From: kumarv@blaze.rutgers.edu (kumar vadaparty)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Excerpts from "India Wins Freedom" (A Muslim's view)
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:09:07 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Introduction:
-------------- 

Couple of people have admonished me for countering against AKG.  I
respect him as a person but thought that some of the following
excerpts (WITH CONTEXT) clear some of this mess created by the
postings (authored by a professor of AMU, NOT AKG) on the relation
between Congress and Muslim League, and the role played by Muslim
leage in the pre independent INdia, and who is more parochial if any.

The excerpts on interesting for 

(i) How Christians and Parsees interacted with Congress. They both
were  very cooperative.

(ii) The League's Muslims who opposed Congress and favoured the Crown
to independence.

(iii) How the Hindus were tolerant and allowed over representation of
minorities on committees of importance. They simply trusted the
minorities.

(iv) How evilish Jinnah was.

(v) How Azad succeeded in making congress and League accept for a 
undevided India.

From	India Wins Freedom (Released after 30 years)
	Authored by Maulana ABul Kalam Azad
	Orient Longman Publ.
	Second Edition (the first edition differs
	substantially as Mr. Azad himself allowed
	the release of only very strongly censored version
	to protect hurting peoples' reputation at that time)


Who is Maulana:
-------------

He is a muslim (after all, everyone who criticised me had one point to
say "Did you see any muslim talk about muslims in India before or
after partition?").  He served as the president of INCongress from '39
to '47 after which he refuesed to run again on the count that too long
a presidentship might affect the party by a single individual's views.
Before he resigned, he made sure that INC and Muslim League agree on a
UNDIVIDED India. [Nehru and Jinnah screwed it up later].

My comments are in "[..]"


Excerpts:
---------

pp 117

[on muslim league's inception]
------------------------------

The Muslim League was established in 1906 in Dacca after the session
of the Muslim Educational Conference during Christams. It owed its
origin to the efforts of Nawab Mushtaq Hussain. I was present at the
session and remember the two reasons advanced for the establishment of
the League. It was said that one of the objects of the league would be
to strenghten and develop a feeling of loyalty to the British
Government among the Muslims of India. The second object was to
advance the claims of the Muslims against Hindus and other communities
in respect of sevice under the crown and thus safegaurd the Muslim
interests and rights. The leaders of the League were therefore
naturally opposed to the demand for political independence raised by
th eCongress. They felt that if the Muslims joined in any such demand
the british would not support their claims for special treatment in
education and service. IN fact they described the Congress as a
disloyal organisation of rebels and regarded even moderate political
leaders like Gokhale or Sir Feozeshah Mehta as extremists. During this
phase the British Government always used Muslim League as a counter to
the demands of the Congress.


pp 5-8

[On Religious blindness and getting "free"]

....[he was sixteen] This was the period of great mental crisis for
me. I was born into a family which was deeply imbued with religious
traditions. All the conventions of traditional life were accepted
without question....I felt that I must find the truth for myself...

The first thing which troubled me was the exhibition of differences
among the different sects of Muslims. I could not understand why they
should be so opposed to one anogther when all of them claimed to der
ive their inspiration from the same sources....For two or three years
this unrest continued and I longed to find a solution of my doubts....
I felt free of all conventional ties and decided that I would chalk
out my own path... I decided to adopt the pen name "AZAD" or "FREE"
to indicated that I was no longer tied to my inherited belifs...



Pp16.

[On "attrocities" committed by Congress, and League's propaganda
	AND Congress's MAJOR TWO BLUNDERS]

... It was thus  a trial for the congress and people watched how the
orgnaization would live up to its national character.The muslim
league's main propaganda i that the congress had been national only in
name. Not content with defaming congress in general terms, the League
also gave out that the congress minisstries were carrying out
atrocities against minorities. It appointed a committee which
presented a repoirt making all kinds of allegations about unfair
treatment of Muslim and other minorities. I can speak from personal
knoweldge that these allegations were absolutely unfounded.

Stories of attrocities circulated by the League were pure invention
but two things happened at the time which left a bad impression abou
the attitude of the Provinical congress committees. I have to admit
with regret that both in Bihar and Bombay, the congress did not come
out fully successful in its test of nationalism.

[In Bombay when Mr. Nariman, a Parsee, held the majority leadership,
	he was refused the chiefministership, thanks to Sardar patel.

	In Bihar  Dr. Syed Mahmud was the top leader and he was
	refused the chiefministership, thanks to Rajendra Prasad]


pp24

[On "attrocities" committed by Congress, and League's propaganda]

Apart from this one lapse [the two mentioned above], Congress made
every effort to live up to its principles. Once the ministries were
formed, every effort was made to ensure justice all minorities.

When Congrewss accepted office, a Parilamentary board was formed to
supervise the work of Ministries and give them general guidance on
policy. The board consited of S. Patel, Rajendra Prasad and myself. I
was thus in charge of Pariabemntary affairs in several provinces,
Bengal, Bihar, UP, Punjab, Sind and Frontier. Every incident which
involved communal issues came up before me. From Personal Knowledge
and with a full sense of responsibility, I can therefore say that the
charges levelled by Mr Jinnah and the Muslim League about injustice to
Muslims and the other minoritiews were absolutely flase. If there had
been an iota of truth in any of these charges, I would have sene to it
that the injustice was rectified. I was prepared to even resign if
necessary on an issue like this.


pp 96

[Gandhi and Jinnah]

For some time after his release, Gandhiji was too ill take any
effective step.  He was for some months under treatment buyt as soon
as he felt a little better, he initiated a number of political moves.
Twoof them derve special mention.  Gandhiji made a fresh attempt for
an understanding with Muslim League and arranged to meet Jinnah. His
second move was an attempt to open fresh negotions with the govenment.
...  

