A certificate from the Pakistani establishment   is the latest craze in Delhi and voodoo historians are in great demand.

Be that as it may, the outlandish attempt to de- "demonise" Jinnah by another ‘thinker and scholar" of Enron-Kandahar-unilateral nuclear moratorium   fame, is in poor state.

The partition of India was caused primarily because of the ideology of hatred- built on a separatist, intolerant world view and barbarism  that came with the invaders from Central Asia.

This was carried on by the Muslim rulers, theologians, many local converts(Jinnah's grandfather was a Hindu) and other ideologues, as we clearly see in the activities of  Sirhindi, Waliullah, Titu Meer, Sir Syed Ahmad, Syed Ameer Ali, Mohammad, Iqbal and a host of others. Jinnah's "greatness" lay in capitalising on this rich legacy of hatred for the polytheists and the host community. The Muslim "alienation" has roots in primordial theological roots and not contemporary Indian polity as Jaswant Singh mischievously asserts.

Hence, India would have been partitioned even without Jinnah, sooner or later.   The British did not invent the "Divide and Rule", they merely took advantage of the divide, while often deepening it further.

So to ascribe the partition to Gandhian ideas of Ram-rajya, Nehru's refusal to accommodate the Muslim League in 1937 in the UP cabinet, or the harmless "Hindu Right" is weak in logic and poor in history. It is true that the Gandhian Congress which had its "baptism by fire" in the substantial Khilafat-Moplah achievements was pursuing a policy of Muslim appeasement, further bolstered by its rationalization of the assassination of Swami Shradhanand by a Muslim fanatic. Their bonhomie with the "nationalist" Deobandis, whose eyes were set on the capture of whole of India after the British exit, strengthened this deadly mindset-that acquiescence in every form of pan Islamic aggression was politically profitable. The primary fault of both Gandhi and Nehru was in their tacit approval of this line. British never jailed Jaswant's hero too.

Last update : 25-08-2009 18:25

Keywords : Jinnah, Jaswant and Jihad: A Justification for the Jejune, Dr. Saradindu Mukherji

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