Jinnah, Muhammad Ali (1876–1948) Lawyer, politician and architect of Pakistan. He was born on 25 December 1876 in Karachi. His parents settled in Karachi from Kathiabar on the west Indian coast. Jinnah received his primary education at a primary school in Karachi, Gokuldas Tej Primary School in Bombay and Sindhu Madrasa High School in Karachi and later studied at the Christian Missionary Society High School.
After matriculating from the Mission School in 1892, he went to London and enrolled at Lincoln's Inn to study law.Jinnah returned to Karachi in 1896. In 1897 he went to Bombay to take up law business, but for the first three years he suffered from severe financial difficulties.
As the century turned, his fortunes began to change. After his establishment he surpassed all lawyers in Bombay in terms of income. Jinnah entered politics in 1906. At that time, the session of the Indian National Congress was going on in Calcutta in a situation of intense protest of the Hindu community against the partition of Bengal in 1905. The slogan 'Swaraj' was then added to the new banner of Dadabhai Naoroji's Congress, which Jinnah joined.
Jinnah's rise in politics began when the British Parliament passed the Indian Council Act in 1909. The Act transformed the Viceroy's Executive Council into the Imperial Legislative Council and increased its size by including 35 new nominated members and 25 elected members. It has special representation for Muslims and the zamindars.
Jinnah was elected a member of the Council from a constituency in Bombay. Jinnah's contact with the Muslim League began after the partition of Bengal was canceled in 1911. Jinnah attended the Muslim League session in December the following year. In this session, a proposal to amend the constitution of the Muslim League was raised with the aim of demanding 'Swaraj' in the same tone with the Congress. Jinnah joined the Muslim League in 1913 at the request of Maulana Muhammad Ali and Syed Wazir Hasan.
In December 1915, the Congress prepared to hold its annual session in Bombay. With the consent of the Bombay Muslim leaders, Jinnah sent a letter to the Muslim League leaders inviting the All India Muslim League to hold its annual session at the same place and time as the Congress. But the extremists of Congress and Muslim League strongly opposed it. In the autumn of 1916, Jinnah was again elected a member of the Imperial Legislative Council.
In December 1916, he persuaded the Congress and the Muslim League to hold their annual sessions at the same place in Lucknow at the same time. Jinnah presided over the League session. The minimum reform demands made by their Joint Committees were approved in both the party sessions and submitted to the Government of India
A major internal problem in Indian politics regarding separate constituencies was resolved when the Congress agreed with Jinnah that provinces where Muslims were in the majority would be given additional representation in the Legislative Council. After this historic Lucknow Pact, Jinnah was established as the all-India leader of the Muslims.
By passing the Rowlatt Act in March 1919, the Government of India assumed considerable powers to suppress anti-state activities. In protest, Jinnah resigned from the Imperial Legislative Council and Gandhi launched the Non-Violent Non-Cooperation Movement. In early April, Gandhi's followers rioted in Amritsar and killed three European bank managers.
As a result of this, a brutal massacre took place at Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April. Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement. At the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920, Jinnah's perception of the party changed completely. From here he severed his ties with the Congress.
He also had a falling out with the Muslim League, as he found that the elite of Muslim leaders were unwilling to budge from their traditional allegiance to the British Raj, rather they regarded the British as their patrons. The party never fulfilled the promises made by the Congress in the Lucknow Pact of 1916. As a result, the distance between the two communities continued to grow.
For Jinnah, the twenties were nothing but political frustration. The British government hesitated over political reforms, the Congress refused to recognize Muslim representation, Gandhi continued populist politics in determining the destiny of the Indian masses, and Muslims suffered a dire crisis of their position and power. In 1930, Jinnah found himself almost neglected at the fruitless first round table meeting in London.
In the second round table meeting, Aga Khan led the Muslim delegation and Gandhi led the Congress. Jinnah was not included in the third round table meeting and no one thought that he represented any important ideology. In 1931, Jinnah decided to settle permanently in London and leave Indian politics forever. He began practicing law at the Privy Council Bar in London.
The Government of India Act of 1935 included provisions for representation of Muslims and other minority communities in various legislative assemblies to protect their interests. This law opened the door to new possibilities for non-elite nationalist politicians. In the changing circumstances, Jinnah returned to India and became interested in taking the leadership of the Muslims on the invitation of the Indian middle class Muslim leaders.
The elections held in 1937 under the New Indian Rule Act showed that India's ten crore Muslims were not a united community at all. They were isolated, largely strangers to each other and had no other link than religion. In the North-West Frontier Province, 90 percent of the population is Muslim, but the Muslim League did not win a single seat in the central or provincial assembly elections.
Muslims in the Muslim-majority Punjab were united under the banner of various old parties and had no interest in Jinnah's revived Muslim League. In Sindh province too Muslims showed solidarity with the Congress in opposing the partition policy of India regardless of the League. The Muslim League won the elections only in Bengal and formed a coalition government led by Krishak Praja Party leader AK Fazlul Haque.
In 1938, Jinnah started publishing an English daily called Dawn in Delhi to counter anti-Muslim propaganda by Hindus. In 1940, Jinnah started campaigning for binationalism and presided over the Lahore session of the Nikhil Bharat Muslim League on 23 March that year. In this session, the 'Pakistan Proposal' raised by Bengal Chief Minister AK Fazlul Haque was accepted.
When the Cripps mission failed, Gandhi started the Quit India movement. Gandhi, Nehru and other Congress leaders were then arrested on charges of sedition. On 26 July 1943, a Khaksar volunteer attempted to assassinate Jinnah in Bombay, but Jinnah narrowly survived.Jinnah accepted the Cabinet Mission plan, but the Congress rejected the plan.
At a Council meeting held at Bombay on 28 July 1946, the Muslim League withdrew its support to the Cabinet Mission plan and decided on a program of direct struggle for Pakistan. At that time (8 August 1946) the Muslim League strongly protested when Viceroy Lord Wavell invited the Congress to form an interim government at the Centre.
The Calcutta Massacre began on August 16, Direct Struggle Day, and killed at least 4,000 Muslims and Hindus. 8 thousand Muslims were killed in Bihar in October and November. Many Muslims were also killed in the United Provinces.
After further discussions with the Viceroy in early October, Jinnah agreed to give 5 Muslim League ministers under the leadership of Liaquat Ali Khan to the interim government. The last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, arrived in Delhi on 22 March 1947 to preside over the Partition of India. Jinnah left Delhi for Karachi on 7 August 1947 and was sworn in as the first Governor General of Pakistan on 14 August.
It was due to his leadership and the complete trust of the people in him that the newly formed state of Pakistan was able to overcome its initial problems. Jinnah died on 11 September 1948 in Karachi.
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