India Wins Freedom - pg. 219

Later that day Gandhiji met Lord Mountbatten. He saw him again the next day and still again on 2 April. Sardar Patel came to him soon after he returned from his first meeting with Lord Mountbatten and was closeted with him for over two hours. What happened during this meeting I do not know. But when I met Gandhiji again, I receive the greatest shock of my life, for I found that he, too, had changed. He was still not openly in favor of partition but he no longer spoke so vehemently against it. What surprised and shocked me even more was that he began to repeat the arguments which Sardar Patel had already used. For over two hours I pleaded with him but could make no impression on him.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 216

They (Moslems) would have complete internal autonomy in provinces in which they were in a majority. Even in the Centre they would have more than adequate representation. So long as there were communal jealousies and doubts, their position would be adequately safeguarded. I was also convinced that if the Constitution for free India was framed on this basis and worked honestly for some time, communal doubts and misgivings would soon disappear. The real problems of the country were economic, not communal. The differences related to classes, not to communities. Once the country became free, Hindus, Moslems, and Sikhs would all realize the real nature of the problems that faced them and communal differences would be resolved.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 215

As soon as Sardar Patel had been convinced, Lord Mountbatten turned his attention to Jawaharlal. Jawaharlal was not at first at all willing and reacted violently against the very idea of partition, but Lord Mountbatten persisted till step by step Jawaharlal's opposition was worn down. Within a month of Lord Mountbatten's arrival in India, Jawaharlal, the firm opponent of partition, had become, if not a supporter, at least acquiescent towards the idea.
I have often wondered how Jawaharlal was won over by Lord Mountbatten. Jawaharlal is a man of principle, but he is also impulsive and amenable to personal influence. The arguments of Sardar Patel must have had some effect, but could not have been decisive. Jawaharlal was also greatly impressed by Lord Mountbatten, but perhaps even greater was the influence of Lady Mountbatten. She is not only extremely intelligent, but had a most attractive and friendly temperament. She admired her husband greatly and in many cases tried to interpret his thought to those who would not at first agree with him.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 214

It must be placed on record that the man in India who first fell for Lord Mountbatten's idea was Sardar Patel. Till perhaps the very end Pakistan was for Jinnah a bargaining counter, but, in fighting for Pakistan, he had overreached himself. The situation within the Executive Council had so annoyed and irritated Sardar Patel that he now became a believer in partition. The Sardar's had been the responsibility for giving Finance to the Moslem League. He therefore resented his helplessness before Liaqat Ali more than anybody else. When Lord Mountbatten suggested that partition might offer a solution for the present difficulty, he found ready acceptance of the idea in Sardar Patel's mind.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 198

In the latter half of October, Jawaharlal took a step which was unnecessary and which I opposed. His nature is, however, such that he often acts on impulse. As a rule he is open to persuasion, but sometimes he makes up his mind without taking all the facts into consideration. Once he has done so, he tends to go ahead regardless of what the consequences may be.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 187

Jawaharlal is one of my dearest friends and his contribution to India's national life is second to none. He has worked and suffered for Indian freedom and, since the attainment of independence, he has become the symbol of our national unity and progress. I have nevertheless to say with regret that he is at times apt to be carried away by his feelings. Not only so, but sometimes he is so impressed by theoretical considerations that he is apt to underestimate the realities of a situation.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 186

The 16th of August was a black day in the history of India. Unprecedented mob violence plunged the great city of Calcutta into an orgy of bloodshed, murder and terror. Hundreds of lives were lost. Thousands were injured and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed. Processions were taken out by the League, which began to loot and commit acts of arson. Soon the whole city was in the grip of goondas of both communities.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 185

On the other hand I noticed in Calcutta that a strange situation was developing. In the past, political parties had observed special days by organizing hartals, taking out processions and holding meetings. The League's "Direct Action Day" seemed to be of a different type. In Calcutta, I found a general feeling that, on 16 August, the Moslem League would attack Congressmen and loot Congress property. Further panic was created when the Bengal Government decided to declare 16 August a public holiday.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 168

In such context, the demand for Pakistan loses all force. As a Muslim, I for one am not prepared for a moment to give up my right to treat the whole of India as my domain and to share in the shaping of its political and economic life. To me it seems a sure sign of cowardice to give up what is my patrimony and content myself with a mere fragment of it.

-- statement 15 April 1946

India Wins Freedom - pg. 166

Sardar Patel asked me whether the Central Government would be restricted to three subjects alone. He said that there were certain subjects like currency and finance which must from the nature of the case belong to the Central sphere. He held that trade and industry could be developed only on an all-India basis and the same thing applied to commercial policy.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 164

I came to the conclusion that the Constitution of India must, from the nature of the case, be federal. Further, it must be so framed as to ensure autonomy to the provinces in as many subjects as possible. We had to reconcile the claims of provincial autonomy with national unity. This could be done by finding a satisfactory formular for the distribution of powers and functions between the central and the provincial governments. Some powers and functions would be essentially central, others essentially provincial and some which could be either would be provincially, or centrally exercised by consent. The first step was to devise a formula by which a minimum number of subjects should be declared as essentially the responsibility of the Central Government.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 131

