Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, the sole man responsible for the tearing apart a nation, the one who was responnsible for breaking families, for the
death of millions of lives which were lost during the painful partition. The image that we have about Jinnah in mind is of a demon, who brought in the Hindu- Muslim
division, planted the seeds of discrimination in the minds of the people where none existed. But did we ever take a moment to think was what appeared really true? Was
he really the villian that he is potrayed as? What really must have gone through his mind when he demanded for a separate nation for the Muslims? What prompted Jinnah,
who strongly propagated freedom to follow any religion, to take such a huge step which would affect millions of lives and also the future of not one, but two nations?
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was an Indian Muslim politician and statesman who led the All India Muslim League and founded Pakistan, serving as its first Governor-General. He
is commonly known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-i-Qaum ("Father of the Nation"); his birth and death anniversaries are national holidays in Pakistan. Jinnah was
born as Mahomedali Jinnahbhai in Wazir Mansion, Karachi. Jinnah was the eldest of five children born to Jinnahbhai Poonja (1857 - 1901), a prosperous Gujarati merchant
from Kathiawar, Gujarat. His family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam. Jinnah had a turbulent time at several different schools, but finally found stability at the Christian Missionary Society High School in Karachi. He was not an observing Muslim, taking pork and alcohol, dressed throughout his life in European-style clothes, and spoke in English more than his mother tongue, Gujarati.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah started his political career in 1906 when he attended the Calcutta session of the All India National Congress in the capacity of Private Secretary
to the President of the Congress. In 1910, he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council. He sponsored the Waqf Validating Bill, which brought him in touch with other Muslim leaders. In March 1913, Jinnah joined the All India Muslim League.
As a member of the Muslim League, Jinnah began to work for Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1917, the annual sessions of both the Congress and the League were held at Lucknow.
The League session was presided over by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It marked the culmination of his efforts towards Hindu-Muslim unity. Here, both the League and the Congress adopted a scheme of reforms known as the Lucknow Pact.
Until the publication of Nehru Report, Jinnah continued his efforts for Hindu-Muslim unity. The Nehru Report, published in 1928, was severely criticized by all sections of the Muslim community. In December 1928, the National Convention was called to consider the Report. Jinnah proposed some amendments, but they were all rejected. He finally parted ways with the Congress.
In 1929, Jinnah presented his famous Fourteen Points in response to the Nehru Report. When he returned from England, he reorganized the Muslim League. In 1934, he was elected as its permanent president.
The Provincial Assembly elections of 1937 swept the Congress to power in eight provinces. After almost two years of oppressive rule, Muslims under the leadership of
Jinnah, celebrated the Day of Deliverance at the end of Congress rule.
The Muslim League held its annual session at Lahore in March 1940. This was presided over by Quaid-i-Azam. The demand for Pakistan was formally put forward here. This goal was realized on August 14, 1947. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was appointed as its first Governor General.
After watching the movie on Jinnah I somewhere felt that maybe we had made a very hasty decision in passing judgements on a person who had only good interests in his mind for the Muslim minority that existed in India. He wanted that the Muslim community did not lose its identity in India, that they had their own identity. Maybe there was a better way to handle the situation, do good for the Muslims in India. Maybe it would have been better that the opinion of the common people be taken into consideration, what did they really want, instead of the leaders taking decisions amongst themselves and imposing their decisons on the common man. Maybe we could have averted the deaths of millions of people, avoided the pain that people had to face during partition.
It felt really weird to realize how his ideas were manipulated an presented in front of the world to potray him as a villian whereas the decision that he took was based upon a lot of factors that had occured in his past associations with the Congress. But maybe he was expecting a bit too much from people around, to play fair, which never really happened.
Inspite of everything that has happened we see the same kind of discrimination existing in India, the kind that Jinnah had perceived and was afraid of. Is it so difficult to not judge a person on the basis of his religion? Infact why do we even need to judge anyone for that matter? Is it so difficult to understand that religion is man-made, a matter of faith, something which is a part of our life, not life itself? Why have we made it larger than life?
