Sunday, September 9, 2012

Jinnah's religion - 8

Wolpert (Jinnah of Pakistan, chapter 2, covering the period 1896-1910 ) writes, without citations:

Though religion never played an important role in Jinnah's life - except for its political significance - he left the Aga Khan's  "Sevener" Khoja community at this stage of his maturation, opting instead to join the less hierarchically structured Isna 'Ashari sect of "Twelver" Khojas, who acknowledged no leaders.  One of Jinnah's most admired Bombay friends, Justice Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906), first Muslim high court judge and third president of the Indian National Congress, was an Isna Ashari.

Jaswant Singh (Jinnah - India - Partition - Independence) explains in endnote 2 in Chapter 2:

Khoja in a strict sense is the name of an Indian caste consisting mostly of Nizari Ismailis and some Sunnis and Twelver Shias split off the Ismaili community.   In a larger sense, the name commonly refers to the Indian Nizaris in general, including some minor communities like the Shamsis in the area of Multan and some Momnas in Northern Gujarat.  Most Nizari activity seems to be centered around Sindh.

The Khojas had been active in commerce between India and East Africa since the seventeenth century but could only settle in large numbers in East Africa after the eighteenth century.   The coming of the Aga Khan Hasan Ali Shah to India in 1840 led to an aggravation of earlier conflicts within the Khoja community about the rights of the Imam.   In 1866, a judgment in a law suit brought against the Aga Khan by ex-communicated members of the community ended up fully upholding the rights and authority of the Imam.  This resulted in the dissidents separating from the community; the Sunni Khojas.  The later dissidents, seceding in 1877 and 1901, formed Ithna Ashari Khoja communities in Bombay and East Africa.

How historians manufacture history

An incident in the careers of Jinnah and Gandhi serves to illustrate how historians manufacture their narratives.  I've written about it before (here) but now have a more complete contemporary source, and so am bringing it  up again.

On January 14, 1915, the Gujarati community in Bombay held a meeting to felicitate Gandhi and his wife, recently returned from South Africa.  Jinnah presided over the meeting.

The most complete contemporary account of the meeting that I have (from the newspaper Bombay Chronicle) is here.  Note that Jinnah ended his speech with the problem of Hindu-Muslim unity, and Gandhi began by saying that while in South Africa "Gujarati" was associated with Hindus only and not Parsis and Muslims, here he was glad a Muslim was a member, and presiding.

Click here for the Bombay Chronicle version (via Riaz Ahmed) 
(Note: Riaz Ahmed, in his introduction to Volume 2, cites the above as saying, "[Gandhi] thanked Jinnah for presiding over "a [sic] Hindu gathering".)

Click here for Wolpert's version.
(excerpt) Had he meant to be malicious rather than his usual ingenuous self, Gandhi could not have contrived a more cleverly patronizing barb, for he was not actually insulting Jinnah, after all, just informing every one of his minority religious identity.
Click here for Jaswant Singh's version.
(excerpt) At their very first meeting, at the Gurjar Sabha in January 1915, convened to felicitate Gandhi upon his return from South Africa, in response to a welcome speech, with Jinnah presiding, Gandhi had somewhat accommodatingly said he was ‘glad to find a Muslim not only belonging to his own region’s sabha but chairing it.’ Gandhi had singled out Jinnah as a Muslim, though, neither in appearance or in conduct was Jinnah anywhere near to being any of the stereotypes of the religious identity ascribed by Gandhi. Jinnah, on the other hand, was far more fulsome in his praise......This, too, was all right but then, needlessly, he thanked Jinnah for presiding over a Hindu gathering. This was an ungracious and discouraging response to Jinnah’s warm welcome and had a dampening effect.
The CWMG (electronic) with Gandhi's speech.

You be the judge, are either Wolpert or Jaswant Singh justified in what they wrote?

_____

PS:


Wolpert wrote in that same passage:

The Mahatma's ambulance corps had sailed for France without its founder after he had a slight nervous breakdown in London and decided to return home to India instead, thus prolonging his life by some three decades.

As per Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi, “Gandhi was ill with pleurisy in London”.  Gandhi, in a January 9, 1915 interview with the Bombay Chronicle, (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #269)

Unfortunately, however, I was suffering from pleurisy, and the Commanding Officers in charge of the various sections would not listen to my going to any of the hospitals. Meanwhile, Mrs. Gandhi had a relapse of an old malady, and the Under-Secretary of State for India, on hearing this, immediately wrote to me saying that, after all, my work, so far as the organisation of the corps was concerned, was finished, and that as both of us were ill. we should at once return to India. Hence it is that we are here before our time. 
Earlier, (CWMG (electronic) Volume 14, #241)) from London, Gandhi wrote to Maganlal Gandhi:
 I am still confined to bed and shall be so, it seems, for another ten days at least….
Gandhi’s letter to Herman Kallenbach,  January 22, 1915 (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #281) –
Pleurisy has become chronic. It is not very painful but it necessitates great care. …. Blood continues to come up while coughing…
Only by March 2, 1915, could Gandhi write to D.B. Shukla (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #316) –
My health is fairly good. There is still pain in my ribs but Dr.Dev said that there was no pleurisy now.
Gandhi also records the visits of Lady Cecilia Roberts, and also the Under Secretary of State, Charles Roberts, visiting him and advising him to return to India. (The Story of My Experiments with Truth, CWMG(electronic), Volume 44, page 358)

Whilst things were going on in this way, Mr. Roberts one day came to see me and urged me very strongly to go home. ‘You cannot possibly go to Netley in this condition. There is still severer cold ahead of us. I would strongly advise you to get back to India, for it is only there that you can be completely cured. If, after your recovery, you should find the War still going on, you will have many opportunities there of rendering help. As it is, I do not regard what you have already done as by any means a mean contribution.’
I accepted his advice and began to make preparations for returning to India.


I do not yet have any information about the fate of the volunteer nursing corp that Gandhi organized (Wolpert implies that it was decimated, and Gandhi would have perished if he shipped to continental Europe with it.)
----
Jaswant Singh writes:
To receive Gandhi, Jinnah had forsaken attending the Madras Congress meet of 1914.
He does not say where he got this from.  The Congress session in Madras was from December 28-30 of 1914,  and as per this online chronology of Jinnah, he was "elected member of All India Congress Committee at Indian National Congress session Madras" (in absentia?)



Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Stanley Wolpert

Stanley Wolpert, "Jinnah of Pakistan" (chapter 3):

"By January of 1915, Jinnah was home.  The Gujarat Society (Gurjar Sabha), which he led, gave a garden party to welcome Gandhi back to India.  The Mahatma's ambulance corps had sailed for France without its founder after he had a slight nervous breakdown in London and decided to return home to India instead, thus prolonging his life by some three decades.  Gandhi's response to Jinnah's urbane welcome was that he was "glad to find a Mahomedan not only belonging to his own region's Sabha, but chairing it."  Had he meant to be malicious rather than his usual ingenuous self, Gandhi could not have contrived a more cleverly patronizing barb, for he was not actually insulting Jinnah, after all, just informing every one of his minority religious identity.  What an odd fact to single out for comment about this multifaceted man, whose dress, behavior, speech and manner totally belied any resemblance to his religious affiliation!  Jinnah, in fact, hoped by his Anglophile appearance and secular wit and wisdom to convince the Hindu majority of his colleagues and countrymen that he was, indeed, as qualified to lead any of their public organizations as Gokhale, or Wedderburn, or Dadabhai.  Yet here, in the first public words Gandhi uttered about him, every one had to note that Jinnah was a "Mahomedan".

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Jaswant Singh

We find this in Jaswant Singh's book - Jinnah : India - Partition - Independence.  Jaswant Singh's reference is "M.K. Gandhi at the Gurjar Sabha reception, Bombay, 14 January 1915, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, XIII, No. 8., p.9, Publications Division, Ministry of Information, Delhi, 1964."

   The Telegraph of Calcutta has an excerpt of the book, from which I reproduce the following:


Although the families of both Jinnah and Gandhi had once lived just about 40 miles or so apart in Kathiawar (Gujarat), this adjacency of their places of origin did nothing to bring their politics close together. At their very first meeting, at the Gurjar Sabha in January 1915, convened to felicitate Gandhi upon his return from South Africa, in response to a welcome speech, with Jinnah presiding, Gandhi had somewhat accommodatingly said he was ‘glad to find a Muslim not only belonging to his own region’s sabha but chairing it.’ Gandhi had singled out Jinnah as a Muslim, though, neither in appearance or in conduct was Jinnah anywhere near to being any of the stereotypes of the religious identity ascribed by Gandhi. Jinnah, on the other hand, was far more fulsome in his praise.

Gandhi had reached India by boat in January 1915 when many leaders, including Jinnah and Gokhale, went to Bombay to give him an ovatious welcome. By this date Jinnah had already engaged as an all India leader and was committed to attaining his stated goals of unity, not just between the Muslims and the Hindus, Extremists and Moderates, but also among various classes of India. To receive Gandhi, Jinnah had forsaken attending the Madras Congress meet of 1914. Gandhi, upon reaching Bombay, had been warmly welcomed by Jinnah who wanted to enlist his services for the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity. It was because of his popularity and standing that Jinnah had been invited to preside over a garden party given by the Gurjar Sabha, an association of the Gurjar (Gujar) community, arranged to welcome Mr and Mrs Gandhi, on his arrival on 13 January 1915.
In his presidential address, Jinnah ‘welcomed... Mr and Mrs Gandhi, not only on behalf of Bombay but on behalf of the whole of India.’ He impressed upon Gandhi that the greatest problem was ‘to bring about unanimity and co-operation between the two communities so that the demands of India (from Imperial Britain) may be made absolutely unanimously.’ For this he desired ‘that frame of mind, that state, that condition which they had to bring about between the two communities, when most of their problems, he had no doubt, would easily be solved.’ Jinnah went to the extent of saying: ‘Undoubtedly he [Gandhi] would not only become a worthy ornament but also a real worker whose equals there were very few.’ This remark was greatly applauded by a largely Hindu audience, accounts of that meeting report. Gandhi, however, was cautious and somewhat circuitous in his response. He took the plea that he would study all the Indian questions from ‘his own point of view,’ a reasonable enough assertion; also because Gokhale had advised him to study the situation for at least a year before entering politics. This, too, was all right but then, needlessly, he thanked Jinnah for presiding over a Hindu gathering. This was an ungracious and discouraging response to Jinnah’s warm welcome and had a dampening effect.

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from CWMG

Stanley Wolpert & Jaswant Singh cite Volume XIII, page 9 of The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi; however in the electronic version, it is Volume 14, page 342.



276. SPEECH AT GURJAR SABHA RECEPTION, BOMBAY
{footnote: A brief report of this also appeared in Gujarati, 17-1-1915.}
January 14, 1915

A garden party in honour of Gandhiji and Shrimati Kasturba Gandhi was given by members of the Gurjar Sabha, Bombay, on the grounds of Mangaldas House, on January 14, 1915. Messrs M. A. Jinnah, Chairman of the Sabha, who presided on the occasion, and K. M. Munshi having spoken (in English) welcoming the guests, Gandhiji replied as follows:

Mr. Gandhi, who spoke in Gujarati, thanked Mr. Jinnah for presiding at this function and said that while he was in South Africa and anything was said about Gujaratis, it was understood to have a reference to the Hindu community only and Parsis and Mahomedans were not thought of. He was, therefore, glad to find a Mahomedan a member of the Gurjar Sabha and the chairman of that function.

With regard to their words of praise and welcome, he was at a loss to say anything. As he had said so often before, he and his wife had done nothing beyond their duty. He did not wish to repeat the same thing, but he desired to say that he considered all these good feelings and kind words as their blessings and he prayed to God. that those blessings might enable him and his wife faithfully to serve their country. They first intended to study all the Indian questions and then enter upon the service of the country. He had looked upon the Hon. Mr. Gokhale as his guide and leader and he had full confidence in him and he was sure that Mr. Gokhale would not put him on the wrong track. He had visited His Excellency the Governor {Lord Willingdon}   that morning and while thanking him for the honour, he also mentioned the same thing that he was absolutely confident that under the guiding spirit of the Hon. Mr. Gokhale he would be adopting the right course.

Continuing, Mr. Gandhi said that the chairman had referred to the South African question. He had a good deal to say on this subject and he would explain the whole situation in the very near future to the Bombay public and through them to the whole of India. The compromise was satisfactory and he trusted that what had remained to be gained would be gained. The South Africans had now learnt that they could not utterly disregard the Indians or disrespect their feelings.

With regard to the Hindu-Mahomedan question he had much to learn, but he would always keep before his eyes his twenty-one years’ experience in South Africa and he still remembered that one sentence uttered by Sir Syed Ahmed, namely, that the Hindus and Mahomedans were the two eyes of Mother India and if one looked at one end and the other at the other, neither would be able to see anything and that if one was gone, the other would see to that extent only. Both the communities had to bear this in mind in the future.

In conclusion, he thanked them for the great honour done to him and his wife.

The Bombay Chronicle,  15-1-1915

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Riaz Ahmed


 Note: Riaz Ahmed sets the date of the event as January 13.   Jaswant Singh also sets it to January 13.

