Jinnah in India’s history -- a g noorani

Jinnah in India’s history A.G. NOORANI

The Aga Khan led a delegation of 35 Muslim leaders to the Viceroy Lord Minto at Shimla on October 1, 1906, to demand separate electorates and much else besides. On October 7, Gujarati of Bombay published a letter by a 30-year-old struggling lawyer, Jinnah, asking angrily: ’’May I know who ever elected the gentlemen who are supposed to represent Bombay... . I know of no meeting of the Mahomedan community that appointed these worthies to represent Bombay.’’ Jinnah attended the 22nd session of the Congress at Calcutta on December 27, 1906, over which Dadabhai Naoroji presided. Jinnah was then his private secretary. A resolution was moved by two Muslim members criticising the Privy Council’s ruling that the Wakf-e-Ala-Aulad violated Muslim law. It was a common form of trust created for the settler’s progeny. The community was in uproar. Jinnah’s remarks in support of the resolution revealed his ’’public philosophy’’, to use Lippmann’s expression. ’’It is a matter of gratification to the whole of the Muhammadan community, that we have got on the programme of the Indian National Congress a question which purely affects the Muhammadan community. That shows one thing, gentlemen, that we Muhammadans can equally stand on this common platform and pray for our grievances being remedied through the programme of the National Congress.’’ (Syed Shatifuddin Pirzada: The Collected Works of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah; Vol. I, (1906-1921), 1984; pages 1 and 2 for the letter and the speech respectively (emphasis added, throughout). Pirzada deserves high credit for the pains he took to acquire a copy of the letter. The series, referred to as CW, ended in 1986 with Volume III (1926-1931). Was Jinnah a nationalist in October (on page1) and a communalist in December (on page 2)?

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