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Jinnah's Monocle by Dr Ayesha Jalal
 

In one of the more memorable contemporary recollections of Mohammad Ali Jinnah on the eve of partition, Beverley Nichols described the lanky and stylishly dressed barrister as the “most important man in Asia.” Looking every bit like a gentleman of Spain, of the old diplomatic school, the monocle- wearing leader of the AIML held a pivotal place in the future of India. “If Gandhi goes, there is always Nehru, or Rajagopalachari, or Patel or a dozen others. But if Jinnah goes, who is there?” Without Jinnah to steer the course, the Muslim League was a potentially explosive force that “might run completely off the rails, and charge through India with fire and slaughter”; it might even “start another war.” As long as Jinnah was around, nothing disastrous was likely to happen and so, Nichols quipped, “a great deal hangs on the grey silk cord of that monocle.”