The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi gives the date as January 14.  The chronology given there is as follows:
January 9: Gandhiji and Kasturba landed at Apollo Bunder, Bombay.
In interview to The Bombay Chronicle and The Times of India, Gandhiji said he would follow Gokhale’s advice and pass some time in India observing and studying.
January 11: Reception at Ghatkopar, Bombay.
January 12: Public reception at Mount Petit, Bombay, Sir
Pherozeshah Mehta presiding.
January 13: Welcome by Bombay National Union at Hirabag. B. G. Tilak and Joseph Baptista attended.
January 14: Gandhiji entertained by Bombay branch of Servants of India Society.
Met Governor of Bombay.
Garden party by Gurjar Sabha, Bombay, M. A. Jinnah presided.
The online Chronology of Gandhi in Bombay also gives the date as January 14. (reproduced at the end of this document).



From
The Works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Volume II (1913-1916)
Editor: Dr. Riaz Ahmad


MR. AND MRS. GANDHI ENTERTAINED BY GURJAR SABHA – JINNAH ON SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEMS
13 January 1915 (Bombay Chronicle, 15 January 1915)

Mr. M.K. Gandhi and Mrs. Gandhi were entertained at a garden party, yesterday evening (13-1-1915), in the specious [sic] gardens of Mangaldass House by the members of the Gujar Sabha.  There was a very large and representative gathering and those present included the Hon. Mr. P.D. Pattni.

Mr. K.M. Munshi, in opening the proceedings, said the movement was first started by a single body as a public expression of the feelings of reverence to the admiration for the greatest son of modern Gujarat, but it was gratifying to see that it was whole-heartedly supported by the whole of the Gujerati-speaking community.

Mr. M. A. Jinnah who presided, welcoming the guests of the evening on behalf of the Sabha, said that he considered a great privilege and certainly a very great honour that he should have the opportunity of welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi back to their motherland after the most strenuous and hard labour in South Africa in the cause of the Indians residing there as well as in the cause of India generally.  Mr. Gandhi came back to India after a quarter of a century.  From the very start he had devoted himself to the cause of the Indian community in South Africa and the question of immigration in South Africa.   This question was long one and had a long history but recently, as they were all aware, it had assumed a shape and issue which threatened to destroy the very existence of Indians in South Africa and it was then that Mr. Gandhi led the South African Indian community so to say in a constitutional war and they all knew what trials, what troubles, what sufferings and what sacrifices he had to go through and they all knew that eventually that immediate issue, which threatened the very existence of the Indian community in South Africa, was brought about in a compromise, which seemed to all parties satisfactory, but if he might say so as one who had taken some interest in the question – and he believed he was voicing the feelings of every Indian on that point – the question as settled did not end the other issues of a graver and more important character and those would have to be settled as soon as possible (hear, hear).

Continuing, Mr. Jinnah said that he was sure that they were all very glad to see Mr. Gandhi back among them, but while he (the speaker) was thinking about it and reading in the press as to the future programme of Mr. Gandhi, namely, to devote himself to the cause of the country, it struck him that what a pity it was that there was nobody in South Africa who could take his place, and fight their battle, a bigger battle than the one fought and successfully fought, and therefore it seemed to him that what was their gain was a terrible loss of South Africa so far as the Indians there were concerned.   Of course, Mr. Gandhi know of his movements best and he knew how he should work them.   Personally, he (the speaker) felt that it did not matter where Mr. Gandhi was.  Undoubtedly here he would not only become a worthy ornament, but also a very real worker whose equals there were very few (applause).

He felt sure that he was uttering the sentiments of everyone when he said that Mr. Gandhi deserved the welcome not only of the Gurjar Sabha, not only of Gujerat but of the whole of India.   But while he was praising Mr. Gandhi he did not forget Mrs. Gandhi, who had set an example not only to the womankind of India, but he might say to the womankind of the whole world.   For a woman to stand by her husband, share his trials and sufferings and sacrifices and even to go to jail was model of  womanhood of which any country could well be proud of (applause).

He did not think he was exaggerating when he said that such a son of India and such a daughter of India had not only raised the reputation of India but had vindicated the honour of the great and ancient land.  They had drawn the attention of the whole world and the whole world admired the trials and troubles and sacrifices Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi underwent for the cause of their country and their countrymen (applause).

HINDU –MAHOMEDAN PROBLEM

Continuing Mr. Jinnah said that he had only one word to add.  After the great war that is going on and which has to decide the issue between might and right – and he had no doubt that right will succeed (hear, hear) – questions affecting India will have to be considered and solved and the one word that he might say to Mr. Gandhi was that throughout the whole country, the two sister communities of India – Hindus and Mahomedans – showed themselves unanimous, absolutely one, on the South African question, and he thought that that was the first question and the first occasion on which the two sister communities stood together in absolute union and it had its moral and political effect of the settlement of the question.

That it had its gain was being displaying with by the attitude of India towards the war and the whole of India had stood by the Empire, as one of its members.  It was in that frame of mind, that state, that condition which they had to bring about between the two communities, when most of their problems, he had no doubt, would be easily be solved.

That, he said to Mr, Gandhi, was one problem of all the problems of India – namely, how to bring about unanimity and co-operation between the two communities so that the demands of India may be made absolutely unanimously.  He again welcomed them in the name of the Gurjar Sabha, who took the greatest pride in receiving them that evening. (Applause)

Both the guests were then garlanded.

Mr. Gandhi, who spoke in Gujerati, thanked Mr. Jinnah for presiding at this function and said that while he was in South Africa and anything was said about Gujeratis, it was understood to have a reference to the Hindu community only and Parsis and Mahomedans were not thought of.   He was, therefore, glad to find a Mahomedan a member of the Gurjar Sabha and the chairman of that function.

With regard to their words of praise and welcome, he was at a loss to say anything. As he had said so often before, he and his wife had done nothing beyond their duty.  He did not wish to repeat the same thing but he desired to say that he considered all these good feelings and kind words as their blessings and he prayed to God that those blessings might enable him and his wife in faithfully serving their country.

They first intended to study all the Indian questions and then enter upon the service of the country.  He had looked upon the Hon. Mr. Gokhale as his guide and leader and he had full confidence in him and he was sure that Mr. Gokhale would not put him on the wrong track.   He had visited his Excellency the Governor that morning and while thanking him for the honour he also mentioned the same thing that he was absolutely confident that under the guiding spirit of the Hon. Mr. Gokhale he would be adopting the right course.

Continuing, Mr. Gandhi said that the chairman had referred to the South African question.   He had a good deal to say on the subject and he would explain the whole situation in the very near future to the Bombay public and through them the whole of India.  The compromise was satisfactory and he trusted that what had remained to be gained would be gained.   The South Africans had now learnt that they could not utterly disregard the Indians or disrespect their feelings.

