Sir Patrick Spens, the last Chief Justice of undivided India, paid homage to Mohammad Ali Jannah in the following incandescent words. "There is no man or woman living who imputes anything against his honour or his honesty. He was the most upright person that I know and he never, as far as I know, for one moment attempted to deceive anybody as to what he was aiming at or as to the means he attempted to adopt to get it."
He was beyond reproach as is evident from the remarks made by someone who obviously was not his next of kin. Ironically, his archfoes in the Congress camp were always ready in presenting a bill of indictment, incriminating him of giving precedence to Muslimhood over nationalism, when they themselves were guilty of masterminding a whispering campaign against the downtrodden Muslims and putting an inch of cool iron, repeatedly in Jinnah's back under the guise of friendship.
Jinnah thus left Congress virtually shaking the dust off his boots having read the minds of the leaders of double dealing Hindu party like a book thriving on its hypocritical secularised outlook.
Congress hatched innumerable conspiracies to vilify the secular fame of the Muslim barrister, as their diabolical scheme of shining with his reflected light could not materialise. Jinnah was cognisant of the fact that an air of absurdity had pervaded their minds.
In fact, the Congress attitude served as a catalyst, giving impetus to the nascent Muslim freedom movement that later transcended all barriers and the sub-continent no longer remained that medieval abode where Hindus and Muslims, could smoke the calumet together.
His presence in the Congress was like he backing the wrong horse - perhaps, he backed it for too long. His indefatigable efforts to bring about a Hindu-Muslim rapprochement often withered on the vine owing to Congress's adamant attitude.
In the end, he had to concede point blank that the Hindus and Muslims were as different from each other as chalk from cheese and there was no point in perpetuating a honeymoon that was not idyllic by any stretch of imagination. It was in fact a marriage of convenience on its last legs.
The partisan approach of the Congress brought about a transition in his outlook; he thought of Hindu-Muslim fraternity as a phenomenon that was not destined to materialise.
The formation of Congress ministries in 1937 and their authoritarian rule led to atrocities perpetrated by the brown-shirted and black-shirted legions of Hitler in fascist Germany.
The Hindu black guards resorted to fluttering the dovecotes. For a man cutting many a Gordian knot it proved to be the proverbial last straw forcing him to pronounce that the concept of Hindu-Muslim camaraderie was merely a cynic arm chair theory.
He explained the concept of state (hood) to his Congress friends "What is a state? What is a representative government? Does it mean that 70 million Muslims should be tied hand and foot in a constitution where a particular class of Hindus can possibly tyrannise over and deal with them as they like? Is that representative government? Is that democratic government? Certainly not."
About the 1935 India Act promulgated to put the Muslim League and the Muslims hoi polloi under harrow, Jinnah lashed out at the draconian provisions in constitution by enunciating "No Constitution is permanent. Constitution is made by men but men are not made by Constitution."
The elections held under the aegis of the 1935 Indian Act turned out to be a signal success for Congress and abysmal failure for the Muslim League simply because the Muslim leaders behaved more like mavericks, nursing grudges against each other and the Nationalist Muslims were averse to the very concept of parcelling out the sub-continent into two separate principalities. Thus the days of wine and roses were replaced by rose dealings.
To compound the felony, the Hindu leaders unleashed a reign of terror, breaking the butterfly on the wheel at the behest of the Congress leaders. Jinnah dismayed over the prevalent state of affairs pleaded with the Muslims to shelve their differences and "I say to all Muslims of India to organise, consolidate and establish solidarity and unity.
Service, suffering and sacrifices are absolutely essential conditions before we can achieve anything big and secure our right place in the national life of our country."
The Hindus unconsciously facilitated Jinnah in carving out what in the prevalent political scenario could be referred to as a harbour of refuge for the beleaguered Muslims and reuniting the splinter groups.
Jinnah, entrusted with the onerous task of sculpting the reclining Muslim destiny, finally resurrected the fluctuating fortunes of the Muslim League. When the Congress abdicated in 1939 it proved to be an icing on the cake providing Jinnah with yet another opportunity to wrestle away the initiative from themes.
With the approval of Pakistan Resolution, many Hindu eyebrows were raised and Jawaharlal Nehru actually said he did not comprehend the meaning of the word Pakistan. Jinnah replied, "Even Muslim children understand the meaning of Pakistan but here is the great leader, a great internationalist who says he does not understand Pakistan.
Pakistan means partition, Pakistan means division, it means you must take Hindu provinces of your and leave out Muslim provinces where we want to establish our government."