In wake of the controversy over the ban on Jaswant Singh’s book, activists and intellectuals hold a session on another book on the matter.
After the recent controversy over a book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah written by expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, city-based activists and intellectuals organised a discussion on a book, ‘Partition of India: Legends and Reality’, written by constitutional law expert HM Seervai, on Saturday.
The session on Saturday discussed the role played by various leaders, including Jinnah, during the pre-independence period. Eminent constitutional lawyer Girish Patel, who discussed excerpts from the book, presided over the session.
“The book,” Patel said, “is based on historical documents of communication between the British rulers and leader of the Indian National Congress and Muslim League prior to Partition and Independence. It contains details of why the partition happened, who was responsible for it and why Jinnah demanded the creation of Pakistan.”
During the sessions, Singh’s book, ‘Jinnah, Indian Partition, Independence’, was also discussed. “Jaswant Singh portrayed Jinnah as a nationalist as concluded by Seervai, a lawyer who has been the advocate-general of Maharashtra for the longest time,” Patel said.
According to Seervai’s book, Jinnah was not a religious person. “He was a true nationalist, progressive and liberal. He only wanted parity of Hindus and Muslims. He was in favour of protecting the interests of the Muslims and other minority communities in the country at that time,” Patel said.
“According to the book, the problems between the two communities were about minority and majority. The Partition would not have taken place if the Constitution had been properly framed. In 1935, the British parliament had passed an Act for separate electorates for Muslims and other minorities,” Patel said.
At the conclusion of the session, Patel sought to know why after 60 years of Independence nobody had tried to find out why Hindus and Muslims were divided in communities. “Were Hindus and Muslims parts of distinct nations? Was the Partition really a solution for their problems?” he asked.
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