With regard to the Hindu-Mahomedan question he had much to learn, but he would always keep before his eyes his twenty-one years of experience in South Africa and he still remembered that one sentence uttered by Sir Syed Ahmed, namely, that the Hindus and Mahomedans were the two eyes of mother India, and if one looked at one end and the other at the other, neither would be able to see anything, and that if one was gone, the other would see to that extent only.   Both the communities had to bear this in mind in the future.

In conclusion, he [Gandhi] thanked them for the great honour done to him and his wife.

Refreshments were then served and the gathering dispersed after about an hour.

___


1915

January 9 - 15
           
9th Jan          

Gandhi arrived at 7.30 am by SS Arabia from South Africa via London.
Reception at several places.
Put up at Revashanker Jhaveri's (Santacruz).
Interviewed by Times of India.
Met G. K. Gokhale & V. S. Sastri at Narottam Morarji's house. details.....
           
10th Jan
           
Met relatives in Bazaar Gate street, it was here that Swami Anand first met Gandhi.
Reception by Mulji Ashram (theatre) 'Buddha Deva' was being staged by his troupe.
Addressed by National Union (Hira Baug) which was presided by B. G. Tilak.

11th Jan
           
Meeting at Ghatkopar. Received Golden manacles as a gift.

12th Jan
           
Met Dadabhai Navroji and Dr. Dadi Burjorji. (Dr. Burjorji had attended Gandhi in Durban, South Africa wshen he was attacked by whites.)

Attended party full of pomp and grandeur, hosted by the Petits. details.....

 13th Jan       

Reception given by National Union (Madhav Baug). Tilak was also present.
           

14th Jan
           
Saw Lord Willingdon, the Governor.

Reception given by Gurjar Sabha (Gujarat Association). M. A. Jinnah, in his welcome speech praised Gandhi & Ba of their services in South Africa. details.....

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Jinnah's religion - 7

http://www.awamiweb.com/quaid-e-azam-was-ismaili-converted-to-bohrism-later-altaf-hussain-52432.html

Quaid e Azam Was Ismaili, Converted To Bohrism Later: Altaf Hussain

Posted by Hassam Ahmed on Aug 23rd, 2012

London: The Chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain said that the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah belonged to Ismaili faction initially which he left later and converted into Bohra Shia Ithna-Ashari group. During a meeting with scholars at MQM International Secretariat London, Altaf Hussain urged the historians to note that it is already been proved from the historical facts that the founder of the country first practiced Ismaili faith but in 1898 Quaid-e-Azam submitted an Affidavit in Mumbai’s magistrate court where he stated the Sect of his family was Ismaili from the beginning but now he and his sister Fatimah are converting into Ithna-Ashari sect of faith.

Altaf Hussain also referred a book ‘Quaid as I knew Him’ of QA’s close friend Abul Hasan Ispahani for further details and study of this case. MQM Chief said it is a historical fact that Quaid-e-Azam was the member of Khoja group and give dontations for it regularly. When Jinnah died in 1948 his body was bathed by Haji Kalu who himself was Khoja Shia Ithna-Ashari, he said.
Hussain further claimed that two funeral prayers were offered for Jinnah, first by Shia religious scholar Molana Anees ul Hasnain and other by Allama Shabbir Ahmed Usmani.

Note: The Works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Vol I (1893-1912) compiled by Dr. Riaz Ahmed includes all kinds of material from Jinnah's court activities, but does not include the 1898 affidavit.

Jinnah's religion - 6

This May 9, 1998 report at rediff.com is at variance with the Khaled Ahmed piece quoted before.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Jinnah's religion - 5

The quoted piece by Khaled Ahmed, from The Friday Times, Dec. 24, 2010, says that Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada testified to court that Jinnah broke from the sect he was born into in 1901 and converted to Twelver Shiism.   I.H. Ispahani said that "Jinnah had himself told him in 1936 that he and his family had converted to Shiism after his return from England in 1894".

Jinnah's narration of the beliefs of his original sect (Jinnah's religion - 4) must be read in that context.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Jinnah's bitterness : Kanji Dwarkadas

In "Ten Years to Freedom" (p 34-35),  Kanji Dwarkadas narrates this story, from 1938 or 1939:

"In order to find out exactly what was passing in Jinnah's mind I went to meet him and asked him what he thought of the political situation.

His answer was amazing.   He said, "What do you mean?  How can you ask me such a question? Do you mean to say that when the British Prime Minister is sitting in his room a French man or a German or a Russian could just walk in and ask him, "What do you think of the political situation?", and do you mean to say the British Prime Minister would reply to that question?"

I told Jinnah that I had not come as a leader or representative of the Hindus or even as a Hindu.  I was just talking to him informally as an old friend and saw no harm in both of us thinking aloud.

To this Jinnah said that he refused to discuss the political situation with any Hindu.

I suggested his talking to Sir Purushottamdas.  He said he would not, because Sir Purushottamdas had no influence on the Hindu opinion.  He said that neither Jawaharlal nor Subhas Bose had any influence but that Gandhiji and Vallabhbhai had a negative influence in the sense that they could do harm and could not and would not do any good.

Evidently all was not well with Jinnah and I told him that bitterness would not help anybody or any cause.  The Congress had rubbed him the wrong way and he would never forgive them for this.   I felt very sorry for Jinnah.  He was a sick and unhappy man, completely isolated and friendless.

---

Monday, August 13, 2012

Jinnah's religion - 4

In "India's Freedom Movement: Some Notable Figures" (1972), B. Shiva Rao writes of a meeting with Jinnah, that is worth noting.

To set the context:

(p. 56, M.K. Gandhi):  "He was a critic of the home rule movement when it was first inaugurated.  Nevertheless in the following year (1917) when Mrs. Besant was interned for her home rule activities, he seriously suggested a mass march to her place of detention at to her place of detention at Ootacamund to enforce her liberation.   Dr. Subramania Aiyar, to whom the suggestion was first made, was, with his long training as a judge, startled by the novel suggestion; and Lokamanya Tilak and Mr Jinnah, whose advice was sought, regarded it with such sharp disapproval that it was quietly abandoned.
(p. 81, Dr. S. Subramania Aiyar): "Gandhiji called on Subramania Aiyar shortly after Mrs. Besant's internment and made a proposal which struck him as startlingly novel.  He would walk to Ootacamund, he told the retired judge, with a crowd of volunteers which would swell en route to enormous proportions and quietly ask her to break the internment order.  Subramania Aiyar suggested to some of us who met him almost daily that consultations with Lokamanya Tilak and Jinnah, the latter at that time the president of the Home Rule League in Bombay, would be desirable, since his own reactions were not in favour of Gandhiji's proposal.  
Two of us went to Bombay to discuss the proposal with Jinnah and for the first time I had a glimpse of Lokamanya Tilak at close quarters.   There were present in Jinnah's house (apart from Tilak) Horniman, Syud Hosain, Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Kanji Dwarkadas, Omer Sobhani and Shankarlal Banker.  Tilak considered Gandhiji's suggestion impracticable, and Jinnah agreed with the general view of the others present that a mass movement of the kind Gandhiji had in mind could not possibly succeed.
 Note: Mrs. Annie Besant was interned June 15 - September 16, 1917. This sets the bounds on the time period.

