.
.
.
.
Yes I have been following the saga, not in great depth, but it is worth commenting on as I am doing now.
What is the significance of the saga for India, for Pakistan.....for South Asia generally?
Not significant? Just a couple of old farts, in the twilight of their political life lamenting and reflecting on a long past insignificant story, candidly in the way old farts do as they trace their life history...............babbling on without proper political timing, coherent context and singular political purpose???? (Advani and Singh )
Or something more sinister and Machiavellian?...............By painting Jinnah as a secular man, who was very moderate and reasonable.....someone who was accommodating and flexible (all good things), they are trying to insinuate that the sad traumatic unnecessary partition of India for ALL was the result of Congress and its leadership failures, and specifically Nehru. If that were so, then that would be really sad, and low in politics, never mind that politics does attract a lot of the low, sad, criminal sort, especially in India, or maybe I should say especially South Asia.
I instinctively NEVER thought when Advani published his book in 2005 and came out with the "Jinnah was secular" meme Advani was taking a dig at Congress.......it was an auto biography by a man who had a lot of rich memories and by writing the autobiography presumably Advani was attempting to come to terms with his life, the highs and the lows, and sharing those experiences with a wide an audience as possible, surely? Isn't that why the great and the good write auto biographies....to set the record straight as it were, rather than as vindictive retributive tools?
Obviously when you are a high profile political/public figure, people invariably can gauge secondary, or multilayered meanings which simply may not exist in the original text......but this is the hazard of being a prominent political person........your every words are scrutinized, and examined...and this is how it is every where. But I do not believe the intentions of Advani and Jaswant Singh were in this direction for one moment; just old men perhaps reaching a position of greater wisdom, genuinely lamenting the partition of India............which I too regret genuinely. I do genuinely regret the partition of India....it was unnecessary, wasteful and destructive...and if Pakistan is occupied by the Americans proper, the situation for South Asia will get worse, in the manner of Bengal in 1757, and a certain Mir Jafar. History can repeat itself, sometimes.
Let me briefly enlighten you on how my perspectives about Pakistan, India and partition changed........gradually over time, slowly. In doing so perhaps you might begin to understand why L K Advani and Jaswant Singh from the BJP of all parties made their statements as they did through their books respectively, more recently.
I have mixed both with Pakistanis and Indians socially and they have been mostly good experiences. When you interact with others socially you begin to see them as just another human being, and you begin to focus on the similarities......what inerests you both.....basic function of socialisation. Then when I began writing about Pakistan securty post 9/11, I came to the conclusion that Pakistan was the aggressor nation viz India........this would be around late 2003, not 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. Then I considered the Pakistan state....a failed state, which seems to be incapable of providing the basics for its people...........but on the contrary quite often in a rather casual manner kills millions of its own people. A state that has been involved in American sponsored schemes/mischief around the region which have a tendency to boomerang onto the country.......but they never seem to learn this hard fact.
So what is the justification of such a state? To be sure India is not a shining beacon of light which I am yearning to rush to work and live in BUT, what if partition did not happen? What would have been the benefits of such an outcome for South Asia generally?
For all my meager wisdom, unlike Advani and Jaswant Singh, I think the outcome for South Asia of a united India would have been far far better, than it is now.....at the moment the spat between India and Pakistan running over 62 years is a total farce......a dangerous time consuming wasteful argument which has involved three wars, and as many near wars, without any solutions.
It is in that broader sense, with all the cost and damage to the region, with Pakistan being used as a security ops proxy by outside alien powers.....with ALL the consequences........... that I regret the partition of India. I regret what Jinnah did.......looking at the situation in hind sight. I regret that he partitioned India, knowing that he was only going to get a moth eaten rumb statelet which was going to fail. I regret that he pushed for Pakistan when he knew he wouldn't live long to see it and realize it himself. I regret the destruction of cultures and communities which had co existed for 1000 upon thousands of years.......this was the work of Jinnah and nobody else.
I have even gone further and suggested that he was a Raj spy, maneuvered into place to effect their agenda, and I stand by that accusation.
It is in that sense that I think praising Jinnah especially now is wrong. In the context of BJP politics and their responsibilities to their party and to their country I am quite sure that there are far more current and urgent issues which the BJP as a party in opposition needs to focus on rather than get side tracted into non-issue matters of history, thick with emotion for many, but of very little relevance to the present. These sort of things are best discussed within the confines of the proper intellectual circles within the party, rather than bring them out in the open.
BUT if by praising Jinnah one is attempting some kind of rapprochement with the "other side" than I accept it as a good intentioned gesture. But not as a political tactic to take a dig at the Congress Party; there are other more OBVIOUS ways one can criticize the current Congress Party, without being so cryptic.
Nehru was not a great leader, he had faults....and he made many mistakes. As to Gandhi imagine India now if his ideology were taken in its literal form and translated into India's foreign policy, defense policy and economic policy.............utter, utter disaster would have ensued in India, and the Congress Party knew that, that is why they never instituted a significant portions of his ideas into state policy.........be that as it may, they cannot however be blamed for the Partition of India..........that sad occurrence was the work of Jinnah, and if one believes ones instincts, the Raj manipulated Jinnah through their numerous agents in India...........that is why they were in such a "hurry' to leave India, without actually leaving........independence would have been too late for them in 1948, after being in the vicinity of the subcontinent for 200 odd years. Samje?
So on to Mr. Jaswant Singh. To challenge ones cherishly held ideas every now and than and reflect upon them requires quite of bit of courage and a great deal of reflective thinking.....so his comments and his book I thoroughly commend and recommend. I hope he visits Pakistan and makes it his second home. When he visits the country he should reach out to a wide an audience as possible.........and in between book signings he should:
1. Lecture why for all the reasons the partition was morally, economically, politically, socially, culturally, psychologically and militarily wrong....he shouldn't babble on but have specific sound bites that are genuine in content. Clear precise answers.
2. What in his opinion were the true role of the Congress, the Raj and Jinnah with the Muslim League in the partition of India. This should definitely not be a Congress bashing session.
3. How India and Pakistan, specifically NOW can come closer together in all respects. What practical ideas does he have for this important task.
