Mohammed Ali Jinnah – little known facts

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born (1876) in Karachi to Gujarati parents from Princely State of Gondal, Village Paneli (Kathiawar in Gujarat) in a wealthy merchant community called ‘Khoja’ a Shia sect of Islam. This Community is largely found in the city of Karachi, who is Kutchi people migrated to Karachi during the Suez Canal days with an ambition to prosperity during economic boom then.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah did not know much of Urdu, Hindi or Gujarati but became proficient in English after being qualified as accomplished Barrister at Lincoln’s Inn in England in 1896, youngest Indian at the age of twenty!

The motivation behind sending MA Jinnah to the UK by his father Jinnahbhai Poonja was legal proceeding against him that placed the family's property at risk of being confiscated by the court. The paternal grandfather of Jinnah was Premjibhai Meghji Thakker who was a Kutchi Lohana from Paneli village in the same Gondal state in Kathiawar of Gujarat, historically converted to Muslims after invasion of Muhammed Bin Qasim, later known as Khoja. Interestingly Premjibhai was a Hindu, who made his fortune in fish business. But Premjibhai was soon made outcast in the society to have assumed a non-vegetarian fish business being a vegetarian Hindu. This custom has not yet been eliminated as late in 2015 as we may remember Reliance fresh outlets at Mumbai which used to sell fish had to close shops and relinquish fish business for Ambani being vegetarians. But this happened after Ambani’s own community vehemently objected.

On being qualified as Lawyer Jinnah intended to practice at Karachi where he had his own Khoja community as readymade Clients. So he appeared in an interview with Harchand Rai & Co at Karachi being the leading Law firm but Hindu led. Jinnah was selected but the CTC negotiation failed as Jinnah demanded Rs 100 per month but the miser Hindu Harchand Rai himself denied more than Rs75 a month. Thus on a lighter side, Ram Jethmalani in an interview blamed partition of India on the miser Hindu law firm owner of Karachi rather than anything else & thereafter Jinnah arrived in Bombay High Court to practice, the very first Muslim lawyer, to practice in the High Court of Bombay Presidency in British India.

Jinnah was the Lawyer in Bombay Presidency per excellence and initially never wanted a partition of India. He commanded highest fees and was one of the most respected and sought after counsel.

In 1908 Bal Gangadhar Tilak one of the greatest freedom fighters against the British was arrested for sedition. Before Tilak unsuccessfully represented himself at trial, he engaged Jinnah in an attempt to secure his release on bail. Jinnah did not succeed, but obtained an acquittal for Tilak when he was charged with sedition again in 1916, probably not charged any fees for his service.

Jinnah during the course of his practice in Bombay High court became friends of his clients the “Tatas”. Once Dr. Dinshaw Petit a Tata family member, suggested a visit to Darjeeling to evade summer of Bombay. Jinnah accompanied them but fell in love with Dr. Petit’s daughter Rattenbhai Petit who was 16 year old, way back in 1916 and Jinnah was around 40 then.

Jinnah courted “Ruttie” popularly known as the flower of Bombay in 1918 and got married in absence of anyone from Ruttie’s family, stayed in Bombay in the ‘Jinnah house’ built at a cost of Rs 200,000.(Considering 1USD=1Rupee in 1947 today’s price 1US$ = 72 Rupees works out to Rs1.44 Crs)

Romance amongst Jinnah & Ruttie flourished and they made many overseas travels together. While in Bombay, Jinnah had a silhouette, where Ruttie will travel with her hairs open & flying; but marriage became sour, sooner or later & at one point Ruttie had to move out with her little daughter Dina (Mother of Nusli Wadia – of Bombay Dying fame) to Taj Hotel to avoid confrontation, all these according to many of Jinnah’s biographers.

During the incidence preceding and succeeding the partition of India into two dominions of India & Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was made the messiah of the Muslims and was made Quaid e Azam – meaning great leader. He shed his suits & boots and wore Sherwani, Coat & skull cap. British helped him to become the First Governor General of Pakistan, no elections preceded.

Initial days of Independence movement Jinnah advocated for Hindu Mulsim unity and in Lucknow Pact of 1916, he represented Muslim League. In Lahore declaration of 1940, which was later promoted as Pakistan declaration (but in the declaration itself there was no mention of Pakistan name in particular) Hindu Muslim unity was not totally forgotten but due rights of Muslims in India was desired & sought for.

