Jinnah: Secular and Nationalist

In the post independence Indian history Mohd. Ali Jinnah is depicted as the devil in the freedom struggle by the Indian writers and politicians. All illadjectives are used with his name. He is dubbed as a die-hard communalist, a separatist, an egoistic-arrogant, an ally of the British Imperialist, an opponent of the freedom movement, an enemy of the Congress and one man responsible for the partition. His positive aspect and his contribution to freedom struggle is ignored completely. He is misrepresented but also in Pakistan. He is characterized as fundamentalist wanting to establish a religious State. Facts about Jinnah, his life and his politics and policies are suppressed by both Indian and Pakistani historians as well as Politicians. The truth is that Jinnah was, from the very inception of his political career an uncompromising enemy of the foreign rule. He was a patriot, a nationalist, a secularist and believed in constitutional means for the attainment of freedom. His patriotism was greater then any one of his contemporary patriots. He was considered the ‘Pride of India’, ‘Uncrowned Prince of Bombay’ and an ‘Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. For more than four decades of his life he fought for a united India. He resisted for long the proposal of partition. He had even opposed the separation of Burma from India during the first Round Table Conference but few years later he sought a separate state for the Muslims. Why a patriot, a nationalist, a secularist and an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity became a champion of a separate state? What was responsible for this change? His own ambition or humiliations? British Imperialists or the Congress leaders? Or was it that he became the victim of circumstances? Did he really want Pakistan or was it merely a bargaining counter? Was he happy in the land of his creation? This book questions many of the myths that have grown around Jinnah’s role in the freedom movement and highlights several factors that have deliberately been suppressed by Indians as well as Pakistani writers and politicians. But recently, after about 58 years, none other than a leader like L.K. Advani has admitted and boldly stated that M.A. Jinnah was a great man and a secularist.