Friday, August 21, 2009

Jinnah & Gujarat ni Asmita (Pride of Gujarat)

Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan and reponsible (not solely) for the partition of the India has done it again. This time he's pushed BJP into partition mode. Jaswantsingh, veteran BJP leader & one of the recent rebels- the only one to be pampered with prestigious chairmanship of Parliament's Public Accoung Commitee (PAC) even after his rebellion, has revisited partition & Jinnah's 'innocent' role in his recent book. Not without disastarous consequences.

As He has got the boot from the party (BJP) after serving it for more than 3 decades (appreciation of Jinnah being the proverbial last straw), his book has been banned by Gujarat Chief Minister who think of himself as the custodian of the image of Sardar Patel. The Guj. Government claimed Singh's book tarnishes the image of the original Sardar of India, in presence of the other "smaller/lesser (chhote) sardars" - the pet name for Mr. Advani as well as Mr.Modi.

Well, politics apart, Jinnah's Gujarat connection is quite known. His father Zinabhai/ઝીણાભાઈ (from whose name Mahmad Ali drew his last name 'Jinnah') belonged to Paneli in Kathiawad, few kms. away from birth place of Gandhi. Though born in Karachi, MahmadAli was well versed with his Pitrubhasha/ Fathertongue. Here is the sample of how good he was even at written Gujarati.

The page below (from iconic Gujaraty Monthly 'Visami Sadi', May, 1916) depicts answers of some simple questions in Mahmad Ali's own handwritings. Yes, he signed as માહમદ અલી ઝીણા/ Maahmad Ali Zina in Gujarati. The column is titled 'Dil no ekrar' (hearty confession).
The page roughly translates as:
Admirable virtue of a Man : Independence
Admirable Virtue of a Woman : Loyality
Success in life, according to you : Securing love from people
Favourite recreation : Horse-riding
Favourite flower : Lily
Favourite writer: Shakespear
Favourite book: Monte cresto
Motto: Never get disppointed
The page can be found at http://www.gujarativisamisadi.com
(On home page Index, click Shirshak and in the long list of titles, click on the first Dil No Ekrar)

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:53:00 PM

    ગુજરાતી ઝીણાના ગુજરાતીમાં લખાણ વિશે ગુજરાતીમાં મોટા ભાગે લખતા ઉર્વીશભાઈની અંગ્રેજીમાં પોસ્ટ? બાત કુછ સમજ મેં નહીં આઈ!

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  2. Salil Dalal (Toronto)7:00:00 PM

    Jaswant episode will have some interesting post from you was anticipated. But Jhinna's Gujarati hand writting? Never expected.
    Great use of internet... Keep it up.
    So many things to complement ant talk ... may be will call u in one of these week ends.... be prepared...

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  3. I have seen Gandhiji's letter in which he has addressed M.Jinha as "Bhai shree ZiNa"

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  4. Urvish,
    This new issue in series of others in past(though topic is not new!!), is it not creating more deeper line in already painful scar of people's life ?(Govts are not effected but sometimes benefited though)
    Nobody repeat nobody can state or emphatically say that if such and such had happened, such and such would have been the course of history.
    And, believe me that we do not learn from past (ref Advani) coz, main reason is people scarcely even try, to go deep into the history of facts and believe in hearsay of press.
    I would like to tell Mr Jaswant- are you blind that you cannot see the more important issues before today's children,women and other people of India, which is making their life so miserable?
    I term this man no less than the terrorist who spoil the life of common people.

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  5. Jaywantbhai,
    I thought of sharing this particular post with some non-gujarati friends. hence, I tried to do it in English.

    Envy,
    Jaswant has written history. You may or may not agree with him. but the disproportionate issue is not created by Jaswant but by BJP & Mr. Modi. Would you like to call them 'terrorist'?

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  6. "LESSER GODS!!" Ha ha ha.. This is getting better and better...

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  7. i have read somewhere that Mr. Zinnah knows only two language One is English and the other one is Gujarati.

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  8. Binit Modi1:05:00 PM

    જસવંત સિંહનું ઝીણા વિશેનું પુસ્તક ગુજરાતમાં જ અમદાવાદની ગુલબર્ગ સોસાયતીમાં જઈને વાંચી સકાય છે. ત્યાં પ્રતિબંધ લાગુ ના પડવો જોયીએ. કારણકે ૨૦૦૨ પછી આ સોસાયતી ગુજરાતમાં અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવતી નથી.
    બિનીત મોદી (અમદાવાદ)

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  9. Urvish, I never used the word 'disproportionate' but, only hint at it to show a common man's feeling,I believe that person like Mr Jashwant- who have served in armed force too, should be more sensitive to the people's issues and should have avoided entering this non-productive issues.
    And, I do not see any reason