PERSONALITIES

JINNAH’S ACHIEVEMENTS (1876-1948):

Jinnah is popularly known as Quaid e Azam, or the great leader. He is the
founding father and was the first governor General of Pakistan. A successful
lawyer by profession, Jinnah began his political career as a nationalist and an
ardent believer in Hindu Muslim unity, as witnessed by his role in the Lucknow
Pact, in 1916. It was due to his efforts that he was given the title of Ambassador of
Hindu-Muslim unity, at the time. This cooperative approach was also apparent
from the fact that he was a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council, Congress,
and the Muslim League in the early years of his political career.
Jinnah had political differences with Gandhi from the outset. He did not consider
Gandhi's satyagraha-driven non-violent Non-cooperation Movements to be
practical. His preferred modus operandus was to bring about change through
political mobilisation, not mass agitation, radical Hindu-style. Thus, he also
disagreed with Gandhi at the time of the Khilafat Movement. However, the real
difference arose at the time of the second Round Table Conference in 1932, when
the essentially liberal Jinnah was dismayed by Gandhi's dismissive stance towards
all minorities. This shattered idealism was iron-cast by the time the Gandhi-Jinnah
talks (1944) were held, where the two leaders disagreed on major issues like the
Two-nation theory and political representation for the Muslims. This impasse
existed at the time of the Simla Conference, too, and it was this ideological divide
that eventually led the British to concede Pakistan. Jinnah's disillusionment with
the practical manifestation and existence of Hindu Muslim unity occurred because
of the rigid anti-Muslim Nehru Report, and the heckling by Congress of the four
amendments proposed by Jinnah, to avoid an impasse. This was the point when
Jinnah declared 'a parting of ways' and never did he attempt to unite the two
communities again. It was in response to the Nehru report that Jinnah issued his
famous comprehensive 14 points that were the blueprint of all future negotiations
between Muslim League and other parties.
The chasm of distrust between Jinnah and Nehru-Gandhi was widened after the
period of Congress Tyranny,1937-39. Jinnah's claim that Congress was not to be
trusted by Muslims was substantiated by the intolerant behaviour of this party that
claimed to be the representative of all Indians.
Jinnah assumed the permanent leadership of the Muslim League in 1934. He was
not disheartened by its poor performance in the 1937 mass elections. Rather, he
took the advice of Allama Iqbal and revamped the image of the party, from one led
by elites, to one that was the one and only political party of the Muslim masses.
His declaration that Pakistan was the political solution to the problem of the
administration of the subcontinent was first made in 1940. It was his unshaken
adherence to this belief, that Pakistan and only Pakistan would resolve the Hindu-
Muslim conflict, is what led to the creation of this country in 1947. Once Pakistan
was created, Jinnah took upon endless exertion and responsibility upon himself,
despite the fact that he was terminally ill. It was due to his tireless efforts that the
country was able to stabilize and survive, despite his death in 1948. Because of all
the above reasons, Jinnah's claim to greatness is acknowledged by his friends and
foes alike. He is the greatest national icon of Pakistan.
Allama Iqbal and Allahabad Address:
Allama Iqbal was a Muslim poet and philosopher who worked for the
improvements of the Muslims and created political awareness. He was one of the
first to argue that Muslims had to build an effective mass political party. It was
this policy that Jinnah adopted so successfully, a few years later and Muslim
League became a popular mass party.
Iqbal's poetry awakened a sense of nationhood amongst Muslims and urged them
all to be active and alert in order to make progress. He also emphasised that their
progress shall be along a distinctive Islamic path. His poems such as Today and
Tomorrow, 'Reproach', and 'political leaders' were his famous poems.
Allama Iqbal is also described as the architect of Pakistan because of his
Presidential address giving at Allahabad during the annual Muslim league
convention in 1930. In this presidential address, he said;
"I would like to see the Punjab, northwest frontier province, Sindh and
Balochistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government among the British
empire, the formation of a consolidated north western state appears to be the final
destiny of the Muslims of India. This was Allama Iqbal's most crucial contribution
and his Allahabad address provided Muslim leaders such as Jinnah & Chaudhry
Rehmat Ali with inspiration and guidance and it was his theory only which was
adopted as Muslim league’s policy in 1940.
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali:
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, a lawyer by profession also contributed a lot for the
Pakistan movement. In 1934, he published a pamphlet 'Now or Never' in which he
argued in favour of Partition. Chaudhry Rehmat Ali also tried to convince the
Muslim leaders to adopt Partition as their official policy. He is also responsible for
forming the name of Pakistan which means the land of pure'. Chaudhry Rehmat
Ali made himself unpopular by criticizing the leaders of the Muslim league
including Jinnah.
