Page 79 - EducationWorld October 2020

Books

Run-up to GANDHI’S HINDUISM — THE return gave an undertak-

Partition STRUGGLE AGAINST JINNAH’S ing that there would be no
settlement on the future
ISLAM
M.J. Akbar structure of India without
the concurrence of Mus-
BLOOMSBURY
HIS COMPELLING lims,” documents Akbar.
narrative tracking Rs.699 On August 8, 1940, in
Tevents to the final 414 pp an officially titled The Au-
run-up to independence gust Offer “issued with the
and partition of the sub- authority of His Majesty’s
continent has suffered a Government,” Linlithgow
media blackout, despite examples and data was — Jinnah’s worst fear publicly confirmed the
being authored by media like his Hindu alter ego was to be obliged to undertaking he had given
supernova M.J. Akbar, Jawaharlal Nehru — a serve under Nehru — Jinnah six months earlier.
(Sunday, The Telegraph, westernised sophisticate the spoilt offspring of But even if the Brit-
Kolkata, Asian Age and with ill-concealed disdain a wealthy lawyer — ish never wavered from
author of several contem- for religion and ritual, and adopted by Gandhi as this commitment, Jinnah
porary histories including at best a political Muslim. his “spiritual son” did. Following prolonged
Nehru: The Making of In- But he exerted powerful discussions detailed in
dia (1998) and Tinderbox: influence on his commu- extenso by Akbar, on June
Past & Future of Pakistan nity. is that in the early years of 7, 1946 an ailing Jinnah
(2011). That’s probably However, though World War II, the British hesitantly agreed to drop
because Akbar is in the Akbar believes that it were in a blue funk follow- his demand for a separate
national doghouse follow- was Jinnah’s antagonism ing German dictator Adolf nation and agreed to form
ing his trial by frothing towards Gandhi that Hitler’s march through an interim Congress-
TRP-obsessed television infuriated the former and Europe and imminent Muslim League federal
news anchors on unsub- ultimately compelled him invasion of Britain, and government at the Centre,
stantiated sexual harass- to press the demand for the quick conquest of the with elected autono-
ment charges, which has a separate nation for the Philippines, Indonesia mous governments in the
also cut short his political subcontinent’s Muslims, and Singapore by Japan, provinces. For himself he
career as a junior minister there is sufficient evidence Hitler’s ally. Therefore, wanted the defence portfo-
of the incumbent BJP-led in this and other histo- the loyalty and support lio in the interim govern-
NDA government at the ries of India’s freedom of the Indian Army, 40 ment. However, the very
Centre. struggle to suggest that percent Muslim — at the next day Jinnah warned
The title of Akbar’s Jinnah’s worst fear was to height of the “bloodiest that “any departure from
latest oeuvre which sug- be obliged to serve under war in history,” writes this formula, directly or
gests that the protagonists Nehru. The latter was Akbar, 2.5 million Indians indirectly, will lead to very
of this book were deeply adopted by Gandhi as his were fighting for Britain serious consequences,
religious personalities, is “spiritual son” and favou- deployed in Europe and and will not secure the co-
misleading. Though Gan- rite right from the time Asia — was vitally impor- operation of the Muslim
dhi was a devout Hindu, the 29-year-old Jawaha- tant for imperial Britain. It League”. This formula was
he was more a religious rlal, spoilt offspring of was fighting lone wars on accepted by the Congress
reformer than an ortho- wealthy lawyer Motilal two fronts, because until Working Committee which
dox practitioner of this Nehru, succeeded his fa- end 1941, America was not in effect overruled Gandhi.
ancient creed. His whole ther as Congress president a combatant nation. Unfortunately a few
life was a struggle to excise in 1929. As Akbar narrates in months earlier in April,
the inherent inequities of To its merit, this flu- considerable detail, at despite not one of the 15
the Hindu caste system, ent narrative also pro- this critical moment in provincial units of the
particularly the open, con- vides satisfying context the history of World War Congress party voting
tinuous and uninterrupted and explanation for the II, in March 1940, Jin- for him and expressing
atrocities visited upon the sustained loyalty of the nah offered the British overwhelming support for
lowest castes for millen- British to Jinnah. The viceroy Lord Linlithgow Sardar Patel, Nehru was
nia. Jinnah, on the other plain truth obfuscated by full Muslim League and appointed president of the
hand as Akbar recounts most Indian historians, community support for the Congress party to succeed
with numerous lifestyle but highlighted by Akbar, war effort. “Linlithgow in Azad at the insistence of

OCTOBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 79