The issues concerning the Partition of India in 1947 have long been debated both by Indian and Pakistani historians, but now a leader directly responsible for the Defence and Foreign Affairs of India has come forward with a historical appraisal that helps both countries come to a better understanding of the contentions between them. Jaswant Singh has not written a hagiography of Jinnah, but focused on him as a key figure in the final deliberations preceding Independence.
This book provides a detailed and systematic analysis of the charismatic leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of Indian Muslims during the crisis-ridden decade of 1937-47. Based on the concept of charisma formulated by Max Weber and developed by recent writers, the study concentrates on the 'personality-related' and 'situational' factors that led to the emergence of Jinnah as the charismatic leader of the Muslims and sustained him in that role until the creation of Pakistan. In explaining and explicating Jinnah's charisma, his early political career and the crises facing the Muslims of British India, both systemic and of leadership, have been examined at length. This has been followed by a critical appraisal of Jinnah's formula of Pakistan, his strategy for political mobilization of the Muslims under the banner of the All-India Muslim League, and his extraordinary skills and abilities in negotiating with the British and Congress leaders who were united in their opposition to Pakistan. Recognizing him as their charismatic leader, and moved by the Pakistan demand, the Muslim masses rallied behind him, with the result that at the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, his charisma was truly at its zenith. Book jacket.
In this book, the author takes Pakistan as a case study in a search for better definitions of nations and nationalism, arguing that it exhibits the three essential ingredients for a successful national movement. These are a distinctive integrated community, a particular set of circumstances, and purposeful leadership.
Established as a homeland for India’s Muslims in 1947, Pakistan has had a tumultuous history. Beset by assassinations, coups, ethnic strife, and the breakaway of Bangladesh in 1971, the country has found itself too often contending with religious extremism and military authoritarianism. Now, in a probing biography of her native land amid the throes of global change, Ayesha Jalal provides an insider’s assessment of how this nuclear-armed Muslim nation evolved as it did and explains why its dilemmas weigh so heavily on prospects for peace in the region. “[An] important book...Ayesha Jalal has been one of the first and most reliable [Pakistani] political historians [on Pakistan]...The Struggle for Pakistan [is] her most accessible work to date...She is especially telling when she points to the lack of serious academic or political debate in Pakistan about the role of the military.” —Ahmed Rashid, New York Review of Books “[Jalal] shows that Pakistan never went off the rails; it was, moreover, never a democracy in any meaningful sense. For its entire history, a military caste and its supporters in the ruling class have formed an ‘establishment’ that defined their narrow interests as the nation’s.” —Isaac Chotiner, Wall Street Journal
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was forty years old, a successful barrister and a rising star in the nationalist movement when he fell in love with pretty, vivacious Ruttie Petit, the daughter of his good friend, the fabulously rich Parsi baronet, Sir Dinshaw Petit. But Ruttie was just sixteen and her outraged father forbade the match. However, when she turned eighteen, they married. Bombay society was scandalized, and Ruttie and Jinnah were ostracized. It was an unlikely union that few thought would last. But Jinnah, in his undemonstrative, reserved way, was unmistakably devoted to his beautiful, wayward child-bride. And Ruttie, on her part, worshipped him, and could tease and cajole the famously unbending Jinnah. But as tumultuous political events increasingly absorbed him, Ruttie felt isolated and alone, cut off from her family, friends and community. She died at twenty-nine, leaving behind her daughter, Dina, and her inconsolable husband, who never married again. Sheela Reddy uses never-before-seen personal letters of Ruttie and her close friends as well as accounts left by contemporaries and friends to portray this marriage that convulsed Indian society. A product of intensive and meticulous research in Delhi, Bombay and Karachi, this is a must-read for all those interested in politics, history, and the power of an unforgettable love story.
