Muhammad Ali Jinnah: A Transformation from an Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity to a Stubborn Communalist for Creating Pakistan Through the Tragic Partition of The Subcontinent

Exploring the Enigmatic Persona of Muhammad Ali Jinnah: From Advocate of Unity to Architect of Partition

Abstract

Muhammad Ali Jinnah is considered to be the most divisive character and figure for thetragedy of the sub-continental history. He is still considered by many as the villain who was solelyresponsible for the creation of Pakistan. It's a tragedy for the sub-continental history that a verysuccessful barrister who did not have any kind of religious biasness or religious bigotry of any kind inhis earlier and almost entire life eventually became one of the topmost stubborn communalist for thecreation of a homeland for the sub-continental Muslims by vivisection of the great land i.e. undividedIndia. Still his activities and life history is an enigma to different scholars of history. His legacy is amixed legacy of trust, inter-community dreams, unity as well as mistrust, betrayal and antagonismamong two different substantially existent sister communities in the Indian subcontinent who livedtogether side by side for centuries under different compulsions under the same sky. The vague anduncertain times of the last and ending days of the British rule in India, the clamour for power for the twomajor communities and their conflicting and sometimes very opposing interests, their mistrust, disbelief,low confidence in each other resulted in the tragic partition. The person from whom high expectationswere made from both the communities eventually became a person meant and made for a particularcommunity on the lines of extreme communalism and eventually the course of the sub-continentalhistory had fallen in a tragic quagmire of mistrust, antagonism among two major communities. Thelegacy of that fateful tragedy called Indian Partition still haunts the sub-continent. His persona thought ofa permanent solution for both the communities but eventually the same tragic history of partition nevercould fulfill the overall general aspirations and good healthy political or interfaith environments of trustin the subcontinent. This paper tries to get into the persona of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the creator ofPakistan.