1) Why was Dr Allama Iqbal an important influence in the struggle towards
the separate homeland? [7]
Allama Iqbal became the president of Muslim League in 1930, and gave his
presidential address at Allahabad. In this speech, he supported the two-nation
theory given earlier by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and demanded that the north-
western parts of the subcontinent could collectively form the Muslim state within
the British Empire or Independent. This was the first time that a Muslim leader
had demanded a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims, although Muslim
league was unaware of the possibility of separate homeland but the Allahabad
address planted the seeds for the Pakistan Movement, many other Muslims leaders
like Chaudhri Rehmat Ali and Jinnah were inspired from the ideas of Allama Iqbal
and strengthened the Pakistan Movement. He was also a great poet that awakened
the Indian Muslims making them to realize that they are distinct nation and should
be united to protect their rights. His poetry gave a message to the Indian Muslims
to get rid of the Hindus and the British rule.
He was the great supporter of Pakistan Movement, and he wrote a series of letters
to Jinnah convincing him to agree with the idea of the separate homeland for the
Indian Muslims as he believed that Muslims Identity had been lost in Indian
society and the only solution for their problems lies in creation of the separate
homeland, these were the efforts of Iqbal that brought Jinnah back to the politics
in 1934 and made it possible to unite all Muslims leaders on a single platform.
2) Why was Chaudhri Rehmat Ali an important influence in the struggle
towards the separate homeland? [7]
Chaudhri Rehmat Ali was a student of Law at Cambridge University in 1930, his
most important contribution towards Pakistan Movement was the Scheme of
Pakistan, and he was the first person who coined the name Pakistan for the
Muslims separate homeland and demanded that Pakistan would comprise of
Punjab, Afghania (NWFP), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh, Turkaristan, Afghanistan and
BalochistaN. He urged the Indian Muslims tostruggle for Pakistan as early as
possible otherwise the British and Hindus would not let them to get the separate
homeland.
He was also the author of the book “Pakistan the Fatherland of the Pak Nations”,
and the Pamphlet “Now or Never” in which he urged the Indian Muslims to get
independence as early as possible otherwise it would become difficult to get rid of
British and Hindus’ rule.
During the RTC’s he tried to meet Jinnah and the other Muslim League leaders
convincing them about the idea of the separate homeland, although Jinnah refused
to meet him and called his ideas as premature but later his thinking became the
basis of the Pakistan Movement
3) Which of the following played the most important role in the development
of Pakistan Movement?
I)Allama Iqbal’s Allahabad Address, 1930
II)Chaudhri Rehmat Ali’s Scheme of Pakistan, 1933
III)Jinnah’s Lahore Resolution, 1940 [14]
Allama Iqbal became the president of Muslim League in 1930, and gave his
presidential address at Allahabad. In this speech, he supported the two-nation
theory given earlier by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and demanded that the north-
western parts of the subcontinent could collectively form the Muslim state within
the British Empire or Independent. This was the first time that a Muslim leader
had demanded a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims, although Muslim
league was unaware of the possibility of separate homeland but the Allahabad
address planted the seeds for the Pakistan Movement, many other Muslims leaders
like Chaudhri Rehmat Ali and Jinnah were inspired from the ideas of Allama Iqbal
and strengthened the Pakistan Movement. Chaudhri Rehmat Ali was a student of
Law at Cambridge University in 1930, his most important contribution towards
Pakistan Movement was the Scheme of Pakistan, and he was the first person who
coined the name Pakistan for the Muslims separate home and demanded that
Pakistan would comprise of Punjab, Afghania (NWFP), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh,
Turkaristan, Afghanistan and BalochistaN. He urged the Indian Muslims to
struggle for Pakistan as early as possible otherwise the British and Hindus would
not let them to get the separate homeland. Although Jinnah refused to meet
Rehmat Ali during the RTC’s but the name he suggested was adopted for the
Muslims separate homeland in the coming years.
In 1934 Jinnah became the life president of Muslim League and the Muslims had
experienced the Congress rule of 1937-39, and after resignation of Congress
ministries in 1939 and the Day of Deliverance by the Indian Muslims, Muslim
League annual session was held at Lahore Minto Park in 1940 under the
leadership of Jinnah in which Maulvi Fazl-ul Haq the Chief Minister of East
Bengal presented the resolution demanding the eastern Bengal and the north
western zones of the subcontinent should form the independent state for the Indian
Muslims, that was accepted by all the Muslim League members, Jinnah also gave
the speech defining Muslims as a separate nation and urged Muslims to struggle
for the separate homeland. This event became the most important in the history of
the Indian Muslims as a political party demanded the separate homeland therefore
the struggle movement became so strong that the dream of a separate homeland
became true within few years.
The Lahore Resolution of 1940 was the most important event leading to the
development of Pakistan Movement although the other events also played an
important role in the development of Pakistan Movement