Jinnah as a freedom movement

Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a great leader of the Indian independence
movement, a person who started off as a leader of Hindu-Muslim unity but
sadly, slowly gravitated towards an independent nation for Indian Muslims.
He is very much considered as a freedom fighter in India who later
propounded the two nation theory. He was practicing as a successful lawyer
and like many famous lawyers of his time, participated in politics and Indian
independence movement. He was never a religiously strict Muslim leader. He
mostly spoke English. He was a member of the Congress party. There were
two factions in Congress. The hardline faction led by leaders like
Balgangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai. The moderate faction was led by
Gopalkrishna Gokhale, Ferozeshah Mehta, and Naoroji. Jinnah was a
follower of the moderate faction. Mr. Gokhale called him a man free from all
sectarian prejudice which will make him an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim
unity. A delegation of Muslim leaders led by Aga Khan met with the then
Viceroy of India, Lord Minto for political reforms where the interests of
Muslims would be protected from Hindu majority. Mr. Jinnah wrote an article
asking what rights these leaders as representatives of Muslims in India, as
they were un-elected and self-appointed. When All India Muslim league was
formed in 1906 to promote the interests of Muslims in India, at that time he
was opposed to it. During the time of WW I, Jinnah was in Britain along with
the moderate factions of Congress. Jinnah along with those leaders supported
the British war effort with the hope that Indians would be rewarded with
more political freedoms. At that time two of the great leaders of the
moderate faction, Mehta and Gokhale died. Also another leader Naoroji died
a couple of years later. The moderate faction lost some its tallest leaders and
Jinnah too became disillusioned.
In 1916 Jinnah played a pivotal role in the famous Luck now pact between
Congress and the Muslim league. It was a pact between both the parties to
work together and pressure British government for more political reforms for
Indians, while also safeguarding the Muslim rights. It was after this, the
famous nightingale of India, Sarojini Naidu gave him the title, 'Ambassador
of Hindu-Muslim unity'.
He also played a very important role in the formation of All India Home Rule
league along with leaders like Annie Besant, Tilak. It demanded Home rule for
India - the status of a self governing dominion similar to Canada, Australia.

The British enjoyed the co-operation of the Indian political leaders during
WW I, but once it ended didn't have any great interest to grant the political
freedoms the Indian leaders had hoped. The lowest point at that time was
the Jallianwallahbagh massacre.
After that, Gandhiji supported the Khilafat movement. It supported the
Ottoman caliphate. It had the support of lot of Muslims in India, but Jinnah
wasn't much impressed. He felt the support for Khilafat movement as a
support for religious zealotry. Later when the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk announced the independence of Turkey, the Khilafat movement
fizzled out.
Gandhiji's popularity grew in India. He also launched the Satyagraha
movement. Jinnah was less impressed with it. He felt it was political anarchy.
He believed self government should be achieved through constitutional
means.
In the 1920 Nagpur Congress session he was shouted down by some Congress
delegates while discussing Gandhiji's Satyagraha. When Congress endorsed
the decision of Gandhiji, he became disillusioned. He resigned from Congress
and continued as a member of Muslim league.

For quite sometime Jinnah was lesser involved in political activities and
continued his legal practice. In 1928, Motilal Nehru prepared 'Nehru report'.
It had opposition among Muslim league leaders and Jinnah prepared the
Fourteen points.
Jinnah participated in Round table conferences in 30's. He continued to live in
Britain for a few more years and later returned to India in 1934.
 The great poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal had a great influence on Mr.
Jinnah. Initially the two had different ideas but later towards the end of
the life of Mr. Iqbal, Jinnah considered him his mentor.
 The British government passed the Government of India Act in 1935. It
gave considerable political power to Indian local elected leaders but
retaining key portfolios with the British.
 In the elections in 1937, Congress was better prepared and organized
and won comfortable victory in most of the provinces in India.
 In comparison Muslim League had performed quite poorly even in
Muslim majority seats. Muslim League was part of the ruling coalition in
Bengal. Most surprisingly in Frontier province (NWFP), where the entire
population was Muslim, Muslim league didn't win any seats. It had
tremendous almost traumatic impact on Mr. Jinnah.
 He galvanized to increase membership of Muslim league members. The
party achieved it by reducing the cost of membership as 2 annas (⅛ of a
rupee), half of the Congress membership cost.
 After the electoral defeat, the communities went apart politically.
Perhaps Congress leadership didn't fully appreciate the divergence of the
Muslim leadership's interest in separate state for Muslims.
 They were probably lulled into thinking that not all Muslims would
choose separate nation, as leaders like Abul Kalam Azad and Khan Abdul
Gaffar Khan never agreed the idea of separate Muslim nation.
 Start of WW II was another pivotal moment in the Independence
movement in India. The Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow announced
India's entry into the war without getting the concurrence of the Indian
political leaders.
 He also announced suspension of all talks on self government till the
end of the war. Indians were very worried by the experience after WW I,
when after the completion of the war, British government was not
interested in granting political reforms in India.
 The viceroy invited Gandhiji and Jinnah for discussions. He wanted to
get the support of Indian political leaders. Congress was more opposed.
Jinnah was more accommodating to the British effort.
 Congress resigned from all posts. It resulted in political wilderness of
Congress. When the Quit India movement was launched, most Congress
leaders were arrested. Gandhiji was put on house arrest. It was a period
which was politically very useful for Muslim League and its leaders.
 All further political discussions and movements actively proceeded
where Congress was asking for independence. Muslim League was always
interested in getting a separate nation for the Muslims. In 1940 Lahore
resolution, the demand for separate Pakistan was confirmed.
 Even after the completion of the war, the differences between
Congress and Muslim league widened.
 In Britain, Labor party won the election. Clement Atlee was more open
to give independence to India. In the 1945 elections for the Constituent
 Assembly of India, Muslim league won all the Muslim majority seats.
Jinnah had achieved the political recognition of Muslims in India.
 The political discussions on the nature of independence continued.
Jinnah who became more worried announced the Direct Action day in
1946. The partition had started. Violence raged in Bengal. Congress
leaders were either devastated or came to realize that the partition of
India was inevitable. Gandhiji, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were the
leaders who were devastated. Leaders like Nehruji, Sardar Patel realized
that partition was inevitable.
 And rest is history
As we all can see, he started off as a great ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity in
Congress. He championed constitutional changes. He initially abhorred Muslim
separatism. When Gandhiji's ideas of political movement became more
prominent and he saw less of his ideas getting accepted, he reduced his political
involvement. The Muslim league leaders worked hard to attract Jinnah to their
cause and he obliged. When Muslims of India didn't overwhelmingly vote for
Muslim league in 1937 elections, he led Muslim league's efforts in creating the
separate identity, embraced the very separatism he had earlier avoided, later
drove the Muslims through his call for 'Direct action' and finally achieved partition
of India.

The level of details will be much lesser in Indian school history books, but the
most important events have been mentioned. Most importantly, the role of
Jinnah in Indian independence and in partition have been mentioned.