Now the substance:
(p. 125, M. A. Jinnah) With Jinnah in his first phase I had intimate contacts going back to 1917, when I went to see him for the first time in his Bombay home to seek his advice: he was then the President of the Home Rule League in Bombay.  Mrs. Besant was in internment at Ootacamund for her home rule activities and Gandhiji was contemplating a march of volunteers from Madras—a distance of 350 miles—to enforce her release.

Jinnah called a few friend to his house for a discussion: Tilak, Horniman, Syed Hussain, Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Omar Sobhani and Shankerlal Banker (apart from myself).  Tilak was a little late in coming, and Jinnah utilised the time to explain to Horniman that the sect among the Muslims to which he belonged believed in the ten Avataaras and had much in common with Hindus in their inheritance laws and social customs.   The main point of discussion—Gandhiji's proposal—took little time.  Tilak promptly rejected it as impracticable and Jinnah and Horniman agreed with that view.
Jinnah, originally a Khoja, is supposed to have converted to Twelver Shi'ism at some point in his life.

As far as I know, there is no study of Jinnah's changing religious beliefs and its possible influence on his political views.   It is buried both by lack of documents and also the dogma that Jinnah was a secularist.  It is hard to reconcile a belief in the ten Avataaras and his utterances on the two nation theory.


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Jinnah's secular past?

From bharat-rakshak forum,  sadhana writes:

Re change in Jinnah after 1920

One cause of change in Jinnah was probably British government's allocation of Central Legislative Assembly seats in the 1919 Montford reforms for India.

In 1909 Muslims were allotted 5 of 27 elected seats, according to Ambedkar's book. (Wolpert says 8 of 28 nonofficial seats).

In 1919 Muslims were alloted 52 of 104 elected seats, ie 50%.

So Muslim politicians went from being a minority of the elected Indians in the Central Assembly to equal in number to the other Indians elected.

From Ambedkar's Pakistan or the Partition of India:

Central Assembly seats

1909
Nominated + ex officio = 41
Elected General = 22
Elected Muslims = 5 (Wolpert quotes this number as being 8 of 28 non-official)
Total = 68


1919
Elected General = 52
Elected Muslims = 52
Nominated members = 41
Total 145


Percentage of Muslims to total population was approx 24%
The proportion of seats to total granted to elected Muslims in 1919 was 36% with elected non-Muslims also at 36%.

In short, between 1909 to 1919, Muslims moved to centre-stage as bulwarks of the official/nominated bloc in the Central  Assembly. A Muslim politician would get the signal that would be more worthwhile to advocate to the British than to other nationalists.

Incidentally, in the 1935 Government of India Act, the proportions granted in the Central Assembly were not very different:

General+SC 105 (SC=19, General=86)
Muslim 82
Others 63 (Sikhs 6, Christians 8, AngloIndian 4, Europeans 8, Landlords 7,labour 10, industry 11,women 9)
Total 250

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/prit ... /411a.html
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/prit ... /411b.html
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/prit ... 15app.html

Those provincial assemblies elected in 1937 which had elected Hindu majorities, Jinnah and Muslim League rejected within 3 months.

IOW, unless I am mistaken, Jinnah the great nationalist never in his lifetime had to accept the legitimacy of an elected Hindu majority government(ie government responsible to an elected Hindu majority legislature) whether in the provinces or at the centre. 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Unani medicine

Ahmed Husain from Madras, wrote to Jinnah on August 28, 1944 about his work "Principles of Unani Medicine".

Knowing as you do how Hakim Ajmal Khan Sahib in the prime of his effort of reviving unani medicine lost himself by turning a nationalist in good faith of the Gandhian type and shunned the progress of unani.

Ayurveda finds a place in the national life of Hindus whereas unani failed to progress due to neglect of Musalmans.

This is to request you to find time to go through this small book and if you are sufficiently convinced that unani, as science and art of healing, can still serve the people, you may include revival and encouragement of unani in the reconstruction programme of the League.
(from Jinnah papers, Volume XI).

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Jinnah's religion-3

There is a relatively contemporary twist to Jinnah's heirs defining his religion.  The news-item, from the Indian Express, October 13-14, 2008, is reproduced below.

In the dispute over the palatial Jinnah House in south Mumbai, Dina Wadia, the only daughter of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has stated before the Bombay High Court that her father is not governed by Islamic succession laws, but by Hindu customary law instead.

The building in question, blessed not only with history but also location — facing the sea from the posh Malabar Hill — is currently valued at Rs 300 crore.

In 1947, when Jinnah left India for Pakistan, the Government had taken it over as “evacuee property”. However, Dina had remained behind in Mumbai, having been disowned by Jinnah. Now 88 years old, she lives in the United States. After a series of legal moves, Dina Wadia filed a writ petition before the Mumbai High Court in 2007, claiming that Jinnah House could not be classified as “evacuee property”, as her father had died without leaving behind a will. So, she went on to claim, all his properties, including Jinnah House, devolved to his successors.

The trouble was that under Muslim succession law, Jinnah’s property would devolve to a long list of family claimants, only one of which was his daughter. This meant that even if Jinnah House was not “evacuee property”, Dina Wadia would have to share Jinnah House with other relatives of her father.

To overcome this, her lawyer Fali Nariman has stated in court that Jinnah, as a Khoja-Shia, was not governed by Muslim succession law, but by Hindu customary law — in which intestate succession is to the daughter alone. To establish this, Nariman has relied on a long line of cases where the Indian Supreme Court has held that Khoja-Shias are governed by Hindu customary law. Khoja-Shias, like many Muslim communities in India, have traditions that are a mix of Islamic and Hindu rituals.

However, given the complicated legal issues involved in the case, what has taken a backseat is this most interesting aspect of the case: the claim by Jinnah’s only daughter that the man who forged Pakistan claiming to be the representative of India’s Muslims be governed by Hindu, not Islamic, laws.

Jinnah's religion-2

#30 of the Jinnah Papers, Volume XI, edited by Z.R. Zaidi, has a letter from a Habib R. Parpia to Jinnah, dated August 10, 1944.   There is no reply from Jinnah in the Jinnah Papers.

 Parpia's letter is an appeal to preserve the unity of India.  Parpia introduces himself as having known Jinnah at the Bombay Bar.   He starts by pointing out some inconsistencies in Jinnah's actions.  His second major point is as follows, and may have some relevance to understanding Jinnah's religious beliefs.  I will reproduce the entire letter some day.

