruttie had married Jinnah against her father’s wishes, waiting until she was
old enough to be married without his consent, he quite forgives the couple
afterwards. According to Dina lady Petit ‘adored’ Jinnah. Sir Dinshaw Petit
had understandably been furious when his friend Jinnah proposed to his daughter.
The Parsees were a wealthy & sophisticated Westernized community who
dominated Bombay life, & Ruttie could have had the pick of the young men
from her people. Ruttie converted to Islam before she married; eleven years
later when she died. She was buried according to Muslim ritual.
The
marriage was based on mutual affection but eventually disintegrated because of
the increasingly divergent interested & temperaments. To make matters worse
Ruttie became ill. Jinnah was now caught between developments threatening his
political life & the tragedy engulfing his personal life. On the one hand,
he was increasingly struggling to find to find a political firmament redefined
by Gandhi’s arrival; on the other hand, he was trying to devote himself to his
ailing wife. As Ruttie’s health deteriorated, her curiosity began to wander
into books about séances & the afterlife. She was
56
Jinnah before 1930
drifting
into a mystical world of her own.
The
cause of Ruttie’s early death in 1929 remains obscure. Some family friends
believe that it was cancer. Dina, however, maintained that Ruttie died of
colitis, inflammation of the colon.
The Jinnah had separated during the last few years but came together again when Jinnah learned of his illness. Ruttie’s death ‘devastated’ Jinnah, according to Dina. When Ruttie’s dead body was lowered into grave Jinnah wept like a child, his control collapsing; his last act in Bombay before leaving for Pakistan to visit her grave.
A decade earlier father & daughter had fallen out when Dina announced
that she planned to marry with Neville Wadia, a Christen who had once been
Parsee. At the time, when Jinnah had just become the leader of the Muslims of
India & for therefore he was very conscious of his role. In an angry
exchange between father & daughter, Jinnah told her that there were millions
of Muslim boys in India, & she could have any one she chose. She replied
that there were million of Muslim girls & he married one of them, so why did
he marry her mother? Inevitably, there was a break in relation. Dina married
Neville Wadia in 1938 & they had a daughter & a son, but the couple
separated after the partition a few years ago.
AMBASSADOR
OF HINDU MUSLIM UNITY:
On
his return from London in 1896, Jinnah joined the Indian national congress. In
1906, he attained the Calcutta session as secretary of Dadabhai
57
Jinnah before 1930
Noaroji,
who was now president of congress. One of his partner & supporters,
G.K.Gokhale, a distinguished Brahmin, called him the best ambassador of Hindu -
Muslim unity. He was correct when Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Hindu nationalist,
was being tried by the British on sedition charges in1908 he asked Jinnah to
represent him.
On 25 Jan 1901, Jinnah took his seat as the ‘Muslim member from
Bombay’ on the sixty – man Legislative Council of India in Delhi. Any
illusion the Viceroy, lord Minto, may have harbored about the young Westernized
lawyer as a potential ally were soon laid to rest. When Minto reprimanded Jinnah
for using the words ‘harsh & cruel’ in describing the treatment of
Indians in South Africa, Jinnah replied: ‘My Lord! I should fell much inclined
to use much stronger language. But I am fully aware of the constitution of this
Council, & I do not wish to trespass for a single moment. But I do say that
the treatment meted out to Indians is the harshest & the feeling in this
country is unanimous.
Jinnah was an active & successful member of the Indian congress from
the start & had resisted to joining the Indian Muslim League until 1913,
seven years after its foundation. Nonetheless, Jinnah stood up for the Muslim
rights. In 1913, for example, he piloted the Muslim Wakfs Bill throughout the
viceroy’s Legislative Council, & it won widespread praise. Muslims saw a
heavyweight on their side. For his part, Jinnah thought the Muslim League was
rapidly growing into a power full factor for the birth of a United India’
& maintained that the charge of ‘separation’ sometimes leveled at
Muslims was extremely wide of the mark. On the death of his mentor, Gokhale, in
1915, Jinnah was struck with ‘sorrow & grief’ & in May 1915, he
proposed that a memorial to Gokhle was to be constructed. A few weeks later in a
letter to the times of India, appealing to keep peace with their Hindu
‘friends’.
