Book Reviews M.A. Jinnah: The Outside View by Dr M. Reza Kazimi

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Abstract

Keeping track with the growing literature on Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his role in the modern Indian politics, may be an interesting and stimulating undertaking for the students of history. One thing is quite obvious that with the passage of time both in Pakistan and India—more so in the latter than in the former—the official historiography is being surpassed by historians aspiring to look into the partition afresh. The official historiographies in India and Pakistan had remained in vogue, in both countries, particularly during the initial two decades. This may be attributed to the momentum of respective Muslim and the Indian nationalist movements, which dominated the intellectual horizon in the two countries after independence. The postcolonial states in the two countries also relied heavily on their respective pre-partition nationalist assertions to construct their ideological edifices while aspiring to legitimize the state authorities. It was during the 1970s, that historians amassed courage to question some of the logical inconsistencies enwrapped in the official nationalist historical claims. With this there arose the urge to look into the historical roles of some of the most prominent political figures of pre-partition era. Thus while on the one hand Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, etc., came under new searchlights, on the other, Jinnah’s role was revisited with fresh and objective outlook. The new versions were also subjected to questions and historians have since been involved in responding to points raised by each other.

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Published

2020-02-14