Maybe someday everyone will realize that the only religion that we should follow is that of humanity.....
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sabarmati Ashram tour
ASHRAM DARSHAN ( A view of the ashram)
While at Sabarmati, Gandhiji lived in a small cottage which is now known as 'Hridaya (Heart) Kunj'. It is a place of great historic value, where even today visitors find some of the things which Gandhiji used- a writing desk, a khadi kurta, a yarn spun by him and some of his letters.
Nandini:
It is on the right hand side of 'Hridaya Kunj'. It is an old Ashram guest house, where guests from India and abroad are put up.
Vinoba Kutir:
Named after Acharya Vinoba Bhave who stayed here, and also known as Mira Kutir after Mirabahen, Gandhiji's disciple, daughter of a British Admiral.
Upasana Mandir:
It is an open -air prayer ground, situated between 'Hridaya Kunj' and 'Magan Kutir' (the hut where Maganlal Gandhi, the ashram manager, used to stay).
Here, Gandhiji used to refer to individual questions after prayers and as the head of the family analysed and gave his solutions.
Gandhi Sangrahalaya:
An important feature of the Ashram is Gandhi Sangrahalaya, a museum inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on May10,1963.
It has five units and a library, two photo-galleries and an auditorium.
When Gandhiji toured the villages of India to understand the nation and its people better, on the advice of his mentor Gokhale, he observed that a majority of the population in India was poor. If he were to actually do something for the country, he would have to connect with them and this could only happen if he learnt their way of living. Hence he shed all his fancy wear and preferred to change to the simple attire of a dhoti. Also the Khadi movement was another step in this direction, to connect to the mass poor population in India.
Gandhiji had to undergo a lot of changes in order to embrace the ideals that he had set for himself. It would have been very difficult for him to shed all his inhibitions and beliefs which he had been holding on to for so long. He had to move out of his comfort zone to enter into a very uncomfortable zone. Even in the Sabarmati Ashram, he was faced by stiff opposition from the inmates when he admitted a Harijan family. Even Kasturba was finding it difficult to live upto Gandhiji's great expectations of treating everyone as equal. But Gandhiji was so true to his ideals that he did not stop his own sister, Raliyaben, from leaving the ashram when she placed an impossible demand of not wanting to share the same kitchen as the Harijan family. He was not operating out of a single tradition, he was basically a hybrid religion person. Gandhiji was an intuitive leader in every sense. He was a very good strategist too. He had realised very early on that in order to create a nation, he had to do something for every section of the society so that they would feel connected to the concept of the nation at an emotional level and not feel detached. He addressed the needs of all kinds of people in India.
Rowlatt Act 1919, marked Gandhiji's entry into politics. These were a few of his powerful words:
"There is no courage in not taking weapons
My notion of democracy is that under it even the weakest should have the same oppurtunity as the strongest"
We learnt a lot about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's journey from being an ordinary man to the Mahatma, the One Man Army who changed the course of the colonial wind prevailing here and helped us breathe the fresh air of freedom.
After this memorable trip to the Ashram, we all wished that some "Chemical Locha", would happen to us so that apunko Bapu sach mei dikhne lage!
While at Sabarmati, Gandhiji lived in a small cottage which is now known as 'Hridaya (Heart) Kunj'. It is a place of great historic value, where even today visitors find some of the things which Gandhiji used- a writing desk, a khadi kurta, a yarn spun by him and some of his letters.
Nandini:
It is on the right hand side of 'Hridaya Kunj'. It is an old Ashram guest house, where guests from India and abroad are put up.
Vinoba Kutir:
Named after Acharya Vinoba Bhave who stayed here, and also known as Mira Kutir after Mirabahen, Gandhiji's disciple, daughter of a British Admiral.
Upasana Mandir:
It is an open -air prayer ground, situated between 'Hridaya Kunj' and 'Magan Kutir' (the hut where Maganlal Gandhi, the ashram manager, used to stay).
