By ATUL CHANDRA
Akhilesh Yadav set off a political storm when he equated Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawahar Lal Nehru. Addressing a rally in Hardoi on Patel’s birth anniversary, Akhilesh said that all of them had studied “in the same institute and became barristers. They fought for India’s freedom and never backed away from any kind of struggle. If anyone banned a particular kind of ideology, it was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel”. Apparently though it was clearly divisive, the reference to Jinnah was intended to consolidate his Muslim vote bank.
While equating the three stalwarts of India’s freedom movement was in itself blasphemous, some BJP leaders made it worse by editing the clip with obvious mal-intent. The Logical Indian’s Fact Check Team found that a part of Akhilesh’s speech was cropped to make it read, “Jinnah got us Azadi”. This was circulated on social media and widely carried by the media hurting the Samajwadi Party chief’s prospects. It is believed that the statement will help the BJP which has been banking on a polarized electoral politics.
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A fact check on Jinnah’s patriotism will be in order. What differentiated Jinnah from others was his two-nation theory which he passionately espoused. Akhilesh’s argument that Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Jinnah studied in the same institution is also flawed. That the Hindus and Muslims were two distinct identities came to be stressed right after the formation of All-India Muslim League (AIML) in 1906. In his presidential address to the AIML 1940 Jinnah said “it is a dream Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality”. In 1944 Jinnah reiterated his view of Muslims and Hindus being “two major nations”.
It was clear that Jinnah was fighting more for the creation of a separate state for Muslims than for India’s freedom. Akhilesh’s statement could, therefore, boomerang on him because a large number of Muslims rejected the two-nation theory and chose to stay back in India of their own volition. In the opinion of Rafiq Zakaria, Islamic scholar, historian and All-India Khilafat Committee Chairman, Jinnah was “a villain”. Zakaria argued that “in the process to divide Hindus and Muslims caused immense harm to the Muslim community” which was eventually divided into three segments in the sub-continent—Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian Muslims”.
On Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Jinnah going to the same institution to study law too, Akhilesh needs to update his history. Gandhi was called to the Bar at Inner Temple, Nehru went to Harrow and from there to Cambridge University and the Inner Temple, which is one of the four Inns of Court. Sardar Patel, on the other hand, went to the Middle Temple, but Jinnah studied at Lincoln’s Inn.
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The SP supremo thus gave enough ammo to the BJP to attack him with vengeance and seek his apology for venerating the founder of Pakistan. It is unlikely that Akhilesh will apologise, even if it means losing a chunk of Hindu votes. That will not only make polarization complete but also strengthen the BJP. What will work in Akhilesh’s favour is that other than voting for Samajwadi Party, Muslims have no other alternative.