Jinnah Of Pakistan by Stanley Wolpert- A Review!

By

Ahaz bin Salman Makhdoom

Probably the most prominent figure in the Indian politics of his time Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the greatest ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, the man who divided India and the leader who fought for the Muslims. Stanley Wolpert's informative book on Jinnah reveals many unknown things regarding the great leader. The book sheds light on Jinnah and urges the reader to look at the bigger picture, Jinnah is not just portrayed as an epitome of perfection but as an ordinary human being who possesses certain sentiments and feelings.

The book depicts Jinnah's life from birth, as a student who disliked arithmetic, as a young lad who aspires to study in London, a husband, lawyer and his drastic transition from being the greatest ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity to a person who seriously opposed the Hindus and Muslims living together in one nation.

Wolpert records at least seven decades of Indian history along with the public and private life of Jinnah to the pinnacle where India achieves its independence from the British. The book reveals Jinnah's relationships with many significant people in his life throughout, from his wife Ruttie Bai to Nehru, Gandhi and the British. The relationship between Nehru and Jinnah remained strained as both considered each other as arch enemies, Gandhi being a much sensible and a cool tempered man always tried to establish cordial relations with Jinnah though this remained impossible as both disagreed on certain major issues.

The book takes the readers to the hometown of Jinnah, Karachi and follows him to London, Bombay, Lahore, New Delhi, Nagpur, Amritsar, Simla, Calcutta, Lucknow, Srinagar, Peshawar, Quetta and Ziarat. The book deals with Jinnah's strong objectives and stubbornness from when he laid great emphasis on the amiable relations of Hindus and Muslims to the point where he openly criticised the Hindus. He failed many times throughout his career but always gained his objective. Jinnah was a tolerant, patient and a hopeful person who dealt with many failings, loneliness, an estranged marriage and a disease which he never revealed publicly but did not let these obstacles come in the way of achieving his goal- Pakistan. With politics Wolpert also gives the readers an interesting insight to his private life and his marriage with his wife Ruttie Petit the daughter of a famous and wealthy Parsi businessman Sir Dinshaw Petit, Jinnah loved her immensely, Ruttie also cherished and adored Jinnah just as much that she gave up her family and religion just to marry Jinnah. In their early years the marriage proved to be very successful but the winds changed their direction as Jinnah became a workaholic and neglected his wife, Ruttie who felt lonely befriended Kanji Dwarkadas but both of them never stopped loving each other despite their quarrels. Wolpert quotes in his book:  "It (the funeral) was a painfully slow ritual. Jinnah sat silent through all of its five hours. As Ruttie’s body was being lowered into the grave, Jinnah as the nearest relative was the first to throw the earth on the grave. He broke down suddenly and wept and sobbed like a child for minutes together. That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness.”

For almost twenty four years of his life Jinnah fought for the unity of Hindus and Muslims, many of his reforms and arguments were rejected. After twenty four years of endless arguments with people who weren't able to inculcate his ideas Jinnah changed his mind and thus began a new era, in 1937 Jinnah addressed the League's session in Lucknow where he said: "Think a hundred times before you take any decision, but when that decision is taken, stand by it as one man". Jinnah had made a firm decision after twenty four years of lingering on one point that was Hindu-Muslim unity but now he wanted something different and began his work for the creation of Pakistan. Jinnah's only supporter who stood by him throughout his life was his younger sister Fatima Jinnah who gave up her dentistry career to support her brother. Jinnah's only daughter was Dina Wadia from Ruttie, during the last years of his life when he was on the brink of achieving Pakistan Dina a young girl expressed her desire to marry a Parsi boy to her father, Jinnah completely refused to accept this, the book mentions that Jinnah told her that "There are millions of Muslim boys in India and you could have anyone you chose" Dina at this reminded his father that "There were millions of Muslim girls in India, why didn't you marry one of them?"(she was referring that her mother Ruttie Bai Petit was also a Parsi). Jinnah was angry at his daughter, both of them after this addressed to each other as "Mr Jinnah" and "Mrs Wadia" which shows the heated up relation between the two. So during his course of life Jinnah lost his wife not only because of her demise but also because of their estrangement and then he also lost his only daughter.

Despite that Jinnah did not succumb to life's harsh realities but resurrected each time and rose up higher like the Phoenix bird. After Pakistan came into being Jinnah became so frail and less energetic due to various diseases such as pneumonia and lung cancer that he once invited the Mountbattens on luncheon few days after Pakistan came into being, what he forgot however was that it was Ramazan and he had to change the invitation to dinner. This shows how weak Jinnah had become mentally and physically. His last peaceful days were spent in Ziarat, Balochistan where his health deteriorated and he was shifted to his home city of Karachi where a "handsome domed monument of pink marble now stands, housing the remains of one of history's most remarkable, tenacious and enigmatic figures" as Wolpert quotes.

Stanley Wolpert covers all the major and minor events of Jinnah's life in this remarkable book which helps the reader to understand Jinnah's decisions and the steps he took in his life to achieve Pakistan.  It consists of actual letters of Jinnah which  tells the reader what Jinnah was truly thinking. It is by far the most authentic book on Pakistan's great leader and founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.