Jinnah was elected the president of the League for the Lucknow session
1916. From now, he would be one of its main leaders, becoming the president of
the League itself from 1920 to 1930 & again from 1937 to 1947 until the
creation of Pakistan. Jinnah’s political philosophy was revealed in the
Lucknow in the same year when he helped bring the congress & the League on
to one plate form to agree on a one common scheme of reforms. Muslims were
promised for 30% representation in the provincial assembly. A common front was
constructed against British Imperialism. The Lucknow pact between the two
parties resulted. Presiding over the extraordinary session, he described himself
as a staunch Congressman’ who had ‘no love for sectarian cries’
Jinnah
after 1930
By
Quratulain Malik
58
Jinnah after 1930
Outline
of the events happened between 1930 & 1948
1930:
o Report of the Simon Commission.
o
First
round-Table Conference in London.
o
Presidential
Address of Allama Mohammad Iqbal at the Allahbad Session of the Muslim League.
1931:
o
The Second Round-Table Conference.
o
The
Third Round-Table Conference.
o
Delhi
Session of the Muslim League.
1934:
o
The
Council of the All-India Muslim League decides to revise the League
constitution.
1935:
o
The
Government of India Act endorsed.
o
The
Muslim League condemns the Act.
1936:
o
The
Muslim League Parliamentary Board meets at Lahore.
o
The
All-India Muslim League at the Bombay session decides to contest the elections.
o
Election
manifesto of the League published.
1937:
o
The
All-India National Congress Working Committee decides to form Miniseries in
seven provinces of India.
o
The
Muslim League holds its annual session at Lucknow.
o
The
Jinnah-Sikandar Pact.
o
The
Muslim League decides to change its demand for 'responsible government' to
'complete independence.
1938:
o
Gandhi-Jinnah
correspondence about Hindu-Muslim unity.
o
Provincial
Muslim League organizations formed under the Central League.
o
The
Calcutta session of the All-India Muslim League.
o
The
Mirpur report giving an account of Muslims grievance in the Congress ruled
provinces issued.
59
Jinnah after 1930
1939:
o
The
Sharif report giving an account of the grievances of Muslim in Bihar issued.
o
Second
World War broke out (September 3).
o
The
Muslim League Working Committee declares the Muslim India is irrevocably opposed
to any federal objective & demands from the Government to examine &
reconsider the entire problem of India's future constitution immediately after
the War.
o
Sufferings
under Congress rule.
o
The
Muslim League observes the Deliverance Day' all over India after having been
relieved of the Congress in the majority of the provinces of India.
1940:
o
Press
statement by the Quaid-i-Azam the Muslims of India would determine their destiny
themselves.
o
The
Quaid-i-Azam suggests in his presidential address at the annual session of the
Muslim League held at Lahore on 22nd March that the two major nations - Hindus
& Muslims, must have separate homelands by dividing India into two
autonomous national States.
o
The
historic Pakistan Resolution is passed on 23rd March by one hundred thousand
members of the League attending the Lahore Session.
o
The
Muslim League Working Committee demands that no future constitution, interim for
final, should be adopted by the British Government without their approval &
consent.
1941:
o
The
Muslim League denounces Mr. Gandhi's disobedience campaign as an attempt to take
advantage of the War & to impose the Congress programme on the British
Government.
o
The
Muslim League celebrates the 'First Pakistan Day' at Delhi on 23rd March.
o
The
Muslim League at its Madras Session writes into its constitution the 'Lahore
resolution in place of the clause which had defined the League's objective as 'a
federation of Free Democratic States.'
o
The
Muslim League Working committee at its Nagpur meeting expresses it deep concern
& alarm at the growing tendency in a section of the British Press &
Politicians to start a pitch of appeasement of the Hindu Congress.
1942:
o
The
Muslim League Working Committee rejects the Cripps
60
Jinnah after 1930
proposals,
demanding a definite pronouncement in favor of Pakistan.
1944:
o
Mr.
Gandhi discusses the Hindu-Muslim problem with the Quaid-i-Azam in his
'individual capacity' without any positive results.
1945:
o
The
Simal Conference called by the Viceroy of India Fails because of the
Congress-League difference on the question of the nomination of the
"Nationalist Muslims" in the Conference.
o
Sweeping
victory for the Muslim League in the Central & heavy victory in the
Provinces.
