Patna: On 1st of November a function was organized here by the head of All India United Muslim Morcha, Dr Ejaz Ali to release the Urdu version of the book; Jinnah: Partition-Independence written by former External affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. Present on the occasion were noted journalist, activists and politicians (Teesta Setalvad, Prabasah Joshi,Digvijay Singh,MJ Akbar,Razi Ahsan,Arif Mohamamd Khan)
Noted author MJ Akbar thanked Singh on behalf of indian Muslims for writing this book.Expressing his displeasure on prevailing Muslim situation in the country, he said that though Muslims have been active in public life( read politics) but they still have not got their due in the governance of the country and declining percentage of people’s representation coming from the Muslim community is a testimony to this .
Jaswant Singh through his well researched book has tried to highlight the truth of India Partition and he urged the present Muslim audience to put forth their demand under his leadership of for giving Muslims their due in governance and politics of India. He said that Muslims in India have been treated like second class citizens to date and they need to throw away the “tag of guilt of India partition , he further said that Muslims must stand for their just demand without having any guilt conscience.
Jaswant singh in this new historically relevant book has highlighted some important queries . According to him:
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- Had India not been divided it to would have been now in the league of China-in terms of development.
- For partition of India both Mahatma Ghandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah was equally responsible.
- It would be wrong to say that Jinnah was a communalist; it was just that some Indian leaders have tried to project him in that manner.
- Mohammed Ali Jinnah was an Indian residence and it was endorsed by Shri Krishan Gokhaley and Sarojini Naidu that he was a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.ie. a staunch secularist
- If Jinnah was responsible for the division of India then equally responsible are Nehru and Sardar Patel.
- It’s a historical fact that Nehru and Patel without intimating Mahatma Ghandhi got the resolution passed by the Congress on the issue of India/Pakistan division
- Later on this same resolution tactfully consent of Jinnah was taken.
- Since partition indian Muslims were treated as aliens; the reality is that they are Indian citizens and have nothing do with the partition of India, but due to a many political reasons they are still paying the penalty of it
- It was majorly a war of succession between Nehru and Jinnah
- Division for Jinnah came very later in his public life, initially he use to bargain for seats on behalf of Muslims ( bargain is important part of democratic set up) but he alone was blamed for partition
- Reason of all the discriminatrion against Indian Muslim is the tag of partition on them
- Majority of Muslims does not differ much from majority of Hindu’s , but the politics for majority (of Indians) has been done keeping in mind the issues of minorities
- Economic strength of India was agriculture but Nehru gave importance to Industrialization
- In the process turning around the wheel of growth from many to few
- Since Muslims were the landed class therefore they suffered badly due to negligence of agriculture and prosperity of Industrialization
In this voluminous well researched 670 page book, Jaswant Singh has thrown the truth and facts of partition in public domain for further debate on this , in order to right the wrong of partition history |