Then came the third phase in the League's program during World War II. Congress had gained immensely in prestige and strength. It was now clear that the British Government would have to recognize Indian freedom. Mr. Jinnah had now become the leader of the Moslem League and felt that he must take advantage of every difference between the Congress and the Government. Whenever there were discussions between the Congress and the Government for the transfer of power, Mr. Jinnah would begin by remaining silent. If the negotiations failed, he issued a milk-and-water settlement, there was no need for the Moslem League to express any opinion on the British offer. This is what he did during the August offer in 1940 and the Cripps proposals of 1942. The Simla Conference presented him with a situation that he had never faced before.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 109

I think Gandhiji's approach to Mr. Jinnah on this occasion was a great political blunder. It gave a new and added importance to Mr. Jinnah which he later exploited to the full. Gandhiji had in dact adopted a peculiar attitude to Jinnah from the very beginning. Mr. Jinnah had lost much of his political importance after he left the Congress in the twenties. It was largely due to Gandhiji's acts of commission and omission that Mr. Jinnah regained his importance in Indian political life. In fact, it is doubtful if Mr. Jinnah could ever have achieved supremacy but for Gandhiji's attitude. Large sections of India Moslems were doubtful about Mr. Jinnah and his policy, but, when they found that Gandhiji was continually running after him and entreating him, many of them developed a new respect for Mr. Jinnah. They also thought that he was perhaps the best man for getting advantageous terms in the communal settlement.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 105

The quadrangle was quite bare when we came. Jawaharlal proposed that we should prepare a flower garden as this would keep us occupied and also beautify the place. We welcomed the idea and asked the superintendent to write to Poona for seeds. We then prepared the ground for flower beds. Jawaharlal took the leading role in this. We planted some thirty or forty kinds of seeds, watered them every day and cleaned the beds. As the plants began to sprout, we watched their growth with fascinated interest. When the flowers started to bloom, the compound became a place of beauty and joy.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 89

Apart from Jawaharlal, who often agreed with me, the other members were generally content to follow Gandhiji's lead. Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Acharya Kirpilani had no clear idea about the war. They rarely tried to judge things on their own, and in any case they were accustomed to subordinate their judgment to Gandhiji. As such, discussion with them was almost useless. After all our discussions, the only thing they could day was that we must have faith in Gandhiji. They held that if we trusted him he would find some way out. They cited the example of the Salt Satyagraha Movement in 1930.

India Wins Freedom - pg. 85

The Government had also decided that, in case of a Japanese attack, something like the scorched earth policy must be followed. They had also prepared measures for the blowing up of important bridges and the destruction of factories and industrial installations in order to deny them to the Japanese. Plans for the destruction of the Iron and Steel Factory at Jamshedpur [which was owned by the Tata Company] had somehow become known and there was great anxiety and unrest in the whole area.

Muslim Women in India: Political and Private Realities - Opening

Minority communities that are not politically dominant have traditionally evolved a relationship with the majority community that has been based on social, political and economic dependency. In India, the introduction of economic and ideological changes in the 19th century dislodged this pattern and consensus; economic changes dismantled traditional hierarchies as industry and trade replaced land as the primary source of wealth and prestige; ideological changes, necessitated by the need to accommodate emerging changes in the political, economic and social structures, produced political changes which radically altered the established order between communities.

Muslim Women in India
was originally published in India and S. Asia by

Kali for Women
A 36 Gulmohar Park
New Delhi 110 049, India

and by Zed Books Ltd. 57, Caledonian Road, London N1 9BU, UK
and 171, First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA in the rest of the world.

Copyright Shahida Lateef, 1990

All rights reserved

Typeset by Wordtronic, 111/56 Nehru Place, New Delhi
and printed at Raj Press Pvt. Ltd., R-3, Inderpuri, New Delhi.

Jalandhara to Shiva

"How can you live on alms and yet keep the beautiful Parvati ? Give her to me, and wander from house to house with your alms bowl. You have fallen from your vow. . . .You are a yogi ;what need have you for the gem of wives? You live in the woods attended by goblins and ghosts; being a nakedyogi, you should give your wife to one who will appreciate her better than you do."^[1]

India After Gandhi - pg. 239

In the Provisional Parliament, orthodox members claimed that the Hindu laws had stayed unchanged from time immemorial. "The rules of conduct and duties of men in our country are determined by the Vedas," said Ramnarayan Singh. Despite the challenges down the ages -- posed by Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity -- "the Vedic religion did not perish ... [the] Vedic religion is still there." But now, "we have Pandit Nehru's administration whose representative Dr. Ambedkar wants to abrogate with a single stroke all those rules which have existed since the beginning of the world."

India After Gandhi - pg. 189

Some want to revive the tradition of Shivaji and to hoist the Bhagwa Jhanda in Samyukta Maharashtra; others wish to extend the economic empire of the Bombay and Ahmedabad millionaires all over Maha-Gujarat. Provincial prejudices, rivalries and jealousies are being revived on all sides and everyone seems anxious to separate from, rahter than untie with the others. The Assamese want this bit of land cut off from Bengal, the Bengalis want a slice of Bihar, the Telugus are discontented in Orissa, the Tamilian minority wants to cut itself off from Travancore.

-- The left-wing writer K. A. Abbas, in January 1951