Encyclopaedia of Eminent Thinkers: The Political Thought of M.A. Jinnah

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This book provides rich insights into the life and achievements of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Going deep into his political life, it discusses in detail his transition from an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity to a staunch Muslim leader, his two-nation theory, and his leadership to the Muslim League. It also probes how secular Jinnah was.

Dr. Jai Narain Sharma (b. 1951) is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He is also Hon. Director of Gandhi Bhawan; member of Board of Studies, Nagpur University, Nagpur and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi; member of Research Degree Committee of the Department of Political Science, H.P. University, Shimla: General Secretary of Indian Soviety of Gandhian Studies; and member on the Presidium of the Alliance for Sarvodaya. He regularly writes for leading newspapers, and has published more than hundred research papers in professional journals of repute. Dr. Sharma has many books to his credit including "Gandhi's View of Political Power", "Economics of Defence: A Study of SAARC Countries", "Economic Thought of Mahatma Gandhi", "Human Resource Management", "Alternative Economics: Economics of Mahatma Gandhi and Globalisation", "Power, Politics and Corruption: A Gandhian Solution" and "Research Methodology: The Discipline and its Dimensions".

Among the most difficult problems that scholars face arises, when knowledge of events following the period they are studying, leads to the unwarranted condemnation or adulation of historical figures. Some historical events are of such magnitude that their repercussions flow not only into the future but also back into the past: such repercussions affect study of the events themselves as well as the personalities involved. Indeed, it is at times difficult to divorce certain personalities from particular events when attempting to understand an earlier period. One instance of this phenomenon is the 1947 partition of the India and subsequent studies of Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948).

The events of 1947 were charged with emotions and remain so even now: families were uprooted and hundreds of thousands died as a virtual civil war raged along the proposed border regions. Muslim refugees poured into what was to become Pakistan while Hindus and Sikhs made the journey in the opposite direction. Indian politicians, who had fought for a united India, saw the sub-continent divided and conceded the existence of Pakistan, often only in the belief that the new state would not survive and would eventually crawl back into the Indian nation. For their part, the British, and particularly Mountbatten, desired a united India as Britain's lasting legacy to the sub-continent. By contrast, for Muslim politicians who had worked towards it, the creation of Pakistan was the achievement of an ideal, an independent Muslim state; to many, an 'Islamic' state. In the centre of this melee of emotion and conflict, stood Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam. This title was given to him by his arch rival Mahatma Gandhi seen by supporters and critics alike as the politician solely responsible for the creation of Pakistan, having virtually 'wrested' this new state from the British at the eleventh hour. Jinnah's role has made him the recipient of substantial criticism from some scholars, as well as adulation from others. The emotion surrounding him has been further fanned by continuing poor relations between the two independent states. Some scholars have generally portrayed Jinnah as a vain and arrogant man whose main ambition was personal aggrandizement. They place him within the scheme of the Raj's divisive tactics towards Indian nationalist politics. suggesting he was a collaborator of the British. Recently decodified correspondance by the British government indicating a close link between Jinnah and Churchill further substantiates this line of thinking. This correspondance also reveals that the British-Muslim realtionship and their dependence upon each other was an old one.

**Contents and Sample Pages**