"Another inconsistency of yours, I wish respectfully to draw your attention to, is that when the British in Palestine wish to divide that country between the Arabs and the Jews, you and your League object vehemently.   But you have no scruples to demand the division of India.   Whether Jewish emigration is subsidised or not, the fact remains that there are two nations in Palestine.   On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of the Muslims of India are converts from Hindus and still retain many Hindu customs and ideas.   You and I, with our respective surnames staring us in the face, cannot claim to be very much distinct from the Hindus."
 "I do not know if you remember the occasion about the year 1927 or 1928, when on behalf of a Khoja Jama'at, I, as their solicitor, approached you to introduce a bill in the Central Legislature providing for the application of Muslim law of intestate succession to the Khojas, when you had rightly said you would not do so, as in your opinion, the custom that governed the Khojas was best for them.  Apparently we were not, in your opinion, a separate nation then, and if we were not then a separate nation, we could not become one after a lapse of barely 17 years."

Gandhi on religion and politics

From the Transfer of Power papers, Volume VI, #272

Richard Gardiner Casey, an Australian,  was the Governor of Bengal at the time of this entry.  A number of entries in the Transfer of Power of papers are about Casey-Gandhi talks.

272
Entry in Mr Casey's Diary (Extract)

6 December 1945

The papers today had a paragraph—"Mr Gandhi did not see Mr Casey yesterday".

Some small matters that came out of my talks with M.K.G.

He reminds one a little of a meek edition of W.M.Hughes. {7th Prime Minister of Australia?}

He told me that he claimed to be better acquainted with Christianity than most Christians, better acquainted with Zoroastrianism than most Parsees, and with Islam than most Muslims.

He said that he endeavoured to introduce elements of all the principal religions into his public evening prayers—he had passages in Arabic (drawn from the Koran), passages from Zoroastra in (I think he said) Persian—and "Lead Kindly Light'.

He told me that Jinnah had told him that he (Gandhi) had ruined politics in India, by dragging up a lot of unwholesome elements in Indian life and giving them political prominence—that it was a crime to mix up politics and religion in the way he had done.

He said that the habit in India of wanting to touch his feet ("a very nice habit in itself") was most embarrassing when done by great crowds.

He is very keen about the "Nature Cure", which he is undergoing.

He said that he greatly appreciated my informality and the fact that I had accepted no title.

He says that he is not a learned man and that he has no great gifts.

He clearly has a certain rather feminine streak in him.

He is not very businesslike.

Each night that he came to see me, his departure was remarkable in that probably 150 of our servants (Muslim and Hindu) lined the passage and the entrance to the house, to see him—all salaaming profoundly.

Jinnah's religion-1

Aamir Mughal has some interesting posts about Jinnah's religion on his blog (follow the link and scroll down).  I'm reproducing some of the text below the fold, because of the uncomfortable habit blogs have of disappearing.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Sita Ram Goel on Gandhi

Via Srinivas Sudhindra:

Sita Ram Goel gives a balanced opinion on Gandhi in "Perversion of India's Political Parlance ".

"The anti-Gandhi nationalists have never tried honestly to face the fact that it was he and not they who had stirred the minds and hearts of Hindu masses. It was he and not they who had mobilized Hindu society to make sacrifices in the service of the motherland. Nor have the denunciations of anti-Gandhi nationalists succeeded in doing the slightest damage to his stature. In fact, his stature has risen higher with the passing of time. He continues to be cherished by Hindu masses as one of the greatest in their history. Reverence for him in the world at large has also continued to grow. He is now regarded as a profound thinker on problems created by an industrial civilisation and a hedonistic culture. Hinduism has gained abroad because Gandhi is known as a great Hindu.

On the other hand it must be admitted that the failure which the Mahatma met vis-a-vis the Muslims was truly of startling proportions. Hindu-Muslim unity was a goal which he had pursued with great dedication throughout his life.
...

Secondly, there must be something very hard in the heart of Islam so that even a man of an oceanic goodwill like Mahatma Gandhi failed to move it. He succeeded with the British by making them feel morally in the wrong. He succeeded with such sections of Hindu society as had nourished some grievances of their own and had tried to turn away from the freedom movement. It was only the Muslims with whom he failed miserably.
...

There is no doubt that Mahatma Gandhi's failure vis-a-vis Muslims was great and has had grievous consequences. But the failure can be attributed to him only in so for as he was at the helm of affairs during that particular period of Indian history. It is highly doubtful if Hindu society would have been able to prevent partition even if there had been no Mahatma Gandhi. On the other hand there is ample evidence that Hindu society would have failed in any case.
...
His mistake about Islam does not diminish the lustre of that language which he spoke with full faith and confidence. On the contrary, his mistake carries a message of its own."

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Kuldip Nayar on Jinnah

One day when Jinnah was in Lahore, Iftikhar-ud-din, Pakistan’s rehabilitation minister, and Mazhar Ali Khan, editor of Pakistan Times, flew him in a Dakota over divided Punjab. When he saw streams of people pouring into Pakistan or fleeing it, he struck his hand on the forehead and said despairingly: “What have I done?” Both Iftikhar and Mazhar vowed not to repeat the remark. Mazhar took his wife Tahira into confidence and told her what Jinnah had said, and she communicated Jinnah’s comment to me long after her husband’s death.
  via Outlook India.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

An argument of Hamza Alavi re-examined

Hamza Alavi is attributed with the following argument by Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed:

In the Prof. Karrar Husain Memorial Lecture entitled ‘Social Forces and Ideology in the Making of Pakistan’ delivered in Karachi on 2 November 2002 the veteran Pakistani sociologist and political historian Hamza Alavi has argued that Pakistan was not meant to be a fundamentalist Islamic state. He shows through a review of important stages in the evolution of the Muslim League that the main leadership, particularly Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was opposed to Islamic ideology. Thus, for example, when at the All-India Muslim League’s Session in Delhi in 1943 one Abdul Hameed Kazi tried to canvass support for a resolution that would commit the Muslim League to Islamic ideology and the creation of an Islamic state he was immediately pressured to withdraw the resolution. Alavi’s concluding remarks are the following: Whatever may be said about limitations of the ideology of the Western educated Muslim Professionals and the salariat (and of the feudals in the final round) who mobilised support for the creation of Pakistan, religious ideology was never a part of it ... Fundamentalist Islamic ideology has played no part in the origins of Pakistan.
 Jinnah said the following in camera at that very session of the All-India Muslim League in Delhi, April 1943:
Meanwhile discourage anything that will create dissensions in the Muslim Camp.   For instance, discussion or determination of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan, or production of a cut and dried scheme for Pakistan must create controversies and differences of opinion and should, therefore, be avoided for the present.
It is therefore a reasonable question to ask whether the withdrawal of Abdul Hameed Kazi's resolution had less to do with Jinnah's supposed opposition to Islamic ideology, and more to do with his commandment to discourage anything that would create dissensions in the Muslim Camp.  After all, even the "discussion or determination of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan" was to be discouraged.