I think Gandhiji's approach to Mr. Jinnah on this occassion was a
great political blunder. It gave a new and added importance to Mr.
Jinnah which he later exploited fully. Gandhiji had in fact adopted a
pecuiar attitude to Jinnah from the very beginning. Jinnah had lost
much of his political importance after he left the congress in the
twenties. It was largely due to Gandhiji's acts of commission and
ommission that Jinnah regained his importance in Indian political
life. In fact, it is doubtful if Jinnah could have ever achieved
supremacy but for Gandhiji's attitude. Large sections of Indian
Muslims were doubtful about Mr. Jinnah and his policy but when they
found that Gandhiji was contunally running after him and entreating
him, many of the developed a new respect for Jinnah. The y also
thought that Jinnah was perhaps the best man for getting advangageous
terms in the communal settlement. 

I may mention here that it was Gandhiji who first gave currency to the
title "Qaud i Azam " or the great leader as applied to Jinnah.
....I told my colleagues that Gandhiji was making a great mistake.

 

pp 116

[Jinnah and religious chauvanism]

Soon after the conference began, the difference s between Congress and
League came out into open. By the second day, the conference had
agrteed on certain main principles like representation for minorities,
wholehearted supprot to the war effort and continuance of
reconstituted executive council under the governemnt of India act till
the end of the war. Difference however arose about the composition of
the Executive council. Mr. Jinnah demanded that the congress could
nominate all the Hindu members but all the muslim members must be
nominees of the league. I pointed out the congress could never accept
such a demand. It had approached all politcal problems from a national
point of view and recognised no distinction between Hindujs and
Muslims on political issues. It could not in any circumstances agee to
be an organization of Hindus alone. I there fore inisted that the
Congress should have the freedom to nominate any Indian it liked
regardless whether he was a Hindu or a muslim or a christian or a
Sikh. Congress should participate on the basis fo INdian nationhood
or not particiapte at all....

pp 119 120

[on Congress and other religions]


.. I was in favour of including one Parsee and one Indian Christian.
... The parsees had also been affected by one of the decisions
Congress took in 1937. When prohibition was introduced in all the
congress provinces, the law affected teh Parsee businessmen more than
men of any other community. they had almost a monopoly of the wine
trade and prohibition made them lose business worth crores. The
parsees were not however affected by these incidents and as a
community refused to play the British game. A statement signed by
almost all important and reputed leaders of the community declared in
categorical terms that in spite of their differences on other matters,
they were and would remain with the congress...

I also remembered that the Indian Christian community had always stood
by the Congress and adopted a national approach in all our political
problems.

pp 119 and 120 and 121

[on hindus and their tolerence]


[WHen the representatives needed to be formed for congress, I put
three people Nehru, Patel and Myself. Then two more one from
Christians and one from parsees.]

The upshot was that the list submitted by the congress contained only
two Hindu names. This proved, if proof be needed, that Congress was
not a Hindu organization. It may be said that the Hindus, who
constituted teh majority community of India would object to such a
proposal but be it said to their credit that the Hindus of India stood
solidly behind the congress and did not waver even when they found
that in the congress list of five, three men represented the muslims,
the christians and the parsees. The Hindu mahasabha tried to make a
political capital out of this decision of the Congress, but everyone
knows how miserably the Mahasabha failed. It is a strange irony of
fate that like the Mahasabha, the Muslim League also opposed that the
Congress should include a Muslim name ints list.



[On muslim concern]
pp 150

I have considered from every possible point of view the scheme of
Pakistan as formulated by the League. As an Indian I have examined its
implications for the futre of India as a whole. As a Muslim I have
examined its likely effects upon the fortunew of Muslims in INdia...
Considering all the aspects, I have come to the conlusion that it is
harmful not only for INdia as a whole but for muslims in particular. 
...

As a muslim I for one am not prepared for a momemnt to give my right
to to treat the whole of India as my domain and to share in the
shaping of of its political and economic life. To me it seems a sure
sign of cowardice to give up what is my patrimony and content myself
with a mere fragment of it...


I am prepared to overlook all other aspects of the problem and judge
it from the point of view of Muslim interests alone. I shall go still
further and say that if it can be shown that the scheme of Pakistan
can in any way benifit Muslims I woul be prepared to accept it myself
and also to work for its acceptance by others. But the truth is that ....

pp 147

[On federal setup]


.. We had to reconcile the claims of provincial autonomy with national
unity. This could be done by finding a satisfactory formula for the
distribution of poers and functions betwen the central and provincial
govenmernts. Some powers and functions could be essentially central
and other essentially provincial and some which could be either
provincially or centrally exercised by consent. The first step was to
devise a formula... It was clear to me that defence,  communications
and foreign affairs were subjects which could be delat adequately only
on all india basis....

A constitution on this basiss would ensure that in muslim majority
provinces, all subjects wexcept three could be administered by the
province iteslf. This would elimeniate from the mind of Muslims all
fears of domination by the Hindus....

As soon as I said that center should have a minimum list of compulsory
subjects and an additional list of optional ones, Lord
PethickLawerence said "You are in fact suggesting a new solution of
the communal problem"...

Pp 158

[On making a undevided India]

The acceptance of Cabinet Mission Plan by both the Congress and League
was a glorious event in the history of the movement in India.  It
meant that the diffuclt question of Indian freedom had been settled by
negotiation and agreement and not by methods of violence and conflict.
...
-- 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian