By: JurmoloyaRava
WHY THE PAKISTAN LEADER IS ‘A PIVOTAL FIGURE’ IN HISTORY
LORD Meghnad Desai, who was part of the panel that picked Philip Jackson to make the “classic” statue of Mahatma Gandhi for Parliament Square, is not in the least surprised that the English sculptor was also selected to fashion the bust of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.
Jackson acknowledged Meghnad, “is a very good sculptor”.
“With his aquiline features and sharp nose, Jinnah is the perfect subject,” added Meghnad.
Jackson himself said: “To get the essence of the man, I studied all the still photographs I could get hold of, viewed all available film, read the works of those who had written about him and spoke to those whose lives he had changed. You have to get to know the subject, get under his skin, see what makes him stick (out). Then you can start.”
In India, Jinnah is demonised as a power-hungry man who forced the partition of India – and the resulting holocaust – because his personal ambition demanded an independent homeland for the country’s Muslims.
In Pakistan, in marked contrast, Jinnah is revered as Quaid-i-Azam – “the great leader”.
During his trip to India and Pakistan, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was feted by Bollywood royalty; said the British government ought to apologise for the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre of 1919 in Amritsar; crossed into Pakistan at the Wagah land crossing; told a BBC reporter that “home is south London, mate”; visited Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi and recalled unveiling his bust at the British Museum in London.
The bust is now located in the library of Lincoln’s Inn, where Jinnah registered as a student on June 5, 1893, and was called to the Bar on April 29, 1896.
Jinnah proved so passionate a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity in an undivided India that when he returned home, the Hindu nationalist leader, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, said: “He has true stuff in him and that freedom from all sectarian prejudices which will make him the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.”
In 1916 at the Lucknow Congress, the poet and freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu also called him “the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity”.
It is curious that Jinnah changed so dramatically.
Sadiq may have overdone it a bit by describing Jinnah as “a champion of democracy, women’s rights and religious freedom” – especially the reference to women’s rights, a modern concept – but it is certainly the case that he was “a pivotal figure” in history.
Maybe Sadiq, who was well received in both India and Pakistan, can help to bring the two countries together. I like Tooting, where Sadiq was born and brought up, and where Indians and Pakistanis live in relative harmony.
Could Tooting be a blueprint for what the future might look?
[TheChamp-Sharing]
