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. 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.

Constructing Pakistan

Introduction

In his inaugural speech, the founder and first head of state of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah refers to a pre-existing Muslim nation that 'made great sacrifices; to achieve the nation-state of Pakistan. He also sees this transformation of the Muslim nation into a nation-state as a divine gift to the Muslims of India. Thus, according to Jinnah, the creation of Pakistan is the material representation of a divine blessing realised through human will. This realised dream relies heavily on the myth of 'having suffered together', for in defining national identities 'griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties, and require a common effort.' Yet, Jinnah's inaugural speech is saturated with the silences that make his national claim possible. In most historical accounts of the Indian subcontinent, the nation that Jinnah so gratefully mentions in his inaugural speech did not exist, nor was there any ethno-linguistic or, for that matter, religious imaginary of Pakistan (or a separate Muslim homeland) just thirty years before its birth.

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First published 2010

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