20090825220 | Editorial: Why Jinnah Can Be So Important? | Editorial

By The Editorial Team, on 26-08-2009 10:27

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The ghost of Jinnah has returned to haunt Indian politics. Jaswant Singh who penned the book, "Jinnah: India - Partition, Independence" finds himself expelled from BJP for his controversial opinions in the book. The book is seen as an attempt to praise Jinnah highlighting his ‘secular' character while holding Congress leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel equally responsible for partition. The media in general is now busy defending Jaswant Singh and his right of expressing himself and ‘dissenting intellectually'. It further perturbing in the academic interest that even distorted understanding of history is being legitimized under the weight of controversies and the sensational news value that it intends to create. The media seems consciously engaged with its aversion to distinguish between distortion and dissent.

It is more disturbing to note that Jaswant Singh's reading of history has been more of personality centric refusing to analyze the events in historical contexts. Confusing the two phases of Jinnah's life to conclude with his secularist credential is to ignore the historical processes which shape the political events. When a book is written with ulterior political motive, history, academic values and ethics are the first casualty.

Why Jinnah can be so important even now? It is a question best answered in the manner secularism has been practiced and understood by our politicians. Praising Jinnah would endear Muslims and make them secular - such distorted understanding of secularism is taking its toll. The one sided understanding of secularism makes one to ignore one of the world's biggest genocides, unprovoked killings in the name of "Direct Action" and pangs of dislocation borne by millions of people. Jinnah too can be secular is the newfound mantra according immediate place among the secularists. Such opportunity is very much enticing and irresistible particularly for the people who were hitherto dubbed communal by the secularist camp.