Freedom fighter’ Jinnah, a divided legacy

Former editor of Maharashtra Times, Govind Talwalkar, who has written extensively on history said Jinnah was most certainly a freedom fighter. According to him Jinnah was in the forefront of the agitation against the Simon Commission and along with other leaders of the Indian National Congress he boycotted the Commission. Besides, he was trusted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak who had entrusted him to fight his case, added Talwalkar.

When Tilak was released from jail, the governor of Bombay presidency had convened an all party meeting seeking support for the Britishers’ efforts in the first World War. The governor, however, did not allow Tilak to speak in the meeting. It was Jinnah who protested and said that Tilak had every right to speak. Later, he even boycotted the meeting, Talwalkar recounted. It was, though, a different matter that Jinnah changed his mind around 1935 and gradually moved towards his two-nation theory, Talwalkar said.

Tulsidas Somaiya, a freedom fighter, and administrator of the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal said that there was nothing wrong in describing Jinnah as a freedom fighter. “He had his difference of opinion with Mahatma Gandhi and so did many other leaders of the Indian National Congress,” said Somaiya. Around the time India achieved freedom, Jinnah’s personal ambition had overpowered him but history cannot deny the personal ambition of Jawaharlal Nehru either, he added. "We should also consider under what circumstances Jinnah, who otherwise was a nationalist, turned against Congress.”

A noted historian and social scientist, Y D Phadke, however, had a slightly different opinion. He said Swaroop should have made a qualified statement. “His (Swaroop’s) words had a potential to hurt people. He should have distinguished between Jinnah as a nationalist and in his later incarnation as a communal politician, who was responsible for the partition of India and who refused to accept any compromise formula."

While noted Gandhian Usha Mehta said that under "no circumstances could Jinnah be described as a freedom fighter even though he did have some connections with the Congress in the earlier part of his career as a politician.” According to Phadke, Jinnah turned communal and critical of Gandhi after the 1930s, particularly after the Nagpur Congress where Gandhi virtually dominated the scene. Prior to that Jinnah was an important leader of the Indian National Congress and was one of the signatories of the Lucknow pact.

The man at the centre of the storm, Govind Swaroop, told Express Newsline that he had no intentions of glorifying Jinnah. Visibly upset, he said he just named him as one of the freedom fighters. "In any case I have tendered my apology", he asserted. Most of the professors of history in the University of Mumbai, who we tried to contact refused to comment on the issue. According to agencies, Navalkar said that it was not right to air unedited films before journalists. Both, the minister and Swaroop dashed off to the August Kranti Maidan this evening to oversee the arrangements for the August 9 programme.