Here, Gandhiji used to refer to individual questions after prayers and as the head of the family analysed and gave his solutions.
Gandhi Sangrahalaya:
An important feature of the Ashram is Gandhi Sangrahalaya, a museum inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on May10,1963.
It has five units and a library, two photo-galleries and an auditorium.
When Gandhiji toured the villages of India to understand the nation and its people better, on the advice of his mentor Gokhale, he observed that a majority of the population in India was poor. If he were to actually do something for the country, he would have to connect with them and this could only happen if he learnt their way of living. Hence he shed all his fancy wear and preferred to change to the simple attire of a dhoti. Also the Khadi movement was another step in this direction, to connect to the mass poor population in India.
Gandhiji had to undergo a lot of changes in order to embrace the ideals that he had set for himself. It would have been very difficult for him to shed all his inhibitions and beliefs which he had been holding on to for so long. He had to move out of his comfort zone to enter into a very uncomfortable zone. Even in the Sabarmati Ashram, he was faced by stiff opposition from the inmates when he admitted a Harijan family. Even Kasturba was finding it difficult to live upto Gandhiji's great expectations of treating everyone as equal. But Gandhiji was so true to his ideals that he did not stop his own sister, Raliyaben, from leaving the ashram when she placed an impossible demand of not wanting to share the same kitchen as the Harijan family. He was not operating out of a single tradition, he was basically a hybrid religion person. Gandhiji was an intuitive leader in every sense. He was a very good strategist too. He had realised very early on that in order to create a nation, he had to do something for every section of the society so that they would feel connected to the concept of the nation at an emotional level and not feel detached. He addressed the needs of all kinds of people in India.
Rowlatt Act 1919, marked Gandhiji's entry into politics. These were a few of his powerful words:
"There is no courage in not taking weapons
My notion of democracy is that under it even the weakest should have the same oppurtunity as the strongest"
We learnt a lot about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's journey from being an ordinary man to the Mahatma, the One Man Army who changed the course of the colonial wind prevailing here and helped us breathe the fresh air of freedom.
After this memorable trip to the Ashram, we all wished that some "Chemical Locha", would happen to us so that apunko Bapu sach mei dikhne lage!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sabarmati Ashram
As part of the Imagining India course we had this wonderful oppurtunity to visit the Sabarmati Ashram where Gandhiji spent a good 13 years of his life. Gandhiji stayed at the Ashram from 1915 to 1933 later on the Ashram was disbanded. The Ashram is a witness to many important historical events. Leaders and intellects from all parts of the country used to visit him here to seek his advice and guidance.
"This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for Truth and develop Fearlessness- for on one side, are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other, thunderbolts of Mother Nature".- This is how
Gandhiji described the site of Sabarmati Ashram when he first visited the place for assessing if it was suitable for carrying out his work.
The site of 36 acres was a waste land full of snakes, but the order was not to kill them.
The Satyagraha Ashram, later renamed as Harijan Ashram, was started in all earnest with a two-fold purpose- one was to carry on the search for Truth, and the other was to create a non-violent group of workers, who would create a non-violent group of workers, who would organize and help to secure freedom for the country.
The Satyagraha Ashram was founded on May 22, 1915 in Ahmedabad at Kochrab, when Gandhi returned from South Africa, with 25 inmates. The Ashram was shifted on the bank of river Sabarmati in July 1917. Devoted ashramites led a community life in search of Truth and Non-violence under his guidance.For Gandhiji, 'Ashram' meant Religious Community Living. He strongly believed that intellectual strength should be exercised not to earn a living or amass a fortune but only in the service of mankind. The inmates of the Ashram had to take and abide by eleven vows whch were:
Satya- Truth
Ahimsa- Nonviolence
Brahmacharya- Celibacy
Aparigraha- Non possession
Asteya- Non stealing
Asprushyatanivarana- Removal of untouchability
Swashraya- Bread Labor
Sarvadharma Samabhav- Equal respect for all religions
Swadeshi- USe of indigenous goods
Abhay- Fearlessness
Asvada- Control of palate
The important community activities that were carried out in the Ashram included weaving, spinning, cleaning and praying. All of these activities may be considered sufficient for the observance of bread labour.
