111- Independence and partition of India
एक दुखी परिवार-111
Gandhi, the Mahatma vis a vis
Azad, the Maulana.
After losing general elections in 1937 Muslim League had gone virtually on war-path against the Congress in particular and Hindus in general and polarized the population on religious lines.
To defuse the situation, from the Congress’ side, Gandhi chose Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as the Congress President in 1940, just a couple of months before the Lahore resolution for the creation of Pakistan.
Because of various factors like World War II, Quit India Movement and most of the Congress leaders in jails, the annual elections for the post of Congress President could not be held until April 1946.
Maulana Azad continued to be the Congress President and represented the Congress in various negotiations with the then Government and visiting Missions. As the War was coming to an end, it was becoming clear that India’s freedom is not very far. It was also very clear that it will be the Congress President (due to the number of seats Congress had won in 1946 elections), who shall be invited to form the Interim Government at the Centre.
Thus, suddenly, the position of the President of the Congress Party , became a potential conduit to the throne-in-the-offing.
Once the election for the post of Congress President was announced, Maulana Azad expressed his desire for the re-election. This fact has been accepted by Azad himself, but in a very twisted way. In his autobiography he writes:
“The question normally arose that there should be fresh Congress elections and a new President chosen. As soon as this was mooted in the Press, a general demand arose that I should be selected President for another term…. There was a general feeling in Congress that since I had conducted the negotiations till now, I should be charged with the task of bringing them to a successful close and implementing them.”
Maulana’s this move “agonized Azad’s close friend and colleague Jawaharlal who had his own ambitions and agenda in the garb of pretence for the nation, especially augmented, pampered and supported by Gandhi, the mahatma.
However, Gandhi had made his choice known in the favour of Jawaharlal Nehru on 20th April, 1946.
This was not the first time that Gandhi spoke about his choice of Nehru; even before the process of election was set in motion. He had been speaking about it from the last several years. But Maulana’s desire for re-election and various newspaper reports about it upset Gandhiji and on 20.04.1946 he wrote to Maulana Azad, who had already been President of Congress for the last six years:
“Please go through the enclosed cuttings.… I have not spoken to anyone of my opinion. When one or two Working Committee members asked me, I said that it would not be right for the same President to continue…. If you are of the same opinion, it may be proper for you to issue a statement about the cuttings [the news item Gandhiji had sent him] and say that you have no intention to become the President again…. In today’s circumstances I would, if asked, prefer Jawaharlal. I have many reasons for this. Why go into them?”
(That is about Gandhi, the Mahatma, whose secular pretensions are carried forward till date by our secularists, failing to discern what is meant by the term 'hypocrisy').
(Cont. .)
एक दुखी परिवार-111
Gandhi, the Mahatma vis a vis
Azad, the Maulana.
After losing general elections in 1937 Muslim League had gone virtually on war-path against the Congress in particular and Hindus in general and polarized the population on religious lines.
To defuse the situation, from the Congress’ side, Gandhi chose Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as the Congress President in 1940, just a couple of months before the Lahore resolution for the creation of Pakistan.
Because of various factors like World War II, Quit India Movement and most of the Congress leaders in jails, the annual elections for the post of Congress President could not be held until April 1946.
Maulana Azad continued to be the Congress President and represented the Congress in various negotiations with the then Government and visiting Missions. As the War was coming to an end, it was becoming clear that India’s freedom is not very far. It was also very clear that it will be the Congress President (due to the number of seats Congress had won in 1946 elections), who shall be invited to form the Interim Government at the Centre.
Thus, suddenly, the position of the President of the Congress Party , became a potential conduit to the throne-in-the-offing.
Once the election for the post of Congress President was announced, Maulana Azad expressed his desire for the re-election. This fact has been accepted by Azad himself, but in a very twisted way. In his autobiography he writes:
“The question normally arose that there should be fresh Congress elections and a new President chosen. As soon as this was mooted in the Press, a general demand arose that I should be selected President for another term…. There was a general feeling in Congress that since I had conducted the negotiations till now, I should be charged with the task of bringing them to a successful close and implementing them.”
Maulana’s this move “agonized Azad’s close friend and colleague Jawaharlal who had his own ambitions and agenda in the garb of pretence for the nation, especially augmented, pampered and supported by Gandhi, the mahatma.
However, Gandhi had made his choice known in the favour of Jawaharlal Nehru on 20th April, 1946.
This was not the first time that Gandhi spoke about his choice of Nehru; even before the process of election was set in motion. He had been speaking about it from the last several years. But Maulana’s desire for re-election and various newspaper reports about it upset Gandhiji and on 20.04.1946 he wrote to Maulana Azad, who had already been President of Congress for the last six years:
“Please go through the enclosed cuttings.… I have not spoken to anyone of my opinion. When one or two Working Committee members asked me, I said that it would not be right for the same President to continue…. If you are of the same opinion, it may be proper for you to issue a statement about the cuttings [the news item Gandhiji had sent him] and say that you have no intention to become the President again…. In today’s circumstances I would, if asked, prefer Jawaharlal. I have many reasons for this. Why go into them?”
(That is about Gandhi, the Mahatma, whose secular pretensions are carried forward till date by our secularists, failing to discern what is meant by the term 'hypocrisy').
(Cont. .)
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