Ajay Srivastava
The then Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali not only confiscated all of Ali’s property, but also created such a situation that Ali had to return to England empty handed in 1948. The reason for this was that they were not happy with such a small area for Pakistan. He had several times strongly criticized Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, which was not to the liking of the rulers of Pakistan. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali had called Jinnah ‘Gaddar-e-Azam’ many times in public forum.
While studying at Cambridge University in England, a slender young man from United Punjab, Chaudhary Rahmat Ali had the idea of Pakistan, a nation separate from India for Muslims. A pamphlet to this effect also appeared on January 28, 1933, in which it was written – ‘Now Are Never: Are We to Live in the Parish Forever?’ i.e. ‘Now or never: will we be saved or will we be destroyed forever?’ In this pamphlet, he made the name Pakistan by adding the main letters of the names of Punjab, North West Frontier i.e. Afghan region, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan regions.
Chaudhry Rahmat Ali wanted his demand to be heard in the Third Round Table Conference to be held in London, but the top officials of the British rule and Muslim leaders did not pay much attention to his demand. The demand of Pakistan was ignored as a figment of the students. But Chaudhary Rahmat Ali continued his struggle at various forums. In 1934, he met Mohammad Ali Jinnah along with some of his friends and appealed to support the idea of Pakistan. Jinnah smiled and said, ‘My dear children, don’t be in a hurry, let the water flow, he will find his own bottom.’
Chaudhry Rahmat Ali wanted to see his dream of Pakistan come true. In this episode, he also met Allama Iqbal and told him all the things that he thought about Pakistan, a separate nation for Muslims. In those days, Allama Iqbal was counted as the leader of a ‘separate Muslim nation’. In many ways, he was far ahead of Jinnah. Iqbal listened carefully to them, but did not give any assurance.
Chaudhry Rahmat Ali has written in his article that the living habits, customs, food habits, dress and clothing of Muslims are all different, then why should we not get a separate country, where they have the freedom to do all this. Our religion and culture, our history and tradition, our social code and economic system, our laws of inheritance, succession and marriage are fundamentally different from most people living in the rest of India. The ideals that inspire our people to make the supreme sacrifice are essentially different from the ideals that inspire the Hindus to do so. These differences are not limited to broad, basic principles. We don’t eat together, we don’t intermarry. Our national customs and calendar are also different.
He had also printed the map of Pakistan, in which three Muslim countries were shown inside India. These countries were Pakistan, Bangistan and Deccan Osmanistan (Hyderabad, the princely states of the Nizam). The most important thing is that there is no mention of Bengal anywhere in Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan and Allama Iqbal’s independent Muslim nation.
The words of Chaudhry Rahmat Ali were later included in the preamble of ‘Two-Nation’ by the All India Muslim League. Although Jawaharlal Nehru in his book marks Allama Iqbal as the leader of Pakistan. Many British writers have also supported Nehru, calling Iqbal the father of the word Pakistan, but historian Aqeel Abbas Jafri has argued that the name Pakistan was given by a Kashmiri journalist Ghulam Hasan Shah Kazmi on July 1, 1928, when He made an application to the government in Abbottabad, seeking permission to publish a weekly newspaper ‘Pakistan’.
Whatever be the truth, but the demand for a separate country in the name of religion in India started with the partition of Bengal in 1905. Following the policy of ‘divide and rule’ British rule, East Bengal was carved out of the Muslim-majority areas of India and the Hindu-majority area became West Bengal. There was a lot of opposition to this decision of the Firangis in India, but most of the Muslim leaders were in support of the partition of Bengal. The Muslim League was formed in 1906, a year after the partition of Bengal. At that time its purpose was to strengthen the voice of the rights of Muslims.
The relations between Hindus and Muslims were deteriorating day by day. The Muslim society, which was distressed by the riots, felt that they were not safe in this country. Understanding the sentiments of the Muslims, Allama Iqbal, who was presiding over the Allahabad session of the Muslim League in 1930, in his presidential speech demanded a separate state for the Muslims and said, ‘Islam is not only a religion, it is also a civilization. Both are related to each other. Leaving one will also leave the other.
Formation of politics on the basis of Indian nationalism means a departure from the principle of Islamic unity, which no Muslim can even imagine. No Muslim will accept a situation in which he has to give up his Islamic identity for the sake of his national identity. I want Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Sindh, Kashmir and Balochistan to be merged into one autonomous state, either within or outside the British Empire. The establishment of a big Muslim state in the North-West, I see the destiny of the Muslims.
Late, but Ali’s ideas were recognized. It is noteworthy that on May 28, 1937, Allama Iqbal wrote a letter to Jinnah after the defeat of the Muslim League in the elections held in 1937. If this does not happen then there may be a situation of civil war in this country, which has been going on in the form of Hindu-Muslim riots for the last few years. Don’t you think that the time has come to raise this demand.’
The country got independence, but in the form of partition. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was established as the supreme leader of Pakistan, but Chaudhry Rahmat Ali was not happy with such a small Pakistan. They wanted more territory in Pakistan, but did not get it. They blamed Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah for this failure. Despite giving a country its name, he remained neglected in his country, the people there forgot him. After independence, he decided to stay in his country Pakistan and he came to Pakistan with big money earning in England, but destiny had something else in mind.
The then Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali not only confiscated all of Ali’s property, but also created such a situation that Ali had to return to England empty handed in 1948. The reason for this was that they were not happy with such a small area for Pakistan. He had several times strongly criticized Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, which was not to the liking of the rulers of Pakistan. Even when Chaudhry Rahmat Ali was being forced to leave Pakistan, Jinnah remained silent on the issue. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali had called Jinnah ‘Gaddar-e-Azam’ many times in public forum. The person who spent his entire youth for his country, did not even get two yards of land in his beloved country in his last time.
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