How about an Edited Version of the Movie Gandhi Now?
By Dr. A. Khan
Chicago , IL
Patriotism Ruins History.
- Goethe
Mr. Jaswant Singh ’s book Jinnah-India-Partition-Independence is a selective study. And the million dollar question is: What are his real intentions and motives? Is Jaswant Singh, the Rajput soldier, the diplomat, the author of Defending India and In Service of Emergent India: A Call to Honor, submitting to his conscience or is he, as a shrewd policy maker, setting up another “historical trap” for Pakistan vis-à-vis in the shadows of the ongoing great game?
Mr. Jaswant Singh as the foreign minister of India had a golden opportunity to promote peace between Pakistan and India but he failed to seize the moment to deliver peace to millions of people. Perhaps, it was lack of vision on his part or the extreme pressure from the extremists of RSS/BJP.
Whatever his motives are, one thing is obvious: Mr. Jaswant Singh has paid the price for his writings as he has been stripped of his BJP membership and has been ousted from the party. In Gujarat, the homeland of Sardar Patel, chief minister N.D. Modi had banned Mr. Jaswant Singh’s book. These two incidents speak volumes about the so-called secular and tolerant perception of India, and provide the evidence that validates the insights and vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah vis-à-vis the two-nation theory.
Indeed, in finding sudden new affection for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, Mr. Jaswant Singh has chosen to present a particular side of history that had already been told by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In India Wins Freedom, Maulana Azad observes, “I was surprised and pained when Patel in reply said that whether we liked it or not, there were two nations in India. There was no alternative except to recognize this fact. In this way alone could we end the quarrel between Hindus and Muslims… I was surprised that Patel was now an even greater supporter of the two-nation theory than Jinnah. After a few days Jawaharlal came to see me... He began with a long preamble in which he emphasized that we should not indulge in wishful thinking but face reality…He said that it was inevitable and it would be wisdom not to oppose what was bound to happen. He also said that it would not be wise for me to oppose Lord Mountbatten on this issue. I told Jawaharlal that I could not possibly accept his views. I saw quite clearly that we were taking one wrong decision after another…I warned Jawaharlal that history would never forgive us if we agreed to partition. The verdict would be that India was divided not by the Muslim League but by the Congress… Now that Sardar Patel and even Jawaharlal had become supporters of partition, Gandhiji remained my only hope…I went to see him…Gandhiji said ‘… if the Congress wishes to accept partition, it will be over my dead body. So long as I am alive I will never agree to the partition of India. Nor will I, if I can help it, allow Congress to accept it.’ Later that day Gandhiji met Lord Mountbatten. He saw him again the next day and still again on 2 April. Sardar Patel came to him soon after he returned from his first meeting with Lord Mountbatten and was closeted with him for two hours. What happened during this meeting I do not know. But when I met Gandhiji again, I received the greatest shock of my life to find the he had changed. He was still not openly in favor of partition but no longer spoke so vehemently against it. What surprised and shocked me even more was that he began to repeat the arguments which Sardar Patel had already used. For over two hours I pleaded with him, but I could make no impression on him. In despondency I at last said, ‘If even you have now adopted these views, I see no hope of saving India from catastrophe.’ ”(pp 202-203)
Now that Mr. Jaswant Singh has discovered the partial truth about Mr. Jinnah, will the producers of movie Gandhi follow in Mr. Jaswant Singh’s footsteps and produce an edited version of Gandhi to rectify the distortions portrayed in the movie about Mr. Jinnah and the creation of Pakistan?
The movie was produced by Sir Richard Attenborough and released in 1982. It presented fictitious and malicious impressions about Mr. Jinnah and the creation of Pakistan . Following the political correctness of the era, the historical facts were either distorted or ignored. Prejudice against Mr. Jinnah was perceptible the way he was portrayed by a little known stage actor as the ‘ Bad Guy” and had the least resemblance to the tall, handsome Jinnah.
In Jinnah-India-Partition-Independence, Mr. Jaswant Singh fails to explore the key questions related to the independence movement: Had Mr. Gandhi remained a secular Mohandas K. Gandhi rather than transforming himself to a Mahatma Gandhi would he have succeeded in Indian politics? Had there been no “special relationship” between Nehru and Mrs. Edwina Mountbatten, what would have been the impact on the final boundaries of two countries? In his book, Mr. Jaswant Singh remained very cautious in praising Jinnah and criticizing Gandhi and Nehru, and yet he was recklessly thrown out of BJP. Indeed, Goethe was right: “Patriotism ruins history.”
