By Mahtab Bashir | April 15, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The function organised by Oxford University Press (OUP) at a local hotel on Wednesday to launch former Indian foreign minister and Bhartia Janta Party leader Jaswant Singh’s book – “Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence” – turned out to be a gathering of galaxy of politicians, intellectuals, historians, journalists, diplomats, foreigners, human rights activists and Foreign Office officials, who put questions to the author, lauded his efforts for bringing the two neighbours closer, and believed that role of Pakistan’s founder needed to be reassessed.
Poor sound system, especially frequent interruptions in the proceedings due to faulty microphone, coupled with lack of seating arrangements marred the function. Also, the banner put up on the stage fell on ground many a time.
Many participants including former Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad resented the change in the book’s title, which now carries the photographs of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah along with two Indian leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi. “The original book has the photograph of Quaid-e-Azam only. Changing the original title of the book is a big joke with Pakistani people,” Dilshad said.
Author Jaswant Singh said on the occasion that the US was 8,000 miles away from Pakistan, while India and Pakistan were the next-door neighbours, and therefore, the two nations must resolve their differences themselves instead of engaging others.
He said the ‘Berlin Wall’, which had been in place on the Pakistan-India border since the 1965 war, should be pulled down without delay.
He dubbed very painful moments of his life when a number of copies of his book were set on fire in India and the Indian state of Gujarat banned it, which was nothing but a written truth about the partition of the subcontinent. “Despite all this, I am satisfied that people in both countries [Pakistan and India] have taken interest in it,” he said. Singh said Jinnah created something out of nothing and single-handedly stood against the might of Indian Congress and the British, who didn’t really like him.
“Gandhi himself called Jinnah a great Indian. Why don’t we recognise that? Why don’t we see and try to understand why he called him that? I admire certain aspects of his personality; his determination and the will to rise. He was a self-made man. Mahatma Gandhi was the son of a Diwan. All these (people) – Nehru and others – were born to wealth and position. Jinnah created for himself a position. He carved in Bombay a position for himself. He was so poor that he had to walk to work. He told one of his biographers that there was always room at the top but no lift, and he never sought a lift.”
Singh went on to say that the Indian leaders had not only misunderstood Jinnah but also made a demon out of him.
According to him, the denomination of Jinnah was a direct result of the trauma of partition. He said the view held by many in India that Jinnah hated Hindus was a mistake.
Former Indian former minister also highlighted the visa policies of Pakistan and India for each other that the big numbers of people were suffering on both sides of the border. He said the Thar people wanted easy, direct interaction with their relatives living just 25km away across the border but had to travel more then 30,000km for it.
He, in conversation with author Humayun Gauhar, advised New Delhi and Islamabad to facilitate interaction among those living on border areas of the two countries.
He later signed copies of his books some of which were presented by the OUP to selected participants.
Jaswant Singh’s book is the first by an Indian politician on the life of Jinnah. It was released on August 17, 2009 in India and soon became the subject of controversy, subsequently leading to his expulsion from the BJP. In the book, Singh claims Jawaharlal Nehru’s centralised policy was to blame for Indian sub-continent’s partition and that Jinnah was portrayed as a demon by India for the partition. The book received commendation from Mark Tully, Meghnad Desai, Ram Jethmalani, Namwar Singh and Hameed Haroon, who believe that Jinnah’s role needed to be reassessed.
The book was hailed in Pakistan and moderate circles in India. Thousands of copies have been sold in Pakistan. Many people in India and Pakistan believe that this book would pave a way for correcting the make-believe history of the partition and would also help in easing tension between India and Pakistan.
Read original article here: ‘Indian leaders didn’t understand Jinnah, demonised him’
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