SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

8 SPECIAL REPORT AUGUST 23, 2009

IN DEATH AS IN LIFE, MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH REMAINS THE SUBCONTINENT’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE

Pakistan adores its

favourite son but
ignores his vision
Ayesha Jalal

M
Subodh Varma | TNN ohammad Ali Jinnah has had a contested and con-
fused relationship with the country he created. Left

T
he founder of Pakistan died nearly 60 years ago, to an adoring following in Pakistan and equally im-
after a short stint as the country’s first gover- passioned detractors in India, the clear-headed
nor-general and president of its Constituent As- lawyer who never missed a cue has been reduced to a jumble
sembly. But his shadow still lurks beneath the of contradictions that mostly cancel each other out. Sterile
surface of India’s collective memory, stepping and uncharitable depictions of one of modern South Asia’s
forward whenever the horrors of Partition are leading politicians might not have withstood the test of his-
revisited or, more recently, when Hindu fundamentalists tory if they did not serve the nationalist self-projections of
squabble amongst themselves. both India and Pakistan.
Schoolchildren in independent India have grown up learn-
ing that Jinnah was responsible for the division of India.
HIS STORY The lanky M A Jinnah is etched in the Indian popular con-
sciousness as the villain bent upon wreaking revenge for his re-
By implication, he becomes linked to the carnage that ac- 1876 Born December 25 in Karachi peated political failures by dividing the country and instigating
companied it, as 14.5 million people moved across borders the shedding of innocent blood. Consequently, Indians have
and at least 500,000 were killed in communal violence. The 1892 Goes to London to study law rarely asked how a nationalist ideology committed to the unity
traumatic memory of this event, and the political mythol- of the country came to be so effectively sabotaged by one indi-
ogy built around it, is what causes a highly charged response 1896 Shifts to Bombay; joins Congress vidual. It remains to be seen how far the uproar over Jaswant
to Jinnah in India.
But Jinnah remains such a controversial figure because
1906 Becomes Dadabhoy Naoroji’s Singh’s recent book, describing Jinnah as a great Indian na-
tionalist, helps in addressing this issue. Across the divide in Pak-
personal secretary
he himself went through a change in the last decade of istan, Jinnah’s negative standing in the Indian nationalist pan-
British rule in India. “There are two Jinnahs — one of the 1913 Joins Muslim League theon has fuelled his positive portrayal as a revered son of Is-
pre-1940s period, and quite another subsequently,” says po- lam, even an esteemed religious leader (maulana), who sacri-
litical scientist Imtiaz Ahmed. “Earlier, he was imbued with 1916 Becomes League president ficed everything to safeguard Muslim interests in India. Some
the spirit of nationalism and he was secular; but after 1937, have even suggested that Jinnah, never known for his religiosi-
he developed a notion that there are practical difficulties 1920 Leaves Congress ty, underwent a metamorphosis in his 60s and became a devout
to the practice of secular-
ism,” he says. Finally, in
1931-34 Decides to leave politics and Muslim. There is no evidence of the Quaid-e-Azam becoming
more religious in the twilight of his life.
lives in London
1940, Jinnah clearly spells A skilled arbitrator respected by his peers at the Bar, Jinnah
out the two-nation theory —
that Hindus and
1940 Demands separate state for imagined himself as bridging the communitarian differences
which in his opinion were the biggest obstacle to India winning
Muslims at League’s Lahore session
Muslims are two freedom. Like a professional arbitrator, he argued the conflict-
separate nations 1947 Becomes Governor- ing brief of his diverse Muslim constituents to the best of his
who cannot live to- General of independent ability. A politician whose sights were set on wresting power
gether. This paved the Pakistan from the British at the centre, Jinnah had to contend with the
way for demanding a different pulls and pushes of Muslim politics in the provinces.
separate country for 1948 Dies Sept 11 in What kept changing were the requirements of local, provincial