Quaid e Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah had made many reversals of his own decisions i.e. change of mind after fully committing to certain principle, cause or finality.

He took fees of gold weighing his own body from the Khan of Kalat and gave status to Princely state as an independent sovereign state. This he accomplished after negotiating as the counsel of Kalat with Lord Mountbatten; but soon after partition on 14th August 1947, he ordered Pakistan Army to forcefully occupy Balochistan. On being questioned by Khan of Kalat about the U – turn, he confided that “previously I was your Lawyer, but now I am the Governor General, I am only playing my changed role.”

On 11th August 1947 in the constituent assembly of Pakistan Quaid e Azam declared that Pakistan will be a secular country and freedom of religion shall prevail, this L K Advani refers quite often in TV talk shows & during visit to Jinnah memorial at Karachi in 2005 Advani lavishly praised Jinnah on this very point, but later Jinnah changed his mind & allowed it to become a Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Just before the partition of India Jinnah signed a standstill agreement with Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir to allow Jammu & Kashmir princely state to remain independent & sovereign and Pakistan not only promised never to attack but also provide assistance in various common services like postage etc. that was the agreement, but he changed his mind later & apparently ordered Tribals (Kabailis) supported by Pakistani Army to attack Jammu & Kashmir in 1947. On being asked why there is invasion in Kashmir, he reportedly said; “I don’t know & I don’t want to know.” But complicity is derived as; at that time Rs 300,000 was withdrawn from Pakistani treasury and attack was organised in Kashmir keeping Maharaja & its Kashmiri people in complete darkness. Rs 300,000 in today’s currency value may be 1 Rs = 1 USD in 1947 equals to more than Rs 2 Crores. Maharaja thus had to seek India’s help for protection but had to accede to India as a pre-condition.

Another incident worth mentioning here is giving away Sylhet District of Assam in 1947 to East Bengal. Sylhet was very prosperous & productive district of Assam since 1873. But Jinnah demanded it & agreed for a referendum on the ground that it is a Muslim majority district of Assam. Whereas for all India scenario Jinnah never accepted the idea of referendum! But if one makes a close observation on the issue the results of referendum; that was 239,619 votes in favour of Pakistan 184,041 votes for Sylhet to remain in Assam or consequently India.

Now in that election Hut & Axe were two boxes there for people were to vote, Hut where ballot paper to go for India, Axe box where ballot will count for Pakistan or East Bengal. Now interesting fact is additionally 123,155 votes were declared invalid & another 197,272 tea estate labourers from 221 tea estates of Sylhet was not allowed to vote. These tea estate labourers had voted in 1946 constituent assembly elections - says Bidyut Chakrabarty Ex Prof of Delhi University in his book. (Ref: wwwshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in) Link provided below for more details.

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/116402/10/10_chapter%202.pdf

It looks like Sylhet was given away by India by becoming victim of fraud, but whether that was intended or not shall be discussed another time, please stay tuned:

So what really happened to Quaid e Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who had to overturn many his own decisions from till the time of his death in 1948, only he can probably best answer the question, but all these have great historical impact and it continues to affect the lives of ordinary people of India Pakistan in Kashmir, Assam, Balochistan & the rest, even on date (2018). One of the conceivable reasons which we could probably circumspect is that would solely vindicate Abraham Lincoln’s 19th century quote;

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power”


References: shall be provided on request being basically an opinion article.

Should India Give away Kashmir to settle peace with Pakistan once for all???

Do Pakistanis think that India-Pakistan relations can become friendly only if India gives Kashmir to Pakistan? Quora Question???????

No, it is not the real aim of Pakistanis, but it's just a ploy. Pakistan may think so but that would not necessarily end up the tussle of Kashmir existing since independence.

May be Pakistanis think that Kashmir is theirs but in 1946 elections which were held for the constituent assembly of India to frame Constitution & Muslim league took the matter of creation of Pakistan to the electorates in 1946 as their sole single point agenda. Muslim league gathered no support except forming Government in Bengal and forming a coalition Government in the Sindh.

