Jinnah Of Pakistan by Stanley

Wolpert- A Review
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.
By M. Naveed