1946:
o
The
Muslim League Legislator's Convention meets in Delhi Each delegate pledges to
sacrifice everything in the fight for Pakistan.
o
The
Cabinet Mission sent by the British Government evolves a scheme for the India's
future, proposing formation of three separate & distinct groups of provinces
& setting up of two constitution-making bodies, one each for the Hindu
majority provinces & the Muslim majority provinces. This was called the
'Long Term Scheme.' The Short Term Scheme proposed was setting up of an interim
Government at the Center with 14 members on the Council out of which 5 Muslim
League & one each from the other communities.
o
The
Hindu Congress rejects the Short-Term Scheme & the Muslim League accepts it
However, the Government against its declaration, refuses to entertain the
acceptance of the Muslim League to form the Interim Government.
o
The
Muslim League to form the Interim Government.
o
The
Muslim League Council at its meeting in Bombay decides to resort to 'Direct
Action' in a peaceful & disciplined manner against the Interim Government of
Hindu Congress.
o
The
Muslim League also invited to join the Interim Government & it joined it on
October 16 on its own right.
1947:
o
The
Hindu Congress-Khizr Coalition Ministry in the Punjab declares the Muslim League
as an unlawful body & arrests seven members of the Punjab League High
Command. It resulted in mass arrests, Lathi-charges & tear-gassing against
the Muslim in the Punjab.
o
The
Punjabi Government makes peace with the Muslim League & Khizr Hayat submits
resignation of his Cabinet & Khan
61
Jinnah after 1930
Iftikhar
Hussain Khan of Mamdot forms the Muslim League's Ministry in the Punjab.
o
The
Hindu Congress demands the partition of the provinces of the Punjab &
Bengal.
o
Lord
Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India had a last meeting with the British
Cabinet's India Sub-Committee on 28th May & gave final shape to the Plan for
the transfer of power to people of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent.
o
The
Viceroy on June 2 called the conference of all the leaders of the Sub-Continent
& communicated to them His Majesty's Government's plan for the transfer of
the power to the people of the Sub-continent.
o
The
leaders of the Muslim League & Hindu National Congress formally communicated
their acceptance of the plan for the partition of the Sub-Continent into
Pakistan & India.
o
The
Plan was broadcast by the All-India Radio on the same day.
o
Quaid-i-Azam
broadcasts on the acceptance of plan, the same evening.
o
The
Viceroy Lord Mountbatten addressed in the morning of 14th August the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan in Karachi. Fourteen hours later (at midnight) Pakistan
came into existence as an Independent Sovereign State with the Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah as its first governor-general.
LIFE
OF QUAID E AZAM & STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENCE OF PAKISTAN AFTER 1930
1930
SESSION OF ALLAHBAD:
In December 1930 the poet-philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal, sketched out this
view when, as President of the Muslim League session at Allahbad, he proposed
the creation of a Muslim state in the northwest of India. This subsequently
inspired a Cambridge student, Rehmat Ali, to give it a name `Pakistan' derived
thus: `P' stood for the Punjab, `A' for Afghanistan or the North-West Frontier
Province, `K' for Kashmir, `S' for Sind & `tan' for Baluchistan. It
translated as the
‘LAND
OF THE PURE’
I931
EVENTS:
In 1931, two round-table conferences were arranged in
62
Jinnah after 1930
London.
Both of these failed & contained no result. Delhi session of Muslim league
was also arranged in London.
BETWEEN
1930_1935:
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the League's leading figure had his main residence
in London, where he practiced as a barrister & tried unsuccessfully to be
adopted as a parliamentary candidate by first the Labor & then the
Conservative Party. Even after Jinnah returned to India, matters did not
improve.
I934:
The Council of the All-India Muslim League decides to revise the League
constitution.
1935:
The Government of India Act endorsed. Also, in 1935 The Muslim League
condemns the Act.
Jinnah's disillusionment at the course of politics in the subcontinent
prompted him to migrate & settle down in London in the early thirties. He
was, however, to return to India in 1934, at the pleadings of his
co-religionists, & assume their leadership. But, the Muslims presented a sad
spectacle at that time. They were a mass of disgruntled & demoralized men
& women, politically disorganized & destitute of a clear-cut political
programmed.
Muslim
League Reorganized:
Thus, the task that awaited Jinnah was anything but easy. The Muslim
League was dormant: primary branches it had none; even its provincial
organizations were, for the most part, ineffective & only nominally under
the control of the central organization. Nor did the central body have any
coherent policy of its own until the Bombay session (1936), which Jinnah
organized. To make matters worse, the provincial scene presented a sort of a
jigsaw puzzle: in the Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, the North West Frontier, Assam,
Bihar & the United Provinces, various Muslim leaders had set up their own
provincial parties to serve their personal ends. Extremely frustrating as the
situation was, the only consolation Jinnah had at this juncture was in Allama
Iqbal (1877-1938), the poet-philosopher, who stood steadfast
63
Jinnah after 1930
by
him & helped to charter the course of Indian politics from behind the scene.
