Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Was Jinnah Secular?


The news of Jaswant Singh being expelled from primary membership of BJP quite unceremoniously....was not expected!
Jinnah, according to me, had split personalities. Earlier a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity and a hardcore nationalist leader, he changed his policies due to political compulsions.Jinnah was liberal, western educated intellectual but one can't certainly deny his role in partition. It was under his pressure that Cabinet Mission endorsed Lahore Mission of 1940, which asserted that Hindus and Muslims are two nations and can't live in harmony.
It was due to the ego-clash between Nehru and Jinnah. Both were, at the time, eyeing the top job of independent India. Since Mahatma had obviously a soft corner for Nehru, Jinnah felt insecure and ended up seeking Pakistan. There is no doubt that Jinnah wanted to Pakistan to follow western liberal secularist model, as much as Nehru wanted India to. But, post independence, Nehru got sufficient time to build India the way he wanted. Jinnah’s early death left his dreams unfulfilled.

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