Pakistan History,Freedom Movement,etc.,Themes
 

[B][COLOR="darkorchid"]What We Deser[/COLOR][/B]ve

I am surprised to learn that the people of Pakistan are spineless and servile while those of India are fearless and great freedom-fighters(by implication). Mr Shamaas(letter writer in Dawn) is so enamoured of Gandhi and the All-India Congress that he holds them solely responsible for the independence of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, to the exclusion of all other luminaries like the Quaid-i-Azam. This is a travesty of history.

Perhaps he forgets that the inhabitants of India, for about 800 years before independence, were invariably ruled by invaders and conquerors of all hues and shapes who came from the northwest of India and were only occasionally faced with any meaningful resistance. The local populace in combined India never had the guts and wisdom to rule their own country since the time of Mohammad Ghauri. So much for the Indians’ zest for freedom.

As for Gandhi, does the writer really believe that by going half-naked, travelling third class, employing inane tactics like ‘satyagraha’, frequent fasts, salt march, Quit India Movement and by being incarcerated in the luxurious palace of the Aga Khan, the former achieved independence for India?

All these antics were half-hearted and near-failures. His repeated vows of celibacy were lies that were exposed in 1942 as a result of a sex scandal that literally caused his political demise and prompted Lord Mountbatten to call him a hypocrite and a charlatan. Besides, rich Indian industrialists of the era like Birla, Bajaj and Sarabhai regularly wrote cheques to fund Gandhi’s vows of poverty. These are all historical facts and not mere concoctions.

I can assure Mr Shamaas that it was not Gandhi but Hitler and the World War II that broke the back of the British empire, with the result that the British government could no longer hold on to India and decided to quit it. The stark failure of Gandhi’s philosophy and legacy of non-violence can be judged from the deadly riots at the time of partition, the forcible annexation of the states of Junagarh, Hyderabad, Goa and Kashmir by his closest acolyte, Nehru, and the policy of all successive Indian governments to spend trillions on armaments and atomic bombs while a whopping 300 million Indians wallow in abject poverty, and the inhuman caste system is still as much in place as in Gandhi’s time.

Furthermore, it was the liberal, civilised and relatively benign British who, on their own, founded the All-India Congress, held elections, formed the Imperial Legislative Council and, inter alia, imparted education and modern knowledge to the Indians in the English language, thus paving the way for the rise of local leaders like Gandhi and others and for eventual independence long before the Indians could even think of it. In a way it was fortunate that India was not ruled by the likes of brutal French or Belgian colonialists.

As a matter of fact, it was because of the blockbuster movie ‘Gandhi’ on which a grateful Indian government spent crores of rupees and incessant propaganda that the world at large came to know of Gandhi. The propaganda continues unceasingly as a result of which he has been made into a demigod.

On the other hand, an ungrateful Pakistani nation has truly buried the Quaid-i-Azam and his lofty ideals. His contribution to the Indian freedom struggle, Hindu-Muslim unity and to safeguarding the rights of minorities in a sterling political career spanning almost five decades was second to none. And he wrested Pakistan from the jaws of a hostile British government, malevolent Hindu leaders and Muslim zealots.
[url]http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/19/letted.htm#2[/url]