Basically the ideal of the Ashram was to live to serve. If the insistence on truth was the foundation of the Ashram, then prayer was its source of strength. Gandhiji believed that Truth is God, and to worship the truth is prayer.
Gandhiji was involved in every dimension of life whether it be cultural, economic, social or spiritual, he was there everywhere.
"This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for Truth and develop Fearlessness- for on one side, are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other, thunderbolts of Mother Nature".- This is how
Gandhiji described the site of Sabarmati Ashram when he first visited the place for assessing if it was suitable for carrying out his work.
The site of 36 acres was a waste land full of snakes, but the order was not to kill them.
The Satyagraha Ashram, later renamed as Harijan Ashram, was started in all earnest with a two-fold purpose- one was to carry on the search for Truth, and the other was to create a non-violent group of workers, who would create a non-violent group of workers, who would organize and help to secure freedom for the country.
The Satyagraha Ashram was founded on May 22, 1915 in Ahmedabad at Kochrab, when Gandhi returned from South Africa, with 25 inmates. The Ashram was shifted on the bank of river Sabarmati in July 1917. Devoted ashramites led a community life in search of Truth and Non-violence under his guidance.For Gandhiji, 'Ashram' meant Religious Community Living. He strongly believed that intellectual strength should be exercised not to earn a living or amass a fortune but only in the service of mankind. The inmates of the Ashram had to take and abide by eleven vows whch were:
Satya- Truth
Ahimsa- Nonviolence
Brahmacharya- Celibacy
Aparigraha- Non possession
Asteya- Non stealing
Asprushyatanivarana- Removal of untouchability
Swashraya- Bread Labor
Sarvadharma Samabhav- Equal respect for all religions
Swadeshi- USe of indigenous goods
Abhay- Fearlessness
Asvada- Control of palate
The important community activities that were carried out in the Ashram included weaving, spinning, cleaning and praying. All of these activities may be considered sufficient for the observance of bread labour.
Basically the ideal of the Ashram was to live to serve. If the insistence on truth was the foundation of the Ashram, then prayer was its source of strength. Gandhiji believed that Truth is God, and to worship the truth is prayer.
Gandhiji was involved in every dimension of life whether it be cultural, economic, social or spiritual, he was there everywhere.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The beginning of the journey of Imagining India......
India is a nation of stories, from these stories comes our nation's history. Our freedom struggle is another very interesting story. It was full of drama, excitement, trauma, loss, separation, extreme passion, devotion, determination, unity in diversity, unexpected achievements and a few unforgivable failures. Different writers have depicted the story of our freedom struggle in different ways, creating a different kind of picture in our minds every time. Different ideologies construct different images of the events in our minds. At the center of every story there is an authority from which all meanings and forces emerge.
We Indians always look out for a hero and a villain in every story that we read. We want to believe that if there is a good person there has to be a bad person and good must triumph over the evil in the end. We look at varied people’s ideas and start accepting things in the way the writers want us to see, in the manner they have put it across. Sometimes the image that is created in our minds about a person through the writings is not completely true. For example, most of us believe that Jinnah was a villain, solely responsible for the partition of India. But have we ever thought about how Jinnah was as a person? What provoked him to take this huge decision of wanting a new land of Pakistan?
We always get an insight into the author’s mind regarding a particular subject. Not always do we get the real truth, the way things had actually happened. So what exactly happened in the freedom struggle and the post- independence era, we don’t really know. Some writers chose to write the freedom struggle in the form of: Britisher’s came, ruled, flourished and went away. While a few others chose to present things pointillistically, picking bits and pieces of stories from here and there to create a complete picture. Very few chose to present the struggle that people were putting up against the Britishers though not on a very large scale, for example, the peasants rebellion in Kheda. Therefore, whatever we know about our Independence War is incomplete. There were a lot many factors which contributed to our freedom which we are not really aware of.
