Indian speakers laud Jinnah’s efforts to promote secularism

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Legal expert blames Nehru for forcing Jinnah to seek Partition
* BJP maintains its resolution on Jinnah is intact

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: Speakers at the Nehru Museum Library on Monday applauded the efforts of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to promote secularism and blamed India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his aides for forcing Jinnah to demand a separate nation for Muslims.

Attending the release of Jinnah’s biography, “Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence”, by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh, noted Hindi critic Naamwar Singh praised Jawant for breaking an intellectual taboo. He said both Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbai Patil had been desperate to grab power, adding Jinnah had been forced to hurry due to worsening health. Legal expert Ram Jethmalani, who saw Jinnah pleading cases at the Karachi High Court, said he (Jinnah) struck terror in his opponents. He said Jinnah had been a great lawyer for Muslims’ rights. He said the Congress party’s leadership had ignored Muslim grievances, who were feeling threatened in the majority democratic system. Jethmalani said Jinnah had even rebuffed a group of Muslim intellectuals when they had talked of partition in 1933, adding Jinnah had only wanted a united India to address the concerns of the Muslim population.

Sole blame: However, he added, Nehru’s stubbornness during talks with Chaudhry Khaleequz Zaman on May 12, 1937 had sowed the seeds of partition. “All the problems confronting this country are rooted in the miscalculation of Nehru,” he said.

However, Jaswant Singh refused to speak at the function. “The books are available outside, please do buy and read them. Good night,” were his only words. Many analysts believe that given the extent of Jinnah’s “demonisation” in India, Singh might have written his political obituary, evident at the ceremony by the boycott from his party leaders. Speaking to journalists after the event, Jaswant said Nehru’s arrogance, overestimation of the Congress party’s strength and reluctance to accept Jinnah as a leader were the main causes of Partition. He claimed Congress leaders were suffering from the courage of misplaced confidence, born of ignorance.

No change: Meanwhile, the BJP maintains that it has not changed its resolution on Jinnah, adopted in 2005 against the backdrop of senior leader LK Advani’s visit to Pakistan and his comments appreciating Jinnah. The resolution had stated that regardless of Jinnah’s vision, the very idea of Hindus and Muslims being two separate nations was “repugnant” to the BJP.

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