- Jinnah and the divisive politics of the Congress
In his book, Jinnah – Creator of Pakistan, Hector Bolitho, argues that ‘if Muhammad Ali Jinnah had gone to Aligarh, in 1892, instead of venturing across the seas of England, and Lincoln’s Inn, his belief in the parting of the Muslims and Hindus might have developed much earlier.’
Barrister Jinnah, a vigorous defender of democracy and civil liberties, joined the Indian National Congress in 1906 with absolute sincerity and conviction that freedom of India from the British Raj was only possibly by the unified efforts of Hindus and Muslims. Promoting unity was his political philosophy and his efforts to unify the Indian communities were not just restricted to Hindus and Muslims but within the Muslim communities and among various classes of India. However, in the early days of his idealism, he might not have predicted the toxic politics of the Congress leaders in the years to come.
Promoting unity was his political philosophy and his efforts to unify the Indian communities were not just restricted to Hindus and Muslims but within the Muslim communities and among various classes of India
His first encounter with such a divisive mindset was when on 13th January 1915, he went on to receive Gandhi who had sailed to Bombay from South Africa. Jinnah warmly welcomed Mr and Mrs Gandhi at a garden party organised to welcome them. Jinnah presided over the party, shared his vision of unity of the Hindu and Muslim communities and applauded Gandhi using some of the most sophisticated words: ‘Undoubtedly he [Gandhi] would not only become a worthy ornament but also a real worker whose equals there were very few.’ Gandhi, in return, had a very cold response to Jinnah’s high praises and he ‘thanked him for presiding over a Hindu gathering’. Jaswant Singh mentions in his book, Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence that ‘This was an ungracious and discouraging response to Jinnah’s warm welcome and had a dampening effect.’
In his pursuit to form a common nationalistic force against the British Raj, Jinnah did not join the All Indian Muslim League until 1913. Even after joining the league, he always urged both the league and the Congress to cooperate and declared himself as a ‘staunch Congressman’ in one of the League’s sessions in Lucknow. In line with his own liberal political ideals, he was able to unite the Congress at the League’s annual sessions in the same place and at the same time in December of 1915. Bolitho writes on that: ‘He wished neither to absorb the League into the Hindu dominated Congress, nor to weaken Congress by exposing it to the sectarian character of the League. He wished only for unity.’’
Continuing his opportunistic politics, Gandhi was able to dominate the Congress by declaring his support to the Khilafat Movement in 1920. He got the support of many Muslim leaders and convinced them to join his policy of non-cooperation. Jinnah openly spoke against the non-cooperation policy of Gandhi and said it would only damage the national cause i.e. India’s freedom movement. Ayesha Jalal writes in her The Sole Spokesman: ‘Jinnah denounced Gandhi for causing schism and split not only amongst Hindus and Muslims but also between Hindus and Hindus and Muslims and Muslims and even fathers and sons. In almost every institution that Mahatama had anything to do this. Gandhi’s programme will lead to complete disorganisation and chaos.’ Jinnah, a staunch believer of constitutional methods, was afraid of the instability of the existing political structures because of Gandhi’s naïve non-cooperation policy.
The Congress, under the leadership of Gandhi, changed the political strategy of its old guards like Gokhale and Jinnah. “At first it focussed on a vague idea of independence from the British, but as it evolved it increasingly concentrated on questions of identity.” Argues Akbar S Ahmed in his book, Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin. This new trend of exploring Hindu identity gave rise to communal politics which was antithesis to Jinnah’s vision of freedom struggle. Hence, he resigned from the Indian National Congress in 1920.
Even after his resignation, ‘the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity’ inside him made him continue his efforts to find common grounds between the League and the Congress. In 1927, when Simon Commission was set up by the British Government to work on new constitutional law, Jinnah was even willing to compromise on his demand of separate electorate if the Congress was ready to accept his suggestions to safeguard the rights of Muslim minority in India. However, the stubborn leadership of the Congress outrightly rejected Jinnah’s suggestions in the Nehru Report in 1928. The prejudiced mindset of the Congress was fully revealed in the Nehru Committee’s recommendations and Jinnah’s dream of a peaceful Hindu-Muslim settlement in the British India had come to a bitter end.
According to Bolitho, a Parsee friend of Jinnah, Jamshed Nusserwanjee, describes Jinnah’s agony after the All-Parties Conference, in Calcutta on 28 December in these words:
“The first time I saw him weep after his amendments had been rejected at the Calcutta meeting to consider the Nehru Report, in 1928. It is a fine thing that he did – pleading, as a gentleman, for his people. His demands were rejected. One man said that Mr Jinnah had no right to speak on behalf of Muslims – that he did not represent them … Mr Jinnah left Calcutta by train, and I went to see him off at the railway station. He was standing at the door of his first-class coupe compartment, and he took my hand …
He had tears in his eyes as he said, “Jumshed, this is the parting of the ways”.