India is rich in culture and heritage, a unique blend of very diverse traditions living together under the same roof named India. But is this country what it seems to be? Is this one country or is it a combination of various small countries which we term as states? After independence we were presented with this very rosy picture of India being united. But was this really so? Was there truly unity in diversity as we are being told?
Nations do not have specific origins hence it is an idea. India has always been seen as an “Eternal” nation, the one which strongly sticks to its culture and heritage, refusing to budge, refusing to accept the changes happening around, refusing to evolve. But is it really so? Most of the youth that we see today are trying to emulate the Western culture, thinking their ways are forward and ours are not. It is all a question of perception. We see what we want to see and believe what we want to believe. So when we want to believe that everything is hunky-dory, we will.
When we want to believe that everyone in the country was happy after independence we will, not ready to face the truth lying in front of us. But the truth is that after independence, we were fighting a war amongst ourselves, a fight of knowing what position our religion, our caste and most importantly we have in the newly formed country now. The Dalits were insecure about their position thanks to their experience of the past. Many of them felt that the Britishers rule was better for them. Many Muslims refused to join Pakistan , they were scared about what their plight would be in India now. Hindus were insecure thinking whether the nation entirely belonged to them or no. Basically post-independence a national identity was forced upon people, a sense of Indianness thrust upon. Whether they truly accepted this or not was a question which remains unanswered.
To speak the truth, a single India is an artificial construction. There are two layers in each Indian’s heart, one, the “Pan-Indian” view and the other which part of the country they actually hail from. Both these layers take turns in overshadowing each other as per the situation in front of the people. India is very unique in the sense that the people here have this constant war of assimilation and resilience- we belong, but we don’t belong. For example, a thought that goes on in a person's mind could be I am an Indian but I belong to Maharashtra.
Also, India is a very unnatural nation. Usually nations are formed under the subject of many commonalities. For example the idea of Europe came from common language, religion, territory. But India has none of these factors in common. India is not a nation, it is a nation state. Here each state in itself is a small nation, having its own governance but sheltered under the blanket of a bigger nation India. Each nation-state has its own unique characteristics, its own language, its own culture, its own tradition yet it “belongs” to a bigger nation of India.
Although Hindi is considered to be the national language of India, it is not so. This decision was simply imposed upon the people back then. Even now a large chunk of the population is not well- versed with the language. Ironically after declaring Hindi as the national language, the very first post- Independence speech given by our honourable first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was in English! Wonder how many people must have understood what he was trying to say through his speech.
Even though we live under the illusion that “India is One” , there is “Unity in Diversity” , everyday we hear of incidents which break this myth. We have created categories in our minds, form biased opinions about communities. Caste is a concept which is still largely prevalent here much to the astonishment of foreigners. We are proud of our culture but somewhere it is turning out to be a bondage, which is preventing us from evolving and throwing away certain concepts which are not relevant today.
We speak of equality among men and women, but even today if you go to your parents and say you want to get married to a lower caste girl, the very first question that will pop in front of you is,”What will the society say?” When men themselves do not get entire freedom, women cannot even dream of being free. Even today when we see a person from the East we assume that he must be from China or Nepal. Isn’t this a form of discrimination? We fail to understand that this society, religions all are our creations and we must learn to transform them as and when the need arises. Inspite of all this we can say that the “concept of India” is a very successful democratic idea – a new nation having an ancient civilization.
We Indians always look out for a hero and a villain in every story that we read. We want to believe that if there is a good person there has to be a bad person and good must triumph over the evil in the end. We look at varied people’s ideas and start accepting things in the way the writers want us to see, in the manner they have put it across. Sometimes the image that is created in our minds about a person through the writings is not completely true. For example, most of us believe that Jinnah was a villain, solely responsible for the partition of India. But have we ever thought about how Jinnah was as a person? What provoked him to take this huge decision of wanting a new land of Pakistan?
