The seeds of Pakistan . . . ! (Part II)

 

Mother India: “By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.”

Hi, Everyone! The period 1937 to 1938 was crucial in Indian Freedom Movement history. It is at this time that the Congress ambitions—of acquiring total control in governing India—became crystal clear, not to the poor gullible Indians, but to Viceroy Linlithgow, Jinnah, and Savarkar.

From here on:

·        Congress chances of total control were on a downward spiral, which increased their desperation and led to them sacrificing the motherland more and more.

·        Jinnah set himself against the Congress and their ambition by wielding Islam as a very formidable weapon.

·        Savarkar swooped upon the political field to rouse the Hindus into saving their motherland.

A vicious circle was formed: the more Congress aimed for control—greedily, the more Jinnah wielded the Islam weapon—successfully, the more Savarkar roused the Hindus—desperately. This led back to the Congress indulging in more scheming.

On an aside I have to say that the Congress misrepresented, misinterpreted, and misunderstood Savarkar’s bid to rouse the Hindus—who else was he going to rouse to save the Motherland but the national majority?—and till today continue the unjust maligning of his name.

What exactly did Congress, particularly Nehru, do to trigger this vicious circle?

“It was taken for granted both in the Report of the Simon Commission and the discussions in the Round Table Conference that the main communities, particularly the Muslims, ought to be, and in fact would be, represented in the Provincial Ministries. . . .”

Having made their bed of thorns by accepting, without a protest, the Communal Award, it was now incumbent upon the Congress to accept its dictates.

·        But the Congress High Command ruling the Congress like a dictatorship, sought to govern the Provinces in the same manner!

To continue:

“But when the Congress decided to accept office there arose a strong difference between the two [Congress and League] . . . the Congress, in pursuance of their principle mentioned above [that in Congress Provinces the Ministers should be selected solely from the Congress Party,] offered to include the members of the Muslim League only on certain conditions which practically meant dissolution of the Muslim League and the incorporation of its members in the Congress organization . . .

These detailed terms only translated into practice the pithy saying attributed to Nehru that ‘there were only two parties in the country—the Congress and the British Government.’”

It was preposterously arrogant and short-sighted of the Congress to imagine that Jinnah and the Muslim League would meekly become Congress puppets . . . !

Throughout the rest of the history of the Freedom Movement, every move the Congress made was aimed at ensuring they were the only party to be given the opportunity to rule the roost.

·        This was their guiding principle.

To continue:

“No wise statesman could seriously believe that the Muslim League would readily give up its own separate identity and merge itself in the Congress. The Muslim League refused to commit political Harikiri at the bidding of the Congress.”[1]

In addition to this, the Congress mass contact movement for the Muslims had a shocking approach—though one in keeping with their arrogant dictatorship.

“In effect, though not in actual words, it [Congress mass contact movement for the Muslims] amounted to an insidious propaganda of the following type: ‘Political power with all the patronage and influence it implied was exclusively in Congress hands, and there it would remain.

True to its principles, the Congress would not deny a fair share of its appointments from Minister’s office downwards to the Moslem minority, but it could not be expected to bestow them on any but the Congress Moslems. For a Moslem to stay in the League, therefore, was to condemn himself to a lifetime of wilderness. Let him make the other choice, and make it at once while the door was still open.’”[2]

This stung Jinnah into instant retaliation.

And Jinnah, the master politician, out-maneuvered the Congress High Command practically overnight . . . !

He laid down conditions for negotiations that cut at the very foundation upon which the Congress was based for the last so many years.

Let us see how by 1938, the situation had changed drastically.

·        The Congress pride came before a great fall, indeed! And that at the hands of Jinnah.

“Jinnah took up the position that the condition precedent to all negotiations was a frank recognition of the Congress and the League as the only representative bodies, respectively, of the Hindus and Muslims of India.

The executive Committee of the All-India Muslim League passed a resolution to the effect that ‘it is not possible for the All-India Muslim League to treat and negotiate with the Congress the question of Hindu-Muslim settlement except on the basis that the Muslim League is the authoritative and representative organization of the Musalmans of India.’

But this was not all. Jinnah made it clear in his letter to Subhas Bose, dated 2 August, 1938, that the committee appointed by the Congress to discuss the Hindu-Muslim questions should not include any Musalman. . . .

It is easy to see that the Congress could not accept these demands without stultifying its whole history as a national organization of Indians of all faith and communities.

The Congress demand in 1937 that the Muslims must liquidate the Muslim League if they wanted to share powers with the Congress was bad enough, but it was far worse to demand that the Indian National Congress, with its proud records of more than half a century’s service as a national organization, should voluntarily degrade itself into a communal Organization only to serve as a counterpart to the Muslim League.”[3]

Oh, how neatly Jinnah had turned the tables on the Congress!

Jinnah was turning out to be a serious problem for the Congress.

·        And since the “bogey” Jinnah could not be made to go poof, the Congress sought to be rid of him through partition.

The axe ready to chop India had now made its grim appearance on the political scene!

Anurupa

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[1] Ibid, 561

[2] HFMI, vol III, R. C. Majumdar, page 566.

 

[3] Ibid, 569

 

“Now, if at this moment the Muslims were fully assured that this sort of composite government would be formed at the centre, and that the Muslims in it would be real representatives of the Muslim community and not merely nominees of the Hindus, they would probably be satisfied. But owing to the recent conduct of the Congress they feel no such assurance. They believe that Congress’s aim is to establish Hindu Raj at the center . . . Congress policy has certainly created this impression. For after sweeping victories in the provincial elections, Congress proceeded to form pure Congress ministries in every Province. In none of them would they admit the principle of coalition. . . . It is pure Congress Raj . . .” Strangers in India, by Penderel Moon, I.C.S., page 106.

 

“When the Congress decided to accept office there was a proposal that it should form coalition ministries with the Muslim League. . . . The Congress decided to have homogeneous ministries of its own and chose Muslim ministers from amongst those who were members of the Congress Party. This was the beginning of a serious rift between the Congress and the League and was a factor which induced neutral Muslim opinion to turn to the support of Jinnah. . . .

Jinnah and the other leaders of the Muslim League, embittered by the controversy on the issue of coalition ministries, now began to play with the idea of a separate State, and turned against the conception of an all-India federation.” Transfer of Power, V. P. Menon, pages 56-57