Let’s bury the past and move on!
Disclaimer:
What has happened has happened and what’s done can’t be undone. Whether partitioned, divided or secular – India is India and Pakistan is Pakistan. Whether Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the so-called founding father of Pakistan, fathered Pakistan or not – how does it matter, now? What matters is this – India and Pakistan are separate countries, separate political entities and independent nation-states. And we must respect this.
What Jinnah said, did or didn’t do before or after the partition is past. Jinnah is history. Partition is history. 1947 is history. It’s time we accept that partition is ancient and it must be buried than be remembered.
I have many friends who are not Indians but Pakistanis, settled in India but have their roots in Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan too has Indians who aren’t Pakistanis but settled there, living on an ‘alien’ soil.
I was not born when partition took place. I do not know what Jinnah did to father/develop/create Pakistan. I have nothing against Pakistan as a country, but why do I have to know Jinnah when I have no interest in knowing Pakistan.
“Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”
-- Stanley Wolpert
The book Jinnah: India-Partition Independence by India's former foreign minister and former finance minister Jaswant Singh has already received flak from various sections of the media, historians as well as various political leaders. Singh wrote the book as an individual and not as a politician. I believe what's written in the book are Singh’s own views. Why to question someone’s individual views? Why?
It's quite unfortunate that India got divided. Sixty-two years after the partition, after we achieved Independence, we do not have a Jawaharlal Nehru, M K Gandhi or Mohammad Ali Jinnah to narrate the 1947 saga. No doubt that Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah made their contributions in shaping the events of 1947, but what’s the need to dig skeletons out of the mud?
To me, it was no surprise that India was divided on the lines of religion, hatred and vested political interests of the few. My 86-year-old grandmother, who has worked with Nehruji, Gandhiji and Indira Gandhi, narrates her own experience. (Something in her own words): "Bharat mein katl-e-aam hogaya tha. Azaadi se pehle ka woh samay aisa tha ki aurton ki koi izzat nahi karta tha. Peeli Kothi ko bhi jalaa diya gaya tha. Gandhiji ne pehle kabhi aise lafz nahi kahein the -- par jab har jagah maar-kaat thi toh unhoney kahan tha -- 'Karo ya maro'. Peeli Kothi, jo ki 1942 ('Bhaarat Chhodo Aandolan' -- Quit India Movement) mein jalaa di gayi thi, ke aage se Lahori Gate jaane ka raasta tha... Mujhey tere dadaji ne zewar, asharfiyaan, zameenon ke kaagaz dekar bachon ke saath meri maa ke ghar bhej diya tha. Woh samay aisa tha ki hum apni jaan bachaakar bhaagey the, sab log bhaag rahe the... Laashon ke dher lagey dekhein the humney... Jamunaji poori laal hogayi thi... Woh maar rahe the aur lashon ko Majnu-ka-Tila se Jamunaji mein bahaa rahe the... 6-7 logon ko maarta dekha... hum sab naya bazaar bhaag gaye the... Unn logon ne naa Hindu ko dekha na Musalmaan ko.. bass unpar toh katl-e-aam ka bhoot sawaar tha... Batwaanra hua kyunki sab chahte the ki angrez Bhaarat chhodh kar chalein jayein... Ismein kisi ka koi 'apna' swarth nahi tha... Hum sab angrezon se azaadi chahte the... Jab 'Bhaarat Chhodo' hua toh Gandhiji ghanton ke liye Nizamuddin station par atak gaye the... Angrezon ne unhe aage nahi jaane diya tha... Mainey Jinnah ko dekha hai... Jinnah ke lecture sunne ke liye pitaji mujhey apne kandhon pe bithaakar lekar jaaya kartey the... Hum sab ek the... Hindu-Musalmaan ek the... sab saath rahtey the -- par jab batwaanra hua toh humney dekha ki kaise kuch log trainon mein baithkar Lahore ki taraf chalein gaye... " This narrative may be disturbing and depressing to read, but after discussing about Jinnah and partition with my grandmother, I don't need books to know about India's freedom struggle. I don't need books to relate to my grandmother's (and many more like her) misery and suffering.
However, it is not only Jaswant Singh who has praised Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Historians like Ayesha Jalal and H M Seervai too asserted that Jinnah never wanted Partition of India. It is also asserted by various historians that Jinnah only used Pakistan (demand for a separate nation) as a method to mobilize support to obtain rights for Muslims.
Why didn't BJP expel the well-known Hindu political leader, the so-called 'Lau Purush' Lal Krishna Advani when he called Jinnah 'secular'? Why is he still in Sangh fold? Is the treatment mooted out to Jaswant Singh correct? Singh was in support when Advani praised and called Jinnah a ‘secular leader’ few years back. Singh in an interview said: "I think we have misunderstood Jinnah because we needed to create a demon. We needed a demon because in the 20th century the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country." But where is Advani to support Singh, now?
History repeats itself but where is Jinnah to propagate the “two-nation” theory, again? Where is Jinnah, Nehru or Gandhi to do a repeat? They aren’t anywhere. None of us want a repeat of what happened in 1947. None of us wants to live in the past. Jinnah is dead and buried. So is Nehru and Gandhi.