Undismayed by this bleak situation, Jinnah devoted himself with
singleness of purpose to organizing the Muslims on one platform. He embarked
upon countrywide tours. He pleaded with provincial Muslim leaders to sink their
differences & make common cause with the League. He exhorted the Muslim
masses to organize themselves & join the League. He gave coherence &
direction to Muslim sentiments on the Government of India Act, 1935. He
advocated that the Federal Scheme should be scrapped, as it was subversive of
India's cherished goal of complete responsible Government, while the provincial
scheme, which conceded provincial autonomy for the first time, should be worked
for what it was worth, despite its certain objectionable features. He also
formulated a viable League manifesto for the election scheduled for early 1937.
He was, it seemed, struggling against time to make Muslim India a power to be
reckoned with.
Despite
all the manifold odds stacked against it, the Muslim League won some 108 (about
23 per cent) seats out of a total of 485 Muslim seats in the various
legislatures. Though not very impressive in itself, the League's partial success
assumed added significance in view of the fact that the League won the largest
number of Muslim seats & that it was the only all-India party of the Muslims
in the country. Thus, the elections represented the first milestone on the long
road to putting Muslim India on the map of the subcontinent. Congress in Power
with the year 1937 opened the most momentous decade in modern Indian history. In
that year came into force the provincial part of the Government of India Act,
1935, granting autonomy to Indians for the first time, in the provinces.
The Congress, having become the dominant party in Indian politics, came
to power in seven provinces exclusively, spurning the League's offer of
cooperation, turning its back finally on the coalition idea & excluding
Muslims as a political entity from the portals of power. In that year, also, the
Muslim League, under Jinnah's dynamic leadership, was reorganized, transformed
into a mass organization, & made the spokesman of Indian Muslims as never
before. Above all, in that momentous year were initiated certain trends in
Indian politics, the crystallization of which in subsequent years made
64
Jinnah after 1930
the
partition of the subcontinent inevitable. The practical manifestation of the
policy of the Congress, which took office in July 1937, in seven out of eleven
provinces, convinced Muslims that, in the Congress scheme of things, they could
live only on sufferance of Hindus & as "second class" citizens.
The Congress provincial governments, it may be remembered, had embarked upon a
policy, & launched a programme in which Muslims felt that their religion,
language, & culture were not safe. This blatantly aggressive Congress policy
was seized upon by Jinnah to awaken the Muslims to a new consciousness, organize
them on all-India platform, & make them a power to be reckoned with. He also
gave coherence, direction, & articulation to their innermost, yet vague,
urges & aspirations. Above all, the filled them with his indomitable will,
his own unflinching faith in their destiny.
The
New Awakening:
As a result, of Jinnah's ceaseless efforts, the Muslims awakened from
what Professor Baker calls (their) "unreflective silence" (in which
they had so complacently basked for long decades), & to "the spiritual
essence of nationality" that had existed among them for a pretty long time.
Roused by the impact of successive Congress hammerings, the Muslims, as Ambedkar
(principal author of independent India's Constitution) says,
"Searched
their social consciousness in a desperate attempt to find coherent &
meaningful articulation to their cherished yearnings. To their great relief,
they discovered that their sentiments of nationality had flamed into
nationalism".
In addition, not only had they developed" the will to live as a
"nation", had also endowed them with a territory which they could
occupy & make a State as well as a cultural home for the newly discovered
nation. These two pre-requisites, as laid down by Renan, provided the Muslims
with the intellectual justification for claiming a distinct nationalism (apart
from Indian or Hindu nationalism) for themselves. So that when, after their long
pause, the Muslims gave expression to their innermost yearnings, these turned
out to be in favor of a separate Muslim nationhood & of a separate Muslim
state.
“We
are a nation",
they
claimed in the ever-eloquent words of the Quaid-i-Azam-
65
Jinnah after 1930
"We
are a nation with our own distinctive culture & civilization, language &
literature, art & architecture, names & nomenclature, sense of values
& proportion, legal laws & moral code, customs & calendar, history
& tradition, aptitudes & ambitions; in short, we have our own
distinctive outlook on life & of life. By all canons of international law,
we are a nation".