Jinnah's in camera speech to the Muslim League Working Committee, April 1943


From:
The Transfer of Power 1942-47, Volume III, 21 September 1942-12 June 1943, editors Mansergh, Lumby.

Emphasis added.

Item #669, Pages 918-922
Note on the proceedings of the session of the All-India Muslim League at Delhi,
24 to 26 April 1943
{Enclosed in the letter of 11 May 1943 from the Deputy Private Secretary to the Viceroy to the Private Secretary to the Secretary of State.}

STRICTLY SECRET

1.     Taken against previous reports, the proceedings of the All-India Muslim League Session have caused no surprise.   Jinnah’s speeches both in the meetings of the Working Committee and the Subjects Committee (held in camera) and in the Open Session have confirmed impressions that of late his mind has been passing through a certain process of change.  He has become more aggressive, more challenging and more authoritative.  The reason appears to be “consciousness of power lately acquired and of certain old injuries which can now be avenged therewith”.

It cannot be denied that he is today more powerful than he ever has been.  Sir Sikander’s death and the consequential disappearance of the fear of a strong rival Muslim organization being created, the formation of League Ministries in various Provinces,  the spinelessness of the new Punjab Premier which circumstance has for the first time exposed that vital part of the Pakistan organism to his direct encroachments,  the recent successes in bye-elections and the deterioration of the Congress power constitute a set of circumstances which have lent an unusual lustre to Jinnah’s leadership and augmented his strength and striking power to a degree never before attained.

On the other hand four years of close study of the British attitude towards the Muslims appear to have forced on him the final conclusion that the British are not prepared to give to the Muslims anything material beyond the few barren references to the “greatness” of the Muslim community with which British Statesmen have lately been embellishing their speeches in [on?] India.  “If”, he argues, “the Congress has gone astray, why are the British not inviting us to form a government at the Centre?   If the Congress did not accept the Cripps proposals,  what then has prevented the British from conceding the Muslim right to self-determination immediately and independently of the Congress?”

Jinnah was quiet so long as he lacked the power to assert himself and have this unpromising situation altered.  But now he has developed the necessary power and sanctions.

2.     These considerations have been uppermost in Jinnah’s mind while he has been addressing the various Committees and the Open Session.  He has clearly indicated that he is determined no longer to take things lying down.  As a matter of fact, he has tried to go through all the preliminaries with which the new storm of his making must be prefaced.   He has finally warned the British;  he has expressed his profound dissatisfaction with their attitude; he has urged Provincial Leagues now to place themselves on a war footing in preparation for what is to come; he has castigated the Capitalists and pampered the masses (on whose sympathy and goodwill he has to base his future struggle) by his references to “social justice” and “economic reorganization”;  he has tried to impress upon the Provincial Premiers the fact that their own future lies only in following his lead and above all he has, in order to show his bona fides to the neutral world, extended an open and almost final invitation to the Congress to approach him for a settlement if it so desires.  Inevitably the next stage will be “preparation for the inevitable struggle” and after that the “struggle” itself.

3.     In amplification of this point, Jinnah spoke to the Working Committee, where he was able to expose his mind more freely, something as follows :—

“About the future, there are two sets of suggestion[s];
(1) to take direct action here and now to force Britain to accept the Muslim demands, and
(2) to wait and watch.

The extremists would wish the League forthwith to declare war on Britain, and one of them, Mr. G.M. Syed even recommends that as a token of Muslim resentment, members of the Working Committee should in the first instance court imprisonment and at the same time Muslim Leaguers should be called upon to withdraw from the War Committees.

Then there are the Moderates who maintain that the League should rest satisfied over the formation of Ministries in Bengal, Sind, Assam and the Punjab.  No one, however, takes a balanced and realistic view of the situation.

The situation is this: the Congress is determined to defy the Muslims.  But it has now paid the penalty.  It has been crushed and it has ceased to claim that it also represents the Musalmans.  It may not act as we would wish, but at the same time it is not longer capable of substantially harming us.   The wounds it has received will take some time to heal and so we are for the time being free from its terror.  Besides it is not under the present circumstances in a position to give us anything.  We want Pakistan and that commodity is available not in the Congress market but in the British market.  In other words, the Congress danger has ceased to exist for the time being.  Let us, therefore, not bother too much about it but maintain a watchful attitude.

Then comes our second enemy, the Britisher.  How do we stand in relation to him?   Well, he is as useless for our purpose as the Congress and he is as callous and defiant as any enemy can be.  His anxiety throughout has been to court the Congress, and he feels that his Imperialist interests demand that he should permanently keep the Mussalmans down. He is gravely suspicious of the Mussalmans.  In the rise of the Muslim power, he sees the end of his own supremacy in the East.   Therefore, beyond soft words, the Muslims can expect nothing from him.

Nor can the Muslims associate any high hopes with the so-called Post-war New World Order.   The end of this war is going to leave the Britisher so powerful that he will be able to defy the world opinion wherever it conflicts with his own Imperialistic designs.   At the end of the war the Britisher will be more powerful than any of his Allies.  And if he is really powerful and if he has successfully emerged at the expense of his Allies, why should he listen to the counsels of his weak allies or even to the world?  He has not been fighting this war to enable visionaries to advise him as to how he should liquidate his own power.  Therefore, neither now nor henceforth is there any possibility of the British willingly conferring upon us the boon of Pakistan.

On the contrary, in the post-war period, there is every likelihood of a British-Muslim conflict on a grand scale.  There are various issues which may give rise to such a conflict, e.g., Palestine or Syria, or the withdrawal of the British from Iran, Egypt and Baghdad.  Collectively these issues form but part of the general world problem and when it comes to the point, the Muslims of various countries will have to sink or swim together.  It is impossible for British Imperialism to yield to Muslim opinion in all these fields.  On one issue or the other, there is bound to be an open clash.

We must prepare ourselves to play our part in that major clash.  Naturally, we shall require elaborate arrangements.   None of the small mercies show to us recently by the Provincial Governors in Sind or Bengal can lull us into a false sense of security.  These favours have not been granted because the British love us.  It is in order to expose us before the masses to whom we have been making extravagant promises that we have been saddled with this responsibility.  

