Jinnah- The SOUL Spokesman

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.....