This is significant that many Muslims were against Partition in the name of religion as they could foresee the fate. This may be the reason that all Indian Muslims who opted to stay in India rejected Pakistan & even today have no plans to go there. Many have never visited Pakistan since Independence. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was a congressman who stayed in India & went on to become the first education minister in Independent India & he is the one responsible for establishing IITs.

And 1946 constituent assembly elections were not held in Jammu & Kashmir because it was a princely state. So to confirm the state of Jammu & Kashmir is a Muslim majority is not substantive statement. All Muslim majority places of the erstwhile British India belongs to Pakistan is a notion and inaccurate assumption, if that is so why Hindu majority areas or cities of Khulna, Jessore, Karachi went to Pakistan. It has no foundation and the only logic followed is the negotiating skills of Jinnah Vs Gandhi- Nehru combine at the round table conference in London prior to Partition of India.

So Pakistanis have right to their own opinion and wishful thinking that Kashmir should be part of Pakistan only on the basis that any area Muslim majority should go to them as default. But the major factor is its people, Hyderabad Nizam and Junagarh Nawab wanted to be in Pakistan with Hindu majority people but could not sustain its wish. Main thing is the free will of its people; no Kashmiri popular leader has so far declared that they want to join Pakistan.

Based on various book readings by majority Pakistani authors, admissions of Pakistani Generals of war, BBC source and talk shows by Barrister Hamid Bhasani the Kashmiri now staying in Canada, the following summary of facts emerge.

India had to defend itself against Pakistan in many wars solely on Kashmir cause, if we start from 1947 immediately after independence, Pakistan with its tribal force attacked Kashmir, keeping the people of Jammu & Kashmir and Maharaja Hari Singh completely in dark about its intention to do so. Ultimately because of this aggression Maharaja had to accede to India through an instrument of accession which was unconditional to save Kashmir.

In 1965 the Pakistani military administration had a wrong information that Kashmiris themselves have become ready for occupation by Pakistan so 400 soldiers with arms & ammunitions were send to Kashmir to help the freedom fighters. This intention of Pakistan was not known to either Sheikh Abdullah or the people of Kashmir. Pakistan brutally lost the war with Karachi port totally destroyed. Lahore just got saved from being occupied by India. Here Pakistan was the belligerency initiator party.

1971 Pakistan started operation search light in East Bengal and brutalized the Bengali people, 3 million people died, 450 thousand women raped, 100 thousand women become pregnant with Pakistani soldier’s children, it created 10 million or more refugees at Indian border & Henry Kissinger US Secretary of State or National security advisor in a breakfast meeting with Indira Gandhi in Delhi refused to help the situation. India was poor country then & upkeep of 10 to 20 million refugees from across the border was impossible for India to sustain. Indira Gandhi took action & helped those Bengalis who were penniless, armless to gain independence. Pakistan in retaliation attacked India’s western border. Thereafter 93000 Pakistani soldiers had to surrender at Dhaka on 16th Dec 1971. That time also Kashmir was attacked but had to retreat due to Indian rebuttal. So this time as well Pakistan was aggressors, but realized can’t win conventional wars against India.

In 1999 Pakistan even did not acknowledge the presence of its own regular army men at the heights of Kargil but was soon detected and driven out. Pakistan refused to accept the dead bodies of the soldiers of war. How would the parents of those soldiers felt, I am unable to imagine. Pakistan this time resorted to proxy war & refused to get involved in conventional war fully knowing that it cant sustain.

Hence if Kashmir is given then all issues will be solved amongst India Pakistan and Pakistan has all rights on the Kashmiris only reason being they are Muslims is what Pakistanis may think momentarily out of emotion but this is not the opinion in India for certain and has no logical basis.

The prime reason being the Kashmiris themselves don’t like Pakistan & they seek Indian democracy, secularism, equality & grass root democracy. So they are now seeking Nizam e Mustafa in panchayat elections in 2018. This would be revolutionary happening on the part of Kashmir and things will change for ever.

If Pakistanis apply the above historical discourse & logic, then they might arrive at the right conclusion devoid of emotional reasoning & mere obsession with Kashmir, without any connection with Kashmiri culture, sentiment, tradition.

Therefore, not an inch of land or anything is to be given to Pakistan any further. Like as said in Mahabharata (नहि दिबन् सुचग्र मेदिनी) meaning the land which could be accommodated on the tip of the needle can't be given away by India. The moment you give them something they will come up with something else. Their demand is endless. The very foundation of the dispute is excessive, extreme greed & desire for everything that is India.

