Jitendra Singh tells Farooq Abdullah to re-read history before commenting on Jinnah’s role in Partition

New Delhi: In a sharply-worded criticism against Jammu-Kashmir former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, for his statement on Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said that the former should ‘re-read the history’ before commenting on the role of Mr Jinnah in the creation of Pakistan.
He was responding to Mr Abdullah’s statement that Mr Jinnah was not in favour of creating separate nation, and blamed leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad were responsible for the partition.
The Union Minister said Mahatma Gandhi had suggested to Mr Jinnah that if he agreed to withdraw his demand for Pakistan, Mr Gandhi would persuade the Congress party to accept Mr Jinnah as Prime Minister of undivided India.
“He is required to reread history. We have references which indicate that Mahatma Gandhi himself had suggested to Jinnah that if he agrees to withdraw the demand of partition, Gandhi would persuade Congress to accept Jinnah as Prime Minister of undivided India” Jitendra Singh said.
At a function in Jammu, Mr Abdullah had said, “Jinnah was not going to divide the country. The commission was delivered and the decision was taken that India would be divided. It said we will keep a special representation for Muslims. We will keep special dispensation for minorities and Sikh, but will not let the nation divide”.
He further added that Mr Jinnah agreed to it, but Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad did not. “When this did not happen it was then that Jinnah demanded for Pakistan. Or else there would have been no separation. There would have been no Bangladesh, no Pakistan; there would have been one India,” Mr Abdullah said.
Countering Mr Abdullaha’s claim, Jitendra Singh said that Jinnah was not impressed by Mahatma Gandhi’s suggestion, because he felt it was not easy for him to gain acceptability as Indian Prime Minister.
“Jinnah was not impressed by the suggestion possibly because he felt it was not easy for him to gain acceptability as India’s Prime Minister. Nehru was also in hurry to become the Prime Minister.”
He also criticised Mr Abdullah’s father and Jammu- Kashmir’s first Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah that the senior Abdullah has done a lot of ‘opportunistic adjustments’.