Opinion

Jaswant Singh’s book is a double-edged sword. The Pakistani nation is gleefully rejoicing on the publication of the book without fully grasping the implications. There was already enough confusion in Pakistani minds about the Pakistan ideology. Now Jaswant Singh’s book may lead to further doubts about the real reasons for the demand of a separate homeland for the Muslims. Soon the two-nation theory will be blasted by commentators who know little about the subject. For your readers, I will try to explain the scenario of the1946 Cabinet Mission Plan:
Basically, the Plan proposed a loose federation of India consisting of three federating units, two being Muslim-majority areas in the west and the east. The Muslim-minority area was to be the third and the largest unit in the middle of the two Muslim-majority units. There was a 10-year interim period at the end of which any federating unit was authorized to leave the federation if it desired.
Initially, the Congress accepted the proposal. I believe this was done with the hope that the Quaid would reject it and would be proven to be obstinate and unreasonable.
But to the surprise of the Congress, the Muslim League too accepted the Plan.

The Plan offered the following advantages:
1. It could serve as a stepping stone for the creation of Pakistan, albeit in 10 years time. In 1946, the realistic assessment was that the British and the Hindu-majority, short of a civil war, would never allow the partition of India.
2. The two Muslim units were big enough to be self-supporting. One must remember that the proposed units consisted of the whole of Bengal and Assam in the east. In the west the unit consisted of the whole of Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan, with Kashmir having no choice but joining it.
For those of your readers who may start questioning the wisdom of accepting the Cabinet Mission Plan by the Quaid, let me try to furnish the logical explanation:
1. As soon as the Muslim League declared its acceptance of the Plan, the Congress leadership was in a state of panic. That was proof enough that they had been wrong footed by the shrewdness of the Quaid.
2. Nehru started making public statements that any federating unit could not leave the federation unless agreed to by the rest of the units.
3. The Quaid told Lord Wavell that Nehru’s statements were making a mockery of the spirit of the federal structure envisaged in the Plan forcing the Muslim League to withdraw its earlier acceptance.
4. Nehru and Patel preferred to hand over a ‘moth-eaten’ Pakistan to Muslims. They were confident that Pakistan could not survive for more than six months, given their policies of sabotage and deceit at every juncture. Thus Akhand Bharat would be a reality that Muslims would have to accept.
In the event the Quaid accepted the challenge of establishing and running the government of the new state. We as a nation must continue to meet that challenge.
Jaswant Singh’s book is a well balanced account of our joint history. But let us not get carried away by the euphoria that is uncalled for. At the same time we must not be too critical of the decisions taken by our founding fathers who were giants compared to the pygmies who followed them.