Indian journalist eulogises Jinnah
By: Zeeshan Azmat
Karachi: Muhammad Ali Jinnah did an extraordinary job by creating a new state, and no one else has done such a thing thus far, said noted Indian Journalist Sheela Reddy on Saturday.
“It was his huge achievement,” Reddy said while addressing students of mass communication and education departments and the faculty of the Sindh Madressatul Islam University’s (SMIU) in the university’s Seminar Hall.
According to the Indian journalist, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi were great leaders of the subcontinent, but they are victims of history, because they both died in a tragic manner. “These two big personalities had wanted to become the men of destiny and they succeeded in it,” she commented.
Ready, who is writing a book on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah with the title of “Portrait of Jinnah’s Marriage”, said she decided to write a book on Jinnah after going through the book written by former BJP leader Jaswant Singh.
She was of view that Jaswant Singh used Jinnah as an instrument to criticise Congress and its leader Jawahar Lal Nehru. She further said little work on Jinnah’s life had been done so far. That was why she was trying to compose maximum chapters of his life which were “still hidden from the people”.
Reddy added that in her childhood, Jinnah was presented as a villain responsible for the division of India through the books, but now the situation had changed and people were trying to understand Jinnah. “Later on, I also found another Jinnah in the books written on his life,” she remarked.
She believes that Jinnah belonged to a poor family as compared to Gandhi, who belonged to a family of bureaucrats. She said Jinnah’s mother was extremely religious and Jinnah was very influenced by his mother.
But he received his education in the atmosphere of liberal British traditions. This is why he in his dressing code, soft speech, and norms was totally different from Gandhi, Reddy further said.
Jinnah came to Bombay as a barrister and became so popular in the city within a few months in the presence of other senior lawyers and barristers. That is why, not only Muslims but Hindus and Parsis were coming with cases to him, from whom Jinnah earned a handsome amount of, she told the audience.
According to Reddy, in Bombay the Gurjati community preferred Jinnah over Gandhi. Reddy said, “Jinnah after passing ninth class from Sindh Madressatul Islam went to London, where he cleared the “Little Go” examination and got admission in Lincolns Inn.
Giving references, she said that once Jinnah had said to his sister Fatima Jinnah, “You are a matriculate and I am non-matriculate”. Jinnah’s father, Poonja Jeenabhai, was keenly interested in his son’s education in London, because he wanted to see him as highly successful, she said.
In the Congress he was not only speaking for the Muslim members of the Congress but tried to bring them in its fold by organising joint meetings of the Congress and Muslims, she further said.
The Vice Chancellor of the SMIU, Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh, welcomed the visiting Indian journalist and said that a few people had carried out research on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah so far. Therefore, more people should come forward and conduct real research work on the politics and life of the father of the nation.
He said that during his visit and a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University some years back, an MoU was singed between Sindh Madressatul Islam and Bombay University, in which it was decided that students and faculty members of both the institutions would visit these institutions.
Unfortunately, that had not materialised thus far, he remarked. Shaikh further said that the interaction among intellectuals, students, and academicians on both sides of the border should be enhanced.
He also suggested that the relationship between the educational institutions on both sides should be made to flourish.
Dr Shaikh also presented a brief account of Quaid–e-Azam’s education period at the SMI and his love for his alma mater. The speeches were followed by a question-answer session.
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