The formulation of the Muslim demand for Pakistan in 1940 had a
tremendous impact on the nature & course of Indian politics. On the one
hand, it shattered for ever the Hindu dreams of a pseudo-Indian, in fact, Hindu
empire on British exit from India: on the other, it heralded an era of Islamic
renaissance & creativity in which the Indian Muslims were to be active
participants. The Hindu reaction was quick, bitter, & malicious. Equally
hostile were the British to the Muslim demand, their hostility having stemmed
from their belief that the unity of India was their main achievement & their
foremost contribution. The irony was that both the Hindus & the British had
not anticipated the astonishingly tremendous response that the Pakistan demand
had elicited from the Muslim masses. Above all, they failed to realize how a
hundred million people had suddenly become supremely conscious of their distinct
nationhood & their high destiny. In channeling the course of Muslim politics
towards Pakistan, no less than in directing it towards its consummation in the
establishment of Pakistan in 1947, non-played a more decisive role than did
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was his powerful advocacy of the case of
Pakistan & his remarkable strategy in the delicate negotiations that
followed the formulation of the Pakistan demand, particularly in the post-war
period, that made Pakistan inevitable.
Cripps
Scheme:
While the British reaction to the Pakistan demand came in the form of the
Cripps offer of April 1942, which conceded the principle of self-determination
to provinces on a territorial basis, the Raja ji Formula (called after the
eminent Congress leader C.Rajagopalacharia, which became the basis of prolonged
Jinnah-Gandhi talks in September, 1944), represented the Congress alternative to
Pakistan. The Cripps offer was rejected because it did not concede the Muslim
demand the whole way, while the Rajaji Formula was found unacceptable since it
offered a "moth-eaten, mutilated" Pakistan & the too appended with
a plethora of pre-conditions which made its emergence in any shape remote, if
not altogether impossible. Cabinet
66
Jinnah after 1930
Mission
the most delicate as well as the most tortuous negotiations, however, took place
during 1946-47, after the elections, which showed that the country was sharply
& somewhat evenly, divided between two parties- the Congress & the
League & that the central issue in Indian politics was Pakistan.
These negotiations began with the arrival, in March 1946, of a
three-member British Cabinet Mission. The crucial task with which the Cabinet
Mission was entrusted was that of devising in consultation with the various
political parties, a constitution making machinery, & of setting up a
popular interim government. But, because the Congress-League gulf could not be
bridged, despite the Mission's (& the Viceroy's) prolonged efforts, the
Mission had to make its own proposals in May 1946. Known as the Cabinet Mission
Plan, these proposals stipulated a limited center, supreme only in foreign
affairs, defense & communications & three autonomous groups of
provinces. Two of these groups were to have Muslim majorities in the northwest
& the northeast of the subcontinent, while the third one, comprising the
Indian mainland, was to have a Hindu majority. A consummate statesman that he
was, Jinnah saw his chance. He interpreted the clauses relating to a limited
center & the grouping as "the foundation of Pakistan", &
induced the Muslim League Council to accept the Plan in June 1946; & this he
did much against the calculations of the Congress & to its utter dismay.
Tragically though, the League's acceptance was put down to its supposed
weakness & the Congress put up a posture of defiance, designed to swamp the
League into submitting to its dictates & its interpretations of the plan.
Faced thus, what alternative had Jinnah & the League but to rescind their
earlier acceptance, reiterate & reaffirm their original stance, & decide
to launch direct action (if need be) to wrest Pakistan. The way Jinnah
maneuvered to turn the tide of events at a time when all seemed lost indicated,
above all, his masterly grasp of the situation & his adeptness at making
strategic & tactical moves. Partition Plan By the close of 1946, the
communal riots had flared up to murderous heights, engulfing almost the entire
subcontinent. The two peoples, it seemed, were engaged in a fight to the finish.
The time for a peaceful transfer of power was fast running out. Realizing the
gravity of the situation. His Majesty's Government sent down to India a new
Viceroy- Lord Mountbatten. His protracted
67
Jinnah after 1930
negotiations
with the various political leaders resulted in 3 June (1947) Plan by which the
British decided to partition the subcontinent, & hand over power to two
successor States on 15 August, 1947. The plan was duly accepted by the three
Indian parties to the dispute- the Congress the League & the Akali Dal
(representing the Sikhs).