The same trick was played with the Congress when they were given a long rope in the shape of Ministries to hang themselves.   Had this not been done, there would have been no Hindu-Muslim bitterness such as now exists.  If Congress had not accepted office, it would not have lost its former hold over the agrarian and labour populations, or its former popularity with certain sections of Muslims.  The British have brought League Ministries into existence so that our promises to our people are put to the test, so that we feel and thereby stand self-condemned and so that there should arise local and internal complications within the League.  I am genuinely afraid that the British will not allow the League to do anything substantial for the Muslim masses in order that the Muslim League shall stand discredited in the eyes of its own people. Therefore, let us not lay down our tools merely because seventeen or twenty of our men have been provided with seats in Provincial Cabinets. 

What are we to do?  Are we to acquiesce or fight?   As far as I am concerned, that we should fight is a foregone conclusion.  All that remains if how and when.    We cannot fight unless everything is placed on a perfect war footing. By giving us Ministries, the enemy feels that he has sealed our doom.  But let us seal his doom with the same instruments.   Let us use this opportunity to consolidate our position in the Provinces.   Let the Ministries function in such a manner that instead of discrediting themselves, they popularize the League among the masses from whom we are mainly to draw when we are on the war path.  Collect funds.  Consolidate the National Guards. Consider from what side we are going to launch our attack.  Let us exploit these Ministries so that when we attack, the very fact that we are giving up our seats in the Government in order to launch such an attack will add to our prestige.

When should we attack?  I think I should be ready with my plans by about next December. [Note in original: The agent explains that the month of December is specifically stated because in the acceleration of League activity, December has been chosen as the month for the annual session which is usually held during Easter.  By December also Jinnah will have judged more definitely how the war situation stands and the annual session will provide an opportunity for his plans to be reviewed.   A special session will probably we convened in the Punjab in April for further consideration.]

Meanwhile, our Provincial Ministries and Leagues will have completed the work of organization in the Provinces and prepared themselves for the fight.  Also we will have seen how the war goes during the summer.  In December we meet in Sind.  In April we meet in the Punjab.  There we decide when to strike, where to strike and how to strike.

Personally I think that unless unforeseen circumstances force us to act otherwise, we should begin our offensive immediately on the termination of the war.  Then everybody will be in a state of exhaustion and unwilling to face a new ordeal.  It is true that the Britisher will by then be strong than anyone else.  But that strength of his will be confined only to this that he shall stand no dictation from his Allies who would be comparatively weaker than him. But for that reason alone he dare not court fresh trouble on a large scale.

All we have to do to wrest our ideal from his unwilling hands will be to create trouble on a large scale, and thus compel him to surrender.  How did Afghanistan win her independence?   She declared war when the World War had just ended.  England was exhausted and her pleasure-loving people would allow no new wars to be fought.  We should, if necessary and if matters can be delayed till then, copy Afghanistan.

That, however, does not mean that we should stay our hands, if provocation comes earlier.   We have already killed the Congress.  Now it is the turn of the British.  The war in my opinion may last another three years and we shold use that period to put our house in order.

“In this connection, here are the few points which should be borne in mind –

(1) Now that we are in the Ministries, we should try to retain them as long as possible so that we are able to use them as an instrument for consolidating our position in the Provinces for the purposes of the impending fight.

(2) We should, if possible, avoid conflict with the British until the arrival of the psychological moment and until our preparations are completed.

(3) In order to popularize the League with the masses, we should pass some good legislation in the Provinces where Ministries are functioning.  This will stand us in good stead in due time.

(4) Meanwhile discourage anything that will create dissensions in the Muslim Camp.   For instance, discussion or determination of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan, or production of a cut and dried scheme for Pakistan must create controversies and differences of opinion and should, therefore, be avoided for the present.

(5) The fight being inevitable, we must make our preparations flawless.”

It was on account of this speech that the various resolutions of which notice had been given were withdrawn, and the official resolution, which was meant to serve only as a smoke-screen was passed.


4.     Other features of the Session were—

(1)          Rs. 29,000 were contributed by Sind members and an equal sum by Punjab members towards the Jinnah fund.  The Punjab Premier promised, on condition that his name would not be announced, a donation of Rs. 7,000.  Shaukat Hayat Khan offered Rs. 3,000, but his offer was not accepted as it was thought that its acceptance at this stage, when he had just been given the League ticket, would create misunderstandings.  Other donors were—

Rs.                                               
The Nawab of Mamdot in his own name, in the name of his
brother, &c.    . .          . .          . .          . .          . .          . .      17,000
Mir Ghulam Ali of Sind         . .          . .          . .          . .      10,000
Mir Bundeh Ali of Sind         . .          . .          . .          . .        5,000
K. B. Khuro of Sind    . .          . .          . .          . .          . .        5,000
Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah     . .          . .          . .       1,000
Gazdar, Law Minister, Sind   . .          . .          . .          . .       1,000
K. B. Jalal-ud-din of Sind      . .          . .          . .          . .        1,000
Pir Ellahi Bux . .          . .          . .          . .          . .          . .        1,000
Sir Maratab Ali of the Punjab          . .          . .          . .         5,000
Hassan Bux Shah of Sind     . .          . .          . .          . .         2,500

The rest paid lesser sums.  The total amounted to some Rs. 60,000 (approx..).  The Jinnah Fund now stands at rupees six lakhs.

(2)          The Sind League quarrel, Jagirdars versus Jagirdar Tenants, had its echoes in Delhi.  Both the parties tried to get the support of Jinnah.  With a view to win Jinnah’s sympathies, the Mirs of Sind, who are Jagirdars, were this time unusually generous in their contributions.  G.M. Syed, the exponent of the other side is, however, unyielding.  For the present, however, Qazi Isa and Nawab Ismail Khan are going to Sind to look into these matters.

(3)          Shaukat Hayat has been given the League ticket for his bye-election by the Central League Parliamentary Committee on his placing his resignation in the hands of Jinnah to be used if and when necessary.   Meanwhile, both sides have contracted to treat this matter with the utmost secrecy.  Shaukat Hayat is believed to have made it clear to Jinnah that, if it comes to a fight with the British, Jinnah must release him from his obligations, because of his father’s long connections with the British and because he is an Army officer, Shaukat Hayat will not go against the British.  Jinnah has seen his point of view and agreed to let him out when necessary.   For the present Jinnah appreciates that a combination of Shaukat’s group with the Hindus and the Sikhs is a matter to be reckoned with.

(4)          A resolution was passed urging the termination of Martial Law in Sind and the restoration of Pir Pagaro’s property.  Pir Ellahi Bux, tried to oppose it, but was hooted down, thanks to the excellent arrangements made by Yusif Haroon and G. M. Syed.  It is most unlikely that the Sind League Ministry will resign on the Pir Pagaro issue or the issue of the lifting of Martial Law.

(5)          Resolutions were passed on the food problem, the South African affair, Collective fines, Mr. Jinnah’s emergency powers, &c., &c.

-----------