Jaswant Singh's Book Review Page 205

Book Reference: Page 205 Last para

Author’s Views: Quoting Percival Spear from his essay that as per Bolitho, Jinna by championing the cause of Hindu-Muslim Unity in the twenties had greatly damaged his political career. In 1934, when he returned to India , this thought was weighing upon him. The author concludes that it was Congress attitude of totalitarianism rather than the wounded vanity of Jinna which made Jinnah a “communalist.”

Comments: The author in page 220, commenting on the “coalition controversy” and the results of elections of 1937, says that the real tragedy (of the electoral verdicts) was the collapse of Jinnah’s assumptions on which he based his policies for twenty years. His hopes on separate electorates, organising Muslims on a separate political platform, formation of maximum possible Muslim majority provinces, enforcing a weighted representation for them where they were in minority and the like did not result in favourable electoral verdict even in those provinces where Muslims were in the majority . It rather resulted in a disaster as the author quotes.

The point to ponder is, if Jinnah in the previous twenty years has been working on the above policies, where was the question that Congress attitude precipitated his change of approach as claimed by the author. If that was the approach pursued by Jinnah from 1934 onwards, as concluded by the author, where is the further need to project him otherwise in the following years (in subsequent chapters) by the author. The author in page 226, recalling his address at 25th session in October 1937,says that Jinnah’s central argument of unity between Congress and the Muslim League was beyond reproach. Now, one has to distinguish between Hindu-Muslim unity and the unity between Congress and the Muslim League. If the leadership of the League has been assiduously promoting separateness of the people ( “the famous Fourteen Points”) and the Congress was stoutly opposing most of it , how can the author claim that he was the champion for promoting unity of the Congress and the League. After all the parties are made up of people.