Muslims — Pakistan. It Karachi and all-India politics under successive constitutional reforms.
is this split within him While seeking to reconcile the divergent interests of his con-
that is the cause of confu- stituents in Muslim-majority and minority provinces, Jinnah
sion — some admire his ear- knew that an agreement with
lier avatar, while others pre- Congress covering the whole
fer the later one. of India would have to be found
Historian Indu Agnihotri once the British conceded pow-
points out that the ‘turning’ er at the centre. As the Muslim
of Jinnah came in the con- spokesman, he had hoped to
text of Muslim alienation negotiate a constitutional
from Congress and the arrangement based on an eq-
British policy of foster- uitable sharing of power be-
ing divisions between tween Congress and the Mus-
the two communities. lim League, representing Hin-
In response to Mus- dus and Muslims respectively.
VICTORY, BUT AT WHAT COST? lim disillusionment Congress’s insistence on the
Jinnah and sister Fatima land and egged on by the unity of the ‘nation’ and re- Jinnah would find
in Karachi in 1947 British, he inexorably fusal to share power at British cold comfort in his
struck a separate course. India’s unitary centre paved
Schoolchildren in The pipe-smoking, West- the way for Partition. portrayal as a
India have grown up ernized barrister who It is often said that Jinnah fervent Muslim in
learning that Jinnah thought of settling down “made history” against over- Islamic and militarily
in London till the 1930s, whelming odds. Even “great
was responsible for jumped into the muddy wa- men” make history under cer-
authoritarian
Partition. By ters of the final decade of tain constraints. If there has Pakistan
implication, he gets British rule. been a bit too much focus on
But the confusion was the history Jinnah made, there is still much to be said about the
linked to the not just between the earlier history that made Jinnah. Eager to score points against his op-
carnage of 1947 and later Jinnahs. In his fa- ponents, the suave barrister adapted his methods to new politi-
mous opening speech at Pak- cal realities without losing sight of the goals that had animated
istan’s Constituent Assembly in 1947, he still appeared to his public career since its inception. An anglicized and moder-
want a secular state: “You may belong to any religion or ate politician of the liberal ilk, Jinnah would recoil at his bat-
caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of tered image in secular and democratic India. But he would find
the State.” cold comfort in his portrayal as a fervent Muslim in Islamic and
Illustration:
Caustic about this ambiguity in Jinnah, Mushirul Hasan, Neelabh militarily authoritarian Pakistan. As a politician who knew the
historian and vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia says, importance of playing to the gallery, Jinnah did make references
“I am reminded of a line from Ghalib: Ki mere katl ke baad, to Islam that might appear to undermine his vision for a Pak-
usne jafaa se tauba (after killing me, he swore never to cause
pain).” Jinnah demanded Pakistan at a time when most
Muslims were not in its favour and religious organizations
such as the Jamiat-e-Ulema had rejected the two-nation the-
Dark Lord of 1947? The role’s istan “based on the highest principles of honour, integrity, fair-
play and justice for all”. But he did so without accepting the nar-
row-minded definitions the mullahs and their sympathizers tried
to impose on its teachings with regard to women and minorities.
ory, Hasan says.
Jinnah may have used the two-nation theory as a bar-
gaining point with both the British and Congress, says an-
other historian Tanika Sarkar. “Earlier, he had even opposed
been taken by ‘you know who’ Jinnah’s Islam was neither reactionary nor bigoted; he hailed
the Prophet of Islam, for “laying the foundations of democra-
cy”. Asserting the compatibility of Islam and democracy did not
mean consigning the constitutional future of the country to ideas
separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. But later, the Rashmee Roshan Lall | TNN dating back 1,300 years.
Muslim League under his leadership wooed the Muslim “Attenborough told me I have an imperial “I know of no religion apart from human activity,” the Quaid-

