“A
deed without a name . . .”
“It’s
better to have a thousand enemies outside of the tent than one inside the tent.”
Hi, Everyone! In 1943, this is how the
position stands:
“In 1939, when the war
broke out, Jinnah could claim only a nominal hold on the Punjab. But by this
time all the other provinces which he claimed for Pakistan, namely Assam, Sind,
Bengal, and the North-West Frontier Province, had come under the control of
League ministries.”[1]
Jinnah and the Muslim League were in a
very strong position, both with the British and the Muslims in India.
On an aside, I want to mention that
Savarkar, too, had against all odds developed the Hindu Mahasabha into a party
of some standing. I shall post on Savarkar separately at a later date.
The Congress was not in a very good
position politically. It is at this time Nehru was indiscreet enough to record
his frustrations in his diary.
Nehru wrote in his jail
diary on December 28, 1943: "Instinctively I think
it is better to have Pakistan or almost nothing if only to keep Jinnah far away
and not allow his muddled and arrogant head from (sic) interfering continually
in India's progress"[2]
Yes, most certainly, the Pakistan scheme
had become most attractive to the Congress High Command!
Rajgopalachari (Rajaji) had been heavily
promoting the Pakistan scheme everywhere. He had been corresponding with Jinnah
over it too.
“It should be noted
here that Rajgopalachari met Gandhi in the Aga Khan palace during his fast and
he [Gandhi] blessed the scheme adopted by Rajagopalachari. Soon after
Rajagopalachari offered it to Jinnah who did not pay much attention to it at
this stage, in April 1943. . . .
The crafty politician,
Rajagopalachari, kept Gandhi’s approval of his scheme a secret. Neither did the
Mahatma reveal it to anybody. He was conceiving Pakistan.”[3]
How shocking that the Mahatma of the
Indians who publicly swore the vivisection of India was a sin, should secretly
plot to commit this sin himself . . . ! How very many of the Mahatma’s lofty
principles are sacrificed in this one act.
By 1944, the whole ugly story was
spilled out into the open by all three main participants: Gandhi, Rajaji, and
Jinnah.
“‘In one of his
telegrams sent to Mr. Jinnah and now released to the press, Rajaji said, ‘Mr.
Gandhi, though not vested with representative or special capacity in this
matter, definitely approved of my proposals and authorized me to approach you
on that basis. The weight of his opinion would most probably secure Congress
acceptance.’
Mark the secret promise
of the truth-seeker, Gandhi, who abhorred secrecy in any matter. Read this
further confession of Rajaji in his statement of July 16, 1944, issued from
Panchgani in which he said: ‘It is now two years since I started work, even
though I had secured Gandhi’s unqualified support to the scheme and it conceded
all that the Muslim League had ever demanded in its resolution of 1940.’ Mark
the words ‘two years.’”[4]
That would make it 1942 as the year this
secret pact was made between Gandhi and Rajaji—the year that Gandhi launched
the Quit India Movement.
In 1944, the Congress desperation to
gain control in India—and not getting anywhere with either Jinnah or the
Viceroy—led Gandhi to come right out in the open. The duped Indians should not
have remained duped anymore!
What were Gandhi’s concessions to Jinnah
and the Viceroy? Read on:
“Gandhi gave an
interview in the first week of July to Stuart Gelder of the News Chronicle,
London . . . the interview was published in The Times of India of July 11. On
the previous day The Times of India had published a statement issued by Rajagopalachari
in which he had said: ‘The public will note from the correspondence now
published that I had secured Gandhiji’s personal approval even during his fast
in February-March last year for the formula I am releasing.’. . .
In his interviews
Gandhi told Stuart Gelder that he had no intention of offering civil
disobedience. It was his purpose not to hinder but help the war effort. . . .
He would be satisfied with a national Government in full control of the civil
administration . . . He also said he had approved the proposals submitted to
Jinnah by Rajagopalachari, if the Muslim League would endorse the demand for
independence.
He further said that he
regarded the Rajaji formula as being consistent with national integrity and his
own opinion with the spirit of the Congress resolution. . . .
Commenting on this,
‘Candidus’ observed in The Times of India: ‘The past week also witnessed the
revelation that Mr. Gandhi, who a couple of years ago was stoutly opposed to a
division of the country, is now agreeable to the principle of Pakistan. It is a
reversal of his original approach that partition of India would be a ‘sin’. He
now concedes the principle of Pakistan, division of India.’”[5]
This bold move on the part of Gandhi was
a shock to the Congress members, but quite in keeping with Gandhi’s frequent
claims of “carrying the Congress with himself,” they did nothing to oppose.
“When the scheme was
out, there was a flutter for a while among the Congress circles and press; but
they were stunned to see that their holy father Gandhi was acting as the
Godfather to the unholy scheme of portioning their Motherland and thereafter
they culpably kept silent on the nefarious move.”[6]
Gandhi’s next move was to actually have
long “talks” with Jinnah to concede Pakistan to him.
More on that tomorrow.
Anurupa
[1] Transfer of Power, V. P. Menon, page 148.
[2] Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru; First
Series; Vol.13; page 324.
[3] Mahatma Gandhi, Keer, page 716.
[4] Veer Savarkar, Keer, 352-353
[5]Mahatma Gandhi, Keer, pages 723-724.
[6]Ibid, 353.
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