The treasury was empty, India having denied Pakistan the major share of
its cash balances. On top of all this, the still unorganized nation was called
upon to feed some eight million refugees who had fled the insecurities &
barbarities of the north Indian plains that long, hot summer. If all this was
symptomatic of Pakistan's administrative & economic weakness, the Indian
annexation, through military action in November 1947, of Junagadh (which had
originally acceded to Pakistan) & the Kashmir war over the State's accession
(October 1947-December 1948) exposed her military weakness. In the
circumstances, therefore, it was nothing short of a miracle that Pakistan
survived at all. That it survived & forged ahead was mainly due to one
man-Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The nation desperately needed in the person of a
charismatic leader at that critical juncture in the nation's history, & he
fulfilled that need profoundly. After all, he was more than a mere
Governor-General: he was the Quaid-i-Azam who had brought the State into being.
In the ultimate analysis, his very presence at the helm of affairs was
responsible for enabling the newly born nation to overcome the terrible crisis
on the morrow of its cataclysmic birth. He mustered up the immense prestige
& the unquestioning loyalty he commanded among the people to energize them,
to raise their morale, land directed the profound feelings of patriotism that
the freedom had generated, along constructive channels. Though tired & in
poor health, Jinnah yet carried the heaviest part of the burden in that first
crucial year. He laid down the policies of the new state, called attention to
the immediate problems confronting the nation & told the members of the
Constituent Assembly, the civil servants & the Armed Forces what to do &
what the nation expected of them. He saw to it that law & order was
maintained at all costs, despite the provocation that the large-scale riots in
north, India had provided. He moved from Karachi to Lahore for a while &
68
Jinnah after 1930
supervised
the immediate refugee problem in the Punjab. In a time of fierce excitement, he
remained sober, cool, & steady. He advised his excited audience in Lahore to
concentrate on helping the refugees, to avoid retaliation, exercise restraint
& protect the minorities. He assured the minorities of a fair deal, assuaged
their inured sentiments, & gave them hope & comfort. He toured the
various provinces, attended to their particular problems, & instilled in the
people a sense of belonging. He reversed the British policy in the Northwest
Frontier & ordered the withdrawal of the troops from the tribal territory of
Waziristan, thereby making the Pathans feel themselves an integral part of
Pakistan's body-politics. He created a new Ministry of States & Frontier
Regions, & assumed responsibility for ushering in a new era in Balochistan.
He settled the controversial question of the states of Karachi, secured the
accession of States, especially of Kalat which seemed problematical &
carried on negotiations with Lord Mountbatten for the settlement of the Kashmir
Issue.
The
Quaid's last Message:
It was, therefore, with a sense of supreme satisfaction at the
fulfillment of his mission that Jinnah told the nation in his last message on 14
August 1948:
"The
foundations of your State have been laid & it is now for you to build &
build as quickly & as well as you can".
In
accomplishing the task he had taken upon himself on the morrow of Pakistan's
birth, Jinnah had worked himself to death, but he had, to quote Richard Symons,
"Contributed
more than any other man to Pakistan's survival".
He
died on 11 September 1948. How true was Lord Pethick Lawrence, the former
Secretary of State for India, when he said,
"Gandhi
died by the hands of an assassin; Jinnah died by his devotion to Pakistan".
A man such as Jinnah, who had fought for the inherent rights of his
people all through his life & who had taken up the somewhat unconventional
& the largely misinterpreted cause of Pakistan was bound to generate violent
opposition & excite implacable hostility & was likely to be largely
misunderstood. But what is most remarkable about Jinnah is that he was the
recipient of some of the greatest tributes paid to any one in modern times, some
of them even
69
Jinnah after 1930
from
those who held a diametrically opposed viewpoint.
The Aga Khan considered him "the greatest man he ever met",
Beverley Nichols, the
author of `Verdict on India', called him "the most important man in
Asia", & Dr. Kailashnath Katju, the West Bengal Governor in 1948,
thought of him as "an outstanding figure of this 
century
not only in India, but in the whole world". While Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha,
Secretary General of the Arab League, called him "one of the greatest
leaders in the Muslim world", the Grand Mufti of Palestine considered his
death as a "great loss" to the entire world of Islam. It was, however,
given to Surat Chandra Bose, leader of the Forward Bloc wing of
the Indian National Congress, to sum up succinctly his personal & political
achievements. "Mr. Jinnah", he said on his death in 1948, "was
great as a lawyer, once great as a Congressman, great as a leader of Muslims,
great as a world politician & diplomat, & greatest of all as a man of
action, By Mr. Jinnah's passing away, the world has lost one of the greatest
statesmen & Pakistan its life-giver, philosopher & guide". Such was
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the man & his mission, such the range of
his accomplishments & achievements.