L K Advani might have taken a lesson from his Jinnah episode but there’s a larger controversy now – whether the founding father of Pakistan was really secular or not? Similarly, Jaswant Singh’s book – Jinnah: India-Partition Independence raises several doubts and has created a furore in the Sangh Parivaar.
“Some confusion prevails in the minds of some individuals in regard to the use of the word ‘Pakistan’. This word has become synonymous with the Lahore resolution owing to the fact that it is a convenient and compendious method of describing [it].... For this reason the British and Indian newspapers generally have adopted the word 'Pakistan' to describe the Moslem demand as embodied in the Lahore resolution.”
-- (Jinnah's definition of 'Pakistan' in 1941 at Lahore)
Singh’s book has started a controversial debate on the origin and creation of Pakistan, on Jinnah's political lineage, India’s Independence and partition. Will his book be able to change the mindset of the many Indians or Pakistanis who have been ‘affected’ or ‘not affected’ from the partition? Can his book right the wrongs of 1947? Can his book heal the sufferings of many Hindus and Muslims who sacrificed their lives for freedom? Can his book change the hatred for Jinnah into a liking or vice-versa? May be we need to question this on a larger scale.
I am not against Jinnah, but division. I am not against Jinnah, but partition. If, even after 62 years of partition we'll keep discussing Jinnah and remain engulfed in our past, then how are we going to progress as a nation, as a democracy and uphold our dignity and integrity as a sovereign, secular and socialist republic?
It is time we bury the past and let Jinnah rest in peace. It is time we think and worry about other issues like global warming, terrorism and recession, than questioning Jinnah’s ideology.
It's a well written piece. But, it may be pointed out that nobody wants to live in the past, however it haunts. so our veteran leaders, Advani and Jaswant Singh were bitten by the Jinnah bug. But Advani was lucky enough to stick to his chair, mainly coz of the strong 'sycophant support'. Whereas in Jaswant's case, the support 'system' pretty weak, so he fell down (read sacked). Jaswant penned his personal viewpoint, which gave him a noose. This is the real Indian political tamasa. No one is to be trusted here. We love to live in a 'double-standard room', yet we deny the fact that we are hypocrites.
ReplyDeletegood piece
ReplyDeletetushar
Well said Anika. Although i feel history is always fascinating but i agree it should not be allowed to become a baggage for generations to bear..
ReplyDeleteNice one. History is all about facts and interpretation. Facts remain same but interpretation changes.
ReplyDeleteAnika,
ReplyDeleteIt's really nice to see you developing an approach to be distinct, to look beyond what's everyone's talking and what's not been talked about.
Having said that I would say Debby gave you an actual journalistic viewpoint to perceive Jaswant's book. I would call his/her comments unbiased, as he/she belongs to east and revealed not having seen the Partition's pain but saw it all through prims of pain of loved ones.
But I will give you mine. I heard Advani appealing "Jinnah ko crticise karne se kahin pehle humein unke bare mein jan ne ki koshish karni chahiye" (Before being a critic of Jinnah, we need to know about him). I just did that and bought a book on it--Jinnah--Secular and Nationalist--by Dr. Ajeet Jawed, lecturer Satyati College. I took all the pain to locate it in Paharganj's busy lanes having read a few pages through Delhi Public Library's subscribed book. The book is appreciated by none other than A.G.Noorani of The Hindu and also The Dawn, the biggest newspaper of Pakistan to appreciate its fairness in dealing and while stating on various phases of Jinnah's life.
Believe me, I bought it with complete hatred for Jinnah just like any average Indian who may heard of him through politician’s description or rumour-mongers. I just wanted to only be eligible to criticse the founder of Pakistan in a better and fair manner.
I felt enlightened.
Here I just quote two paragraphs from that book:
Jinnah who ate pork, drank scotch, 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 a Hindu Bhatia family, was christened Quaid-I-Azam by the Muslim Maulvis, writes Dr. Jawed in the chapter Tragedy of Jinnah in her book.
“I still consider myself to be an Indian. For the moment I have accepted the Governor-Generalship of Pakistan. But I am looking forward to a time when I would return to India and take my place as citizen of my country.” M.S.M.Sharma, Peeps into Pakistan, p.185.
M.S.M.Sharma was the editor of Daily Gazette of Karachi.
“I never wanted this damn Pakistan! It was forced upon me by Sardar Patel. And now they want me to eat the humble pie and raise my hands in defeat.” Hashoo Kewal Ramani, Pakistan X-rayed, Delhi, New Age, 1951, p.111.
May be the last two paras are useful to remember.
On personal note, what Dadiji said about the mayhem, the slaughter, the pain, the shock and the disappointment and sufferings of running from their own soil is similar to what my parents told me at times. It is during our ancestors’ stay near Gurdaspur (in Pakistan’s Punjab) and Rawalpindi that they received the title Chaudhary by the British for being landlords. I started carrying it forward since last year.
But I enjoyed and educated myself a lot reading that book despite knowing the pain and setback of that horrible past our elders were forced to undergo. I believe he lived for Indian freedom but died regretting having created Pakistan!
Regards
Chaudhary Sandeep Datta