Jinnah India- Partition Independence

549 Pages·2009·3.06 MB·English

by  Jaswant Singh

JINNAH
INDIA – PARTITION – INDEPENDENCE
JINNAH
INDIA – PARTITION – INDEPENDENCE
JASWANT SINGH
First published in 2009 by
Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
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Copyright © Jaswant Singh 2009
Cover design: [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts
are as reported by him/her which have been verified to the extent possible, and
the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.
This digital edition published in 2012
e-ISBN: 978-81-291-2014-4
Jaswant Singh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Digital edition prepared by Ninestars Information Technologies Ltd.
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To those that lost their all in the ‘partition’
‘….Dawn was theirs,
And sunset and the colours of the earth ’.
RUPERT BROOKE ; The Dead
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: A Complex Opening
1 India and Islam
2 Jenabhai to Jinnah: The Journey
3 The Turbulent Twenties
4 Sharpening Focus – Narrowing Options
5 A Short Decade – A Long End Game
6 Sunset of the Empire – ‘Post-dated Cheque on a Collapsing Bank’
7 A War of Succession – Diverging Paths
8 Stymied Negotiations?
9 Mountbatten Viceroyalty: The End of the Raj
10 Pakistan: Birth–Independence: The Quaid-e-Azam’s Last Journey
11 In Retrospect

Appendices
Appendix to Chapter 1
Appendix I: The Simla Delegation and the Formation of the Muslim League

Appendices to Chapter 2
Appendix I: Minto−Morley Reforms (1909)
Appendix II: The Official British Opinion on the Montague-Chelmsford
Reforms
Appendix III: Lucknow Pact

Appendix to Chapter 5
Appendix I: The Elections of 1937
Appendices to Chapter 6
Appendix I: The Cripps Mission Plan, 1942
Appendix II: The C.R. Formula, 1943
Appendix III: Gandhi’s Offer as Revealed in his Letter to Jinnah, 24
September 1944
Appendix IV: The Desai Formula
Appendix V: Wavell on Gandhi–Jinnah talks 30 September 1944

Appendices to Chapter 8
Appendix I: The Wavell Plan, 1945
Appendix II: The Muslim Legislators’ Convention, 1946
Appendix III: Muslim League’s Memorandum to the Cabinet Mission
Appendix IV: Congress Proposals to the Cabinet Mission
Appendix V: The Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946
Appendix VI: The 3 June 1947 Statement
Appendix VII: Wavell–Gandhi–Nehru – 27 September 1946 Post Calcutta
killings
Appendix VIII: Wavell–The Vicreoy’s Journal Ed. by Penderel Moon
Appendix IX: Note by Field Marshal Sir C. Auchinleck
Appendix X: The Long-Term Plan
Appendix XI: The Congress submitted panel of 15 names for the proposed
Executive Council
Appendix XII: List of Provinces

Appendix to Chapter 10
Appendix I: Quaid-i-Azam’s Message to Hindustan 7 August 1947

Appendices to Chapter 11
Appendix I: Mr. Jinnah’s Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan
Appendix II: Speech Delivered by Maulana Azad at Jama Masjid of Delhi on
23 October 1947
Appendix III: Dialogue between the Author, Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph,
Professors of Political Science Emeritus, University of Chicago

Endnotes
Index
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. An elegant Jinnah
2. Jinnah relaxing
3. Barrister Jinnah
4. Jinnah, H.J. Rustomjee and Homi Rustomjee
5. Meeting of the Indian National Congress and All India Muslim League
6. Jinnah with his Doberman and West Highland Terrier
7. Jinnah with daughter Dina
8. Jinnah with sister Fatima and daughter Dina
9. Muslim League leaders
10. Round Table Conference, London, 1931
11. Jinnah with Subhas Bose
12. All India Muslim League, 26th Session
13. At 10 Aurangzeb Lane, 1944–45
14. Reception at India House
15. Jinnah arriving in Karachi
16. Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah at opening of the State Bank of Pakistan
17. At Quetta Railway Station, 1945
18. With Louis Fischer
19. With Muslim League Women's Guard
20. With sister Fatima
21. Jinnah in his study
22. Jinnah in Jodhpur breeches
23. As Barrister at Law (top and bottom)
24. On holiday (top and bottom)
25. Quaid-e-Azam Governor-General Mohammed Ali Jinnah
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My quest for writing a political biography of Mohammed Ali Jinnah goes back a
long way, but really as a thought, the seed of the idea lying dormant for many
years, certainly until 1999, when fortuitous circumstances made its planting
possible. This was during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s historical bus
journey to Lahore in 1999. I accompanied the prime minister to Minar-e-
Pakistan, (It is a 60-metre high tower to mark the place where the All India
Muslim League adopted a resolution for the creation of Pakistan on 23 March
1940) returning from where I was struck by the thought there existed no
biography of Jinnah written by a political figure from India. It was then that I
decided to fill the gap; however, yet again, between that thought and subsequent
action, the gap lengthened.
It was only in 2004 when a processing of this work actually began. It was the
period when I was out of office and had a fair amount of time to reflect, to
research and to write.
It is then that my first consultations also started; a large number of those
whom I spoke with wondered why I was venturing on this path at all and as most
well-wishers do, cautioned me against doing so. However, I persisted, for, it was
a journey of my own, of my re-discovery and a clearer understanding of why
India had been partitioned in 1947.
After much deliberation, I did venture forth, and now, finally, the ‘book’ is
here. It has taken me five years to write, rewrite, check, crosscheck, seemingly
an endless process. My list of those to whom I am deeply grateful is very long,
but the very first acknowledgement has to be to Dr Z.H. Zaidi, editor-in-chief of
the Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, National Archives of Pakistan. When
contacted he was immediately of great help, and remained so, consistently,
corresponding on his charmingly antiquated manual typewriter. In this age, I
wondered, of proliferating computers and vastly more efficient printers? Dr
Zaidi had instantly offered all assistance and unstintingly, unceasingly he gave
it. Thank you very much, Doctor Sahib.
The research for this book involved consulting an intimidating wealth of
books, all chronicling that period, all works of great learning, experience,
passion, and remarkable merit. The Endnotes section lists them, my
acknowledgements being but the markers of my obligations.
Raghvendra Singh was a marvel of assistance in my endeavours; relentlessly