Kashmir is fountainhead of India & cannot be given away to anyone, however great the reason may be. Kill all of us & then take away whatever you want on our dead bodies, but as long as the last seed & descendant of Bharat is alive, nothing more can be given away.

Actual motive of Pakistanis is Gawza e Hind or Dar Ul Islam or full fledged Islamic caliphate or rule. They will not be satisfied till this happens.

Now India had given one third of J&K in 1947, Captured Lahore etc., returned in 1965: but no gratitude shown.

1971 Pakistanis dug grave for Bangabondhu Sheikh Muzibar Rahman with a definitive intent to kill him, but international pressure created by Mrs Indira Gandhi saved Muzib, today Bangladeshis don't even acknowledge India's contribution in making Bangladesh free & Independent nation! At that time India could have annexed it, but gave it away!

Pakistan is an acronym, with no history, no culture, no tradition etc to substantially talk about. Demand for Kashmir therefore is nothing but bad dreams of Army Generals for pure satisfaction of their ego. (वर्दी की खवाब)

Creation of Pakistan is the whim & fancies of few wealthy affluent landlords or Nawab ki Khawab (नवाब की खूवाब) which was founded on absolutely baseless, illogical theories like two nation theories etc. For this so called two nation theory a non-practising muslim named Mohammed Ali Jinnah was selected to act in the play. But the actor couldn't really get into his character like Bollywood superheroes due to usual disconnect with himself & the character. This theory thus was long immersed in the bay of Bengal in 1971. So it is proved beyond doubt that based on any religion no country can be made, otherwise there wouldn't have been Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria etc all contiguous states but not one country says Prof Faizan Mustafa of Aligarh Muslim University.

What Pakistan has got in common with Kashmiris, neither language, nor tradition or culture has got any kind of connect or similarity. In fact there is nothing called Typical Pakistani, as all these are either Punjabi or something else. Today Balochistan is trying hard to come out of the clutches of Pakistani acrimonious rule & military atrocities. Things are not gelling together. Military is commanding the Army, Administration, Business as well. Very unusual situation of Army conducting all business, real estate etc., not much seen anywhere in the World!

Civilians & civil society are actually mute spectators of inferior Army Governance. But like as (हती के दात दिखाने के कुछ और खाने का कुछ और) the civilian authorities are for show, like this camaflouging the real intent & reality how long one can proceed? This has been duly understood by @RealDonaldTrump therefore he has stopped all kinds of aid & he is blocking Pakistani aid from IMF as well.

Another incident worth mentioning here is giving away Sylhet District of Assam in 1947 to East Bengal. Sylhet was very prosperous & productive district of Assam since 1873. But Jinnah demanded it & agreed for a referendum on the ground that it is Muslim majority district of Assam. Whereas for all India scenario Jinnah never accepted the idea of referendum! But if one makes a close observation on the issue the results of referendum was around 200K in favour of Pakistan 150K for Sylhet to join India. Now in that election Hut & Axe were two boxes there for people to vote, Hut where ballot paper to go for India, Axe box where ballot will count for Pakistan or East Bengal. Now interesting fact is additionally 150K votes were declared invalid & another 200K tea estate labourers from 221 tea estates of Sylhet was not allowed to vote. These tea estate labourers had voted in 1946 constituent assembly elections - says Bidyut Chakrabarty Ex Prof of Delhi University in his book. It looks like Sylhet was given away by India by becoming victim of fraud, but whether that was intended or not shall be discussed another time, please stay tuned. (Voting figures are rounded off for ease of readability) That time also the same slogan was used, if Sylhet is given to Pakistan then all problems for Assam will be solved & Gopinath Bordoloi had fallen into this trap.

But giving away Sylhet did it solve any problems? NO, for certain, as it aggravated to further issues. After partition all Hindus headed for India, along with them Muslims also followed. That's why probably today Assam has foreigner’s problem & NRC debate etc., etc.

So it went on like this if Sylhet is given all problems will be sorted out for Assam, then if Pakistan is given all issues of civil war & communal riots will be solved in India. India is like now, “once bitten twice shy”, so now everybody knows if Kashmir given then nothing will happen & it will go on & on.