We always get an insight into the author’s mind regarding a particular subject. Not always do we get the real truth, the way things had actually happened. So what exactly happened in the freedom struggle and the post- independence era, we don’t really know. Some writers chose to write the freedom struggle in the form of: Britisher’s came, ruled, flourished and went away. While a few others chose to present things pointillistically, picking bits and pieces of stories from here and there to create a complete picture. Very few chose to present the struggle that people were putting up against the Britishers though not on a very large scale, for example, the peasants rebellion in Kheda. Therefore, whatever we know about our Independence War is incomplete. There were a lot many factors which contributed to our freedom which we are not really aware of.
India is rich in culture and heritage, a unique blend of very diverse traditions living together under the same roof named India. But is this country what it seems to be? Is this one country or is it a combination of various small countries which we term as states? After independence we were presented with this very rosy picture of India being united. But was this really so? Was there truly unity in diversity as we are being told?
Nations do not have specific origins hence it is an idea. India has always been seen as an “Eternal” nation, the one which strongly sticks to its culture and heritage, refusing to budge, refusing to accept the changes happening around, refusing to evolve. But is it really so? Most of the youth that we see today are trying to emulate the Western culture, thinking their ways are forward and ours are not. It is all a question of perception. We see what we want to see and believe what we want to believe. So when we want to believe that everything is hunky-dory, we will.
When we want to believe that everyone in the country was happy after independence we will, not ready to face the truth lying in front of us. But the truth is that after independence, we were fighting a war amongst ourselves, a fight of knowing what position our religion, our caste and most importantly we have in the newly formed country now. The Dalits were insecure about their position thanks to their experience of the past. Many of them felt that the Britishers rule was better for them. Many Muslims refused to join Pakistan , they were scared about what their plight would be in India now. Hindus were insecure thinking whether the nation entirely belonged to them or no. Basically post-independence a national identity was forced upon people, a sense of Indianness thrust upon. Whether they truly accepted this or not was a question which remains unanswered.
To speak the truth, a single India is an artificial construction. There are two layers in each Indian’s heart, one, the “Pan-Indian” view and the other which part of the country they actually hail from. Both these layers take turns in overshadowing each other as per the situation in front of the people. India is very unique in the sense that the people here have this constant war of assimilation and resilience- we belong, but we don’t belong. For example, a thought that goes on in a person's mind could be I am an Indian but I belong to Maharashtra.
Also, India is a very unnatural nation. Usually nations are formed under the subject of many commonalities. For example the idea of Europe came from common language, religion, territory. But India has none of these factors in common. India is not a nation, it is a nation state. Here each state in itself is a small nation, having its own governance but sheltered under the blanket of a bigger nation India. Each nation-state has its own unique characteristics, its own language, its own culture, its own tradition yet it “belongs” to a bigger nation of India.
Although Hindi is considered to be the national language of India, it is not so. This decision was simply imposed upon the people back then. Even now a large chunk of the population is not well- versed with the language. Ironically after declaring Hindi as the national language, the very first post- Independence speech given by our honourable first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was in English! Wonder how many people must have understood what he was trying to say through his speech.
Even though we live under the illusion that “India is One” , there is “Unity in Diversity” , everyday we hear of incidents which break this myth. We have created categories in our minds, form biased opinions about communities. Caste is a concept which is still largely prevalent here much to the astonishment of foreigners. We are proud of our culture but somewhere it is turning out to be a bondage, which is preventing us from evolving and throwing away certain concepts which are not relevant today.
We speak of equality among men and women, but even today if you go to your parents and say you want to get married to a lower caste girl, the very first question that will pop in front of you is,”What will the society say?” When men themselves do not get entire freedom, women cannot even dream of being free. Even today when we see a person from the East we assume that he must be from China or Nepal. Isn’t this a form of discrimination? We fail to understand that this society, religions all are our creations and we must learn to transform them as and when the need arises. Inspite of all this we can say that the “concept of India” is a very successful democratic idea – a new nation having an ancient civilization.
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