Friday 17 February 2012

Gandhi vs. Jinnah: Is it even worth debating over?

There have been times when certain individuals have risen up to the deceitful religious dogmas, bigoted maniacs, societal injustices and opposed the wrongdoings. Rising up against conformist ideologies is sometimes possible but there are times when these acts turn to a massive turmoil and a mass opposition. The individuals who bring about these reforms are sometimes termed deviants and sometimes praised. But they all should be presented with the title of a “Leader”.

Here I would like to take my discussion to the phenomenal qualities of two such leaders of whom the world knows about; the two leaders from this side of the world that the entire globe is particularly interested in. Mahatma Gandhi and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah: the two people who beautifully carved their names in the books of the history of subcontinent. These were the men who rose up to the challenging situations of their times and gave their followers refuge from external rule.

I would like to highlight some major similarities between the two leaders. Both Gandhi and Jinnah had similar leadership styles. They made people believe in their vision and carried such a strong charisma that dictated the moves of their followers. They bestowed their nations with eternal freedom. True that Gandhi was a people oriented person and had a very non violent self stimulating type of style, Jinnah had to act all strong and stern. They molded their personalities according to the need of the day and made relative sacrifices.

Why is then Gandhi considered to be a better leader? Why are the two even compared? Just because they both supported and led opposite sides of the independence war doesn’t make them comparable. The situations that shaped and transformed the decisions of both were different. Their ideologies were different. Their approaches were different yet it is concluded that Gandhi was a better leader by the West. During my exchange year I encountered with so many people who asked me this: Do you think Gandhi was a better leader or Jinnah? The meaning of Mahatma has been explained well as the great one but people in the West aren’t aware that Quaid-e-Azam also has similar meaning.

Yes this perception owes to the fact that Indian film cinema has uplifted Gandhi’s image through its pro-Gandhi films but until and unless all facts are properly analyzed of the pre-independence era, vague statements like Gandhi was a better leader shouldn’t be passed. Also the perception that Pakistanis hate Gandhi and Indians hate Jinnah as leaders is not correct. Despite being a Pakistani, I absolutely adore Gandhi as a leader and quote his example whenever relevant and know Indians who loved Jinnah’s brilliant moves to give Muslims what they required. Both are exemplary leaders and both should be appreciated for their contributions.

9 comments:

  1. Blog is very good , but the of the blog in which birds are playing.........is quite irritating :#

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  2. but you know Quratulain people in interior and in some other areas of Pakistan hate Quaid-e-Azam , reason the current situation of country though he was a great leader ..

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  3. @ Mustafa: That was just to make it look pretty to the eyes :p

    @Majid: Considering the pace at which India is progressing, I can say it could have been better had we been a part of it too but again what good is the progress of a homeland where your rights are being usurped? But yes everyone has the right to like or dislike a leader according to his/her analysis. I personally like both the leaders though :)

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  4. i went to India last year and visiited some 27 towns and cities combined. talked to a lot of indians, majority of whom were hindus. the general idea i got from them was, they think Gandhi was the one who wanted all issues to be solved in peace and prosperity and voilence should absolutely be bathed off India. whereas Jinnah was the one who never 'believed' in peace and always wanted to use his political influence in bringing changes in the nation. With my experience, in general indians don't much pay respect to Jinnah, and the real reason behind that is lack of knowlegde and biased history teachings. this i say, because i personally took a step ahead and went to a school in the town of Godhra, Gujrat, and their history teachings were found to be idolizing Gandhi, and literally devaluing Jinnah.
    one point i want to say is, atleast thats not done here in Pakistan, we are not told of the BAD Gandhi, if not the good.

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  5. Brilliantly written Quratulain. You know sometimes when you think about things but never pen them down? I feel you've written my heart out. And not only is it about Gandhi vs Jinnah; I even hate the fact of comparing 2 individuals at any point in time. Everyone is different, has a unique identity, has a different thought process, is brought up and belongs to completely unique sets of environment... then how can we compare and declare who's better and who isn't?

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  6. @ Sir Sarosh,
    Thank you :) Appreciation from professionals like you motivates amateur bloggers like me to write even more. You made my day. Thanks again :)

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  7. Miss Tejani,
    Yours is a very well written and more importantly, unbiased blog. i enjoyed the flow of it so much that it seemed to me that it finished too quickly.
    I myself being a south asian, Indian to be precise, have been in these discussions from time to time. As Mr. Ali Akbar tried to emphasize in the comments section, that my countrymen dont pay much respects to MAJ, for obvious reasons, is quite true. Although I didnt come across any govt propaganda against MAJ in my short lifetime, but verbal propagation of ignorant biases are a different matter altogether.
    You see, now ,in urban parts of india, its quite common to see the kids of different religious affiliations going to school together, playing, beating n making up together. I am a living proof of that generation. its natural because the poison of religion hadnt touched our minds. then came little knowledge about religion, our country, its independence from the brits and its division in the gruesome manner. now since, it was so easy for us, as kids, to mingle with kids of other religions, i wondered, why cudnt the grown up men went on to break up the whole damn nation.
    Of course,the blame game started.....MAJ cause he made up a mullah country, Nehru coz he was a greedy SoB etc etc.
    we all know what happened to Jaswant Singh and LK Advani , who went on to praise the Quaid-E-Aazam.
    people like you, writing such wonderful blogs like the above, didnt exist.
    hopefully one day, when ppl stop believing the respective propagandas and try to think rationally for a change.
    And I am totally with Mr. Jinnah for the creation of pakistan. let me tell u why.... when i was leaving home for college, my mom slyly advised me not to date muslim girls, any other girl wud be ok. Now my father made sure that we grow up not harboring any malice towards ppl of other religion/caste/language. looking back, i cant help thinking, if my mom could tell me such a thing (who in fact had no problems socializing with muslim ladies or cooking/eating with them), what would the grossly illiterate, hopelessly uninformed and biased ppl in 1940s would have thought of and treated muslim people. Jinnah saab was correct to realize that, then. Gandhi , no doubt, an immense personality, and my idol, had his eyes covered with the utopian idea of united india.
    Hence, i would agree to the title of the blog.....NOPE.

    Sincerely yours,
    Bhaskar Jyoti Das,
    bjd01@aol.in

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  8. A great blog! Gandhi even defied his own nation in order to help Pakistan after independence. I think both the leaders worked for what right should be done.
    It is maybe just stereotyping that many Pakistanis hate Gandhi and many Indians hate Jinnah. Maybe people secretly enjoy the existence of villians just to hate them.
    I think that is why there are compulsory courses in universities and schools for Pakistan Studies. But people just like to get good grades out of them instead of studying them properly. Our history should be studied with unbiasness and authenticity. Awareness should be spread. It is a lot bigger picture than what meets the eye. :)
    A Pakistani citizen.

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