Divide and Rule Policy of Britain

In the 1982 movie shot by Richard Attenborough, a Brit himself, the last one but scene shows Muhammad Ali Jinnah coming to meet Mahatma Gandhi some time before August 14, 1947. When Nehru and Patel try to talk to him, Jinnah snubbed them both saying “I have come to meet Bapuji and not you”. When Mahatma appears, he tells Jinnah, “Jinnah don’t divide India. You be the first Prime Minister of independent India.” Jinnah remains silent and looks at Nehru and Patel. Nehru tells Gandhi, “Please don’t do that. There will be a civil war in India. We cannot control the people.” Jinnah leaves the scene saying “I will have my Pakistan and you can have your Hindustan.” Jinnah’s silence to Mahatma’s offer was loud and clear. Mohamed Ali Jinnah lived for only another thirteen months as he died of tuberculosis on September 11, 1948. The history of India might have been different had Gandhi had his way.

The old Roman Maxim Divide et impera meant “Divide and Rule”. Lord Elphinstone declared this should be the policy of Britain. As noted by Shashi Tharoor in his article The British Game of Divide and Rule on August 10, 2017, Britain “liked drawing lines on maps of other countries. They did it in the Middle East after the First World War and did it again in India in 1947 when the partition led to killing of one million people, displacing 17 million people, looting and ruining homes Lines meant lives.”

Jinnah, the first Governor General of Pakistan was totally western in his dress and habits. He was clean shaven and loved his drink. In the afternoons, Jinnah used to drop in at the residence of the Indian High Commissioner Sri Prakasa for a drink. Jinnah told Shri Prakasa that he wanted to retain his sea-facing home on the Malabar Hill, South Court, in Bombay as he was looking forward to settling down in his home that he built brick by brick and he wanted Shri Nehru to rent out the party to either a British or American national who will maintain it well. Shri Prakasa asked Jinnah if he could put it in writing in a letter to Pandit Nehru, Jinnah said “yes.” Pandit Nehru obliged Jinnah. From Sri Prakasa’s account, it was evident Jinnah was visualizing Pakistan only as a separate State within the Indian Federation for Muslims but not as a separate country. Till a couple of years ago, the property was used as the Office of the Deputy British High Commissioner for India. Dina Wadia, Jinnah’s daughter wanted to inherit the property and the case is pending in the courts. Pakistan wants the property to house the Pakistani Consulate in Mumbai.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, however, did not accept a similar request from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who wanted to retain his flat on the Carmichael road off Peddar Road in Bombay. When he left India, Bhutto had two regrets. One, he could not retain his property in India. Two, he could not marry Actor Nargis who wanted to marry Raj Kapoor.

It was the British who sowed the seeds of hatred and hostility among the Hindus and Muslims in India which Mahatma understood very well. In fact, when Gandhi attended the Round Table Conference in London in 1931, he was shocked at the question put to him: “which India are you representing? the Hindu India, the Muslim India or the Princely States “which is captured by Richard Attenborough in the Gandhi movie.

It is significant that Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Kathiawar region) and the architect of the India that we have today, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel –all three hailed from Gujarat.

Dr Sitharam Gurumurthi IAS (TN; 1972)

Founder Chairman

Sri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel School for Monetary Economics, Chennai

Can’t the govt get educationists ?

Can’t the govt get educationists of repute to head these academic organisations. Blindly appointing bureaucrats to these types of posts does not augur well for the educational fraternity and it will lead to demoralisation. The govt should understand that because of lack encouragement and recognition in our country, very well qualified professionals in any field try their best to go abroad.

K Srinivas Rao

Congratulations !

Congratulations to you, Pawan Kumar Singh on joining as DDG(FS). Wish u good luck. May u progress a lot. Amrit Pal Sharma President Punjab state small savings agents association.

Amrit Sharma