Hence by giving away Kashmir it may as well be reiterated that nothing will happen & it will aggravate the situation further and only history will repeat itself.

Hence Indian authorities are right in maintaining status quo on Kashmir.

Pakistanis have no logical conclusion to arrive at such denouncement.

GUJARAT MODEL does it really exist or just a propaganda???????

I lived in Gujarat for good part of my life.

I am a witness to Gujarat riots of 2002, Gujarat earthquake of 2001.

If you land in Ahmedabad by plane you can see the Sabarmati River front & when you land in Delhi you will also see the Yamuna river. The difference between the two sights is called Gujarat model. Sabarmati River looks exotic even in winter with water flowing & banks duly protected by diaphragm walls, the garden along the banks are something every Indian should be proud of & specially in the evening it looks like a celebration of river, which Hindus so adore like their mother Ganges etc. The Sabarmati is a model worthy of display to the whole World.

On the contrary Yamuna river is lackluster & dull and offers a depressive sight, that's Delhi model.

Gujarat roads are well maintained, clean, hardly any potholes, compared to this all Kolkata & Mumbai roads have too many potholes. Only due to population explosion there is uncontrollable garbage on the public places. Highways & expressways are much better.

People are like their highways, all mostly constructive & progressive minded, move on come what may be (Aage badho) . Lot of Industrialisation, nobody found looking for jobs, there is hardly any situation vacant advertisements in local newspaper. People are all busy doing their own work and mostly prefer their own business.

One significant point I would like to mention here that all doctors in Gujarat have good well maintained & clean chambers; they generally don't order unnecessary tests. First time I saw they give a free file with every prescription.

Nobody tells you that you are an outsider!!! Never ever I have faced this situation. In fact all the outsiders who have settled in Gujarat refuse to go out of Gujarat, that's the difference between Gujarat model & Assam model where all outsiders are at the risk of being uprooted anytime & suffers insecurity. Because of this good people flock to Gujarat and good people leave Assam like exodus.

During 2001 Earthquake, which was having very devastating effects (eg one six story building sunk & only one story was seen above ground) but people never asked what's your religion but rendered help to all. People in large numbers donated whatever extra they had in homes and relief materials were dispatched to all affected location without marking Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Ishai etc.

During 2002 Gujarat riots have seen mob on the road with flame torches & later on when went to market, saw rioters burnt shops selectively belonging to particular one community. Just next shop belonging to another community was not attacked, people told me like this riots in Gujarat happens regularly & it's rojka ( रोजका) meaning regular affair. But Gujarat model is that where there is no communal riot since 2002, which means absolute peace.

Gujarat model is during Navaratri ( 9 nights of fasting, dance & devotional song) called Garba used to happen throughout the night; (during the time I was there, not aware of the present restrictions), heavy jewellery laden women folk move around freely throughout the night without fuss. People mingle with peace & environment of amity, that's Gujarat model.

But you don't get non-veg food very easily & when you ask for non-veg it's something you are asking extra. People will frawn upon you, if you ask for Prawn even in a restaurant serving meat!

Gujarat model is everybody watches stock market news during lunch time, nobody is interested in other form of entertainments!

People are money minded & follows “Maaru Suu” principle means what about me in any deal?? But in Gujarat nobody will disturb if you want to establish your own business there, nobody ask whether you are son of the soil or not (Bhumiputra) like Assam & elsewhere. There is equal proportion of Gujaratis in outside as well in their own state. During business deals even if you abuse a Gujarati he won’t mind & keep cool. As a matter of great curiosity once I asked a Gujarati businessman, that “Those people abused you during the negotiation, why did you not protest, he said those people only hurled abuses and gave me pain but could not take away anything. “Gaali deke gya na – kuch leke ta nahin ja saka” – if that’s the attitude then its Gujarat Model!!

Gujarat model is you get land for your factory in 3 days as per Ratan Tata for his Nano factory, when shifted away from Bengal by Mamata Banerjee.

Gujarat model is where there are no workers problem, no workers Union like Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal to hinder your production. So there is confidence on Gujarat made products & Gujarat projects to obtain on schedule delivery.

If India as discussed above follows Gujarat model of Governance and attitude, then it shall succeed no doubt on that.