On August 17, Mr. Jaswant Singh a BJP Leader, released his book “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence” a biography of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Further he gave an interview about the contents of the book in which he was just expressing his impression about Jinnah.

He invited the attention towards the role of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabai Patel in the Partition of Greater India. That was enough for the leaders in BJP and Congress to make angry statements against him.

Sushma Swaraj of BJP was quick to respond:

“Denigrating Sardar Patel and eulogizing Jinnah are views that are totally against the party’s basic ideology and belief.”

Well, for BJP it is all about denigrating Sardar (but not Nehru)!

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi reacted:

“The BJP is overwhelmed by love for Jinnah but never ever mentions Maulana Azad. When Jinnah was talking of Partition, Azad was involved in binding the country together as Congress president; ironically, the BJP was displaying its patriotism by denigrating Jawaharlal Nehru and eulogizing Jinnah.”

For Congress it is all about denigrating Nehru (but not Patel)!

Clearly, our National parties have enrolled great leaders of our nation in to their parties (without their consent). Great National Parties!
But it seems the Congress leader has forgotten, do not know or hiding the fact that Mr. Jaswant Singh is repeating a truth about Nehru and Patel that was already mentioned by Mr. Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad few decades back.

For BJP and Congress parties, simply it is denigrating to tell the truth because for so many decades they have cultivated a hero worship towards Nehru and Patel and demonized Jinnah. Both these parties believe that history will be forgotten. It is however well recorded in the history that it was V.D. Savarkar who propounded the two-nation theory in 1923 and Lala Lajpat Rai proposed partition in “The Tribune” of December 14, 1924, well before Mohammad Ali Jinnah could propose Pakistan as his choice.

Let us see what was revealed by Jaswant Singh in his interview

1. Jinnah fought the British for an independent India but he also fought resolutely and relentlessly for the interest of the Muslims of India.
2. Jinnah was not a Hindu hater but he had great animosity with the Congress party and its leadership. He said so repeatedly: I have no enmity against the Hindu.
3. Jinnah had charged Mahatma Gandhi of being a demagogue.
4. I admire certain aspects of Jinnah’s personality: his determination and the will to rise. He was a self-made man–Mahatma Gandhi was a son of a Dewan
5. All of them (Nehru) were born to wealth and position, Jinnah created for himself a position. He carved out in Bombay a position in that cosmopolitan city being what he was, poor. He was so poor he had to walk to work.
6. I think we misunderstood because we needed to create a demon.
7. Nehru believed in a highly centralized polity. That’s what he wanted India to be. Jinnah wanted a federal polity.
8. Nehru stood in the way of a federal India until 1947 when it became a partitioned India.
9. Jinnah in fact went to the extent of saying that let there be a Pakistan within India.
10. A highly centralized India meant that the dominant party was the Congress party. He (Nehru) in fact said there are only two powers in India — the Congress party and the British.
11. It became a contest between excessive majoritarianism, exaggerated minoritism and giving the referee’s whistle to the British.

Mr. Jaswant Singh was a former Defense, Foreign and Finance minister of India and he might have got access to sensible information and is qualified to explore the truth about partition of the country. Most of the Indian students in the schools are taught a History which put the sole responsibility of partition of India on Jinnah. A brief history can hardly catch the events leading to partition.

However we can make a reference to what was written by Pazha Nedumaran in his book “Manitha kulamum Thamizh thesiyamum” under the title “Who is responsible for partition? “

At the time of independence Congress leaders assured the people to grant complete autonomy to states and passed such resolutions in their conferences. But at the moment of attaining freedom, they took a stand against the autonomy to states, what could be the reason for this?

In 1938 , at the Congress conference convened in Tripura under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose, State autonomy was insisted in the political resolution.

When a British Cabinet Mission came for a discussion with Indian leaders on independence in 1946, Congress party informed that it was their policy to grant complete autonomy to states. The same was proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru in the meeting held on 22.01.1947 in the Constituent Assembly formed based on the suggestions of Cabinet Mission. Autonomous states with a central federation were proposed by British Cabinet Mission.

The All India Congress committee president Moulana Abul Kalam Azad presented a plan for autonomous states in the Congress working committee meeting held on 12.4.1947. This was agreeable to Gandhi, Cabinet Mission and Jinnah. This raised the hopes of one India. But at that time Nehru became the president of Congress party instead of Azad. While meeting the press Nehru declared that Congress was not bound by plan submitted by British Cabinet Mission and Congress party had a right to change or amend the plan.

Upon seeing this volte face of Nehru, the leaders of Muslim league were shocked. Earlier Muslim league had abandoned the idea of partition in favor of State autonomy. Now Jinnah declared that – because of Nehru, the entire issue had to be reexamined. Since the Muslim league believed that Congress would not implement State autonomy, Jinnah convened the working committee of Muslim League and passed a resolution of reverting back to their demand of Pakistan.

Later Moulana Abul Kalama Azad in his book described the reason for the change in stand of Jawaharlal Nehru and Patel .Nehru and Patel were attracted by the suggestion of Viceroy Mountbatten that instead of giving autonomy to all states, it would be better to form a strong central government at the loss of western Punjab, East Bengal, NWFR, and Baluchistan.

Moreover the big Indian industrialists were not in favor of state autonomy since they thought a strong central government could facilitate the growth of their business. They too pressurized Nehru and Patel.

‘Even though Jinnah abandoned the demand for partition, Pakistan was thrust in to the pocket of Jinnah by Nehru and Patel’ says Azad in his book.

By citing Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, Nedumaran accuses Nehru and Patel for abandoning autonomy of nations to form a powerful central government in favor of domination of Brahmin-Bania nexus.

The observations of Nedumaran coincide well with what is said by Jaswant Singh. On seeing the knee jerk reactions and denial of Congress and BJP, we can simply understand where the truth lies. However I wonder, while British were ready to grant whatever was agreeable to Congress party and Muslim League and if Jinnah, Nehru, Patel are not responsible for the partition of India then who conspired for such ill conceived plan?

Mr. Jaswant Singh deserves appreciation for splashing some light on the dark side of our history. Born in hot Rajasthan representing cool Darjeeling he has now generated a current which shocks both Congress and BJP. He is now expelled from BJP and his book is banned in Gujarat. But the truth cannot be expelled or banned.

Mr. Jaswant says

I can get expelled for writing a book. You may not agree with the book or its argument. But if we can’t think, read or write, engage in any kind of intellectual exercise or question without inviting this kind of retribution, what sort of country are we making ourselves into?

Wisdom grasps the truth
of whatever and whoever said

-Thiru Valluvar 423

Tags: Autonomy, Baratiya Janata Party, BJP, Congress party, Hindu, India, Jaswant Singh, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Moulana abul kalam azad, Muslim League, Pakistan, Partition, Pazha Nedumaran, Sardar Vallabai Patel