I
masses by promising them heaven in a sovereign Pakistan,” n India, Jinnah has only to be named to be reviled. If e-Azam had written to Mahatma Gandhi in January 1940, as
she argues. he is put on screen or on stage, he must be suitably air and this is how he sees Jinnah. I didn’t it “provides a moral basis for all other activities.” Jinnah’s
Whatever be the reality of the ‘inwardness’ of Jinnah’s “saturnine”, arguably one of modern India’s favourite know whether to be flattered or insulted” broad humanistic outlook and vision for the subcontinent has
beliefs, history will judge him as the progenitor of Pakistan. words to describe the creator of Pakistan. been distorted in Pakistan, if not wholly forgotten, due to the
Alyque Padamsee, THE ‘JINNAH’ OF RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH’S GANDHI
In the Indian sub-continent’s troubled history, he, like so Film director Shyam Benegal is categorical about In- political gamesmanship of authoritarian rulers and self-styled
many other personalities and events, will continue to gen- dia’s need to see Jinnah in a sinister way. Or perhaps, ideologues of Islam. Instead of the supremacy of the rule of
erate conflicting emotions. As Agnihotri puts it, “We are not see him at all. “The moment you try to portray Jin- law that Jinnah strongly advocated, anarchy prevails in large
still grappling with the legacy of colonial rule — the eco- nah as human, you’ve had it,” he says. Benegal should swathes of Pakistan. With the Muslim majority itself divided
nomic ruin and destruction of lives, sundering of peoples, know. His historical biographical films include The Mak- along class, regional, sectarian and ideological lines, the mi-
marginalization of communities and ultimately, Partition.” ing of the Mahatma and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: norities are facing persecution from peddlers of religion. As
The Forgotten Hero. well as local land mafias exploiting the loopholes in the legal
For all of independent India’s 62 years, the dark arts system of a country founded paradoxically enough by one of
A bookshelf full of Jinnah of myth-making and manipulation of history had to be
used as defence against Jinnah’s famously satanic spir-
the subcontinent’s greatest constitutional lawyers and cham-
pions of minority rights.

H ector Bolitho wrote the first official biography in 1954.

Unsurprisingly titled Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan, it is a
tapestry of personal anecdotes interwoven with political
it. So, Jinnah has been to Indian popular culture what
Harry Potter’s nemesis was to the seven-book series: He
Who Must Not Be Named; The Dark Lord; You Know Who;
Ayesha Jalal teaches history at Tufts University and is the
author of ‘The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League
events. For the next 30 years hardly any noteworthy books Lord Voldemort. and the Demand for Pakistan’
on Jinnah appeared. In 1984, Stanley The results can be remarkable and ripe for psycholo-
Wolpert’s Jinnah of Pakistan was gists to study. Jasbir Malik, a retired accountant and free-
published. It was considered a frank lance actor, played the Quaid-e-Azam in Aamir Raza Hu-
THE SCHOOLROOM VIEW
account of the man and an admiring sain’s 2005 docudrama 1947 Live. “I was under pressure,”
rundown of his politics. President he admits, “in the sense that I did feel I was being mar- Pakistan: Pakistan Studies by Abdul Qadir Khan for Classes IX & X
Zia banned the book in Pakistan for ginally traitorous.” Malik remembers his anguished Chapter: The Quaid-i-Azam (RA) and the Pakistan ideology
recounting Jinnah’s taste for wine thoughts at the time: “As an Indian, was I doing the right Muhammad Ali Jinnah (RA), the most eminent personality of
and pork. Fatima Jinnah, the Quaid- thing (in playing Jinnah in a fair fashion)?” He recalls the Indian Muslims’ independent movement , who later came
e-Azam’s sister, started writing his wondering if he “was being fair to my country”. to be known as the Quaid-i-Azam (RA) started his political
biography, but she died in 1967. Her Such angst over the posthumous portrayal of a politi- career in 1906. Jinnah took part in the Calcutta session of the
unfinished book My Brother was fi- cian, howsoever significant? Benegal offers a nuanced Indian National Congress and was impressed by its anti-
nally published in 1987. understanding of India’s apparent neuroses. “It is a lit- imperialist stance….In the same year, the All India Muslim
From the late ’80s, the West’s tle too early to think of Jinnah as a cartoon figure. We League was formed in Dacca but its programme could not
growing interest in Pakistan — be- haven’t got over the trauma attract Mr Jinnah who was, at that time, a nationalist to the
cause of the anti-USSR jihad and of Partition. A limb of India core and a strong protagonist of Hindu-Muslim unity. Jinnah
later the War on Terror — led to a has gone. We have yet to get joined Muslim League in 1913; he did not, however resign from
spate of books on Jinnah and many over the lost-limb syndrome. Congress because at that time he maintained that the Hindus
broke new ground. Ayesha Jalal’s You can’t really deal with and Muslims should join hands to get rid of British imperialism.
The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Jinnah in any other way than He worked tirelessly to bring the two nations to an agreement.
Muslim League and the Demand as someone who caused the whether to be flattered or insulted.” It was solely due to his efforts that in 1916 the Muslim League
for Pakistan (1994) threw new light partition of India.” In our fashion-obsessed times, few would give Jinnah and Congress held their sessions jointly at Lucknow where a
on the complicated Muslim politics But Benegal’s filmmaker’s the dizzying status of style icon, but Pakistan’s founder pact between the two parties was concluded….This was a great
in British India and traced Jinnah’s eye discerns another likely rea- set the trend for the karakul fur caps that bear his name. success, but it was shortlived, as the Congress was soon
evolution in the tussle between son India has never warmed But that might be too human to factor in. Padamsee overpowered by the extremist Hindu leadership. The
provincial and federal aspirations. to Jinnah. “He was an ex- admits his near-cameo role as Jinnah, which is possibly leadership was, of course, distasteful to the idea of Hindu-
In Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic tremely cultivated man and the most famous portrayal of the man dubbed ‘South Muslim unity or coordination. Jinnah was bitter and
Identity: The Search for Saladin “The moment you had a great taste in cigars and Asia’s Saladin’ was “just 10 minutes on screen in a three- disappointed at this state of affairs and he resigned from
(1997) Akbar S Ahmed sought to cognac — but these things are hour film”. And that it could have been more generous to
prove that Jinnah was not a funda-
try to portray lost in popular culture.” the man. “The film only showed Jinnah when he was con-
Congress in 1920.
Note: RA stands for Rehmat-ullah-Allai (God’s blessing be upon him)
mentalist. S M Burke and Salim Al- Jinnah as human, All of which actor Alyque fronting Gandhi.” Padamsee has long cherished the dream
Din Quraishi argued in their Quaid- you’ve had it. You Padamsee found to work in of writing a play on “the human side of Jinnah…but I’ve India: NCERT’s India and the Contemporary World — II for Class X
i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: His his favour when Richard At- had so many projects.” Chapter: Nationalism in India
can’t really deal
Personality and his Politics (2004) tenborough asked him to play Benegal too implies a lack of will — not interest — in After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a
that he was driven to the two-na- with him in any Jinnah in his Oscar-sweeping bringing Jinnah, the man, into Indian homes using the large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress...The
tion theory by the policies of Gandhi way other than as 1982 film Gandhi. “I met him popular media. “Fifteen to 18 years ago, a famous Gujarati important differences were over the question of representation
and the Congress party. Ian Bryant someone who at a cocktail party…. After a writer brought a project to me. He said, why don’t we do a in the future assemblies that were to be elected. Mohammad
Wells’s Ambassador of Hindu Mus- five-minute conversation, he TV series on Jinnah because he was such an interesting Ali Jinnah, one of the leaders of the Muslim League, was willing
lim Unity: Jinnah's Early Politics
caused the rang me the next day and said man? I said I don’t feel totally committed to the project.” to give up the demand for separate electorates, if Muslims
(2005) analyzed his activities till 1934 and argued that the partition of India” you have an imperial air Like Harry Potter’s Dark Lord then, must Jinnah’s were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and
changes in his thinking were strategic decisions. Shyam Benegal, FILMMAKER about you and this is how I name, image — and politics of painful separation — for- representation in proportion to population in the Muslim-
— Compiled by Subodh Varma see Mr Jinnah. I didn’t know ever inspire fear and loathing in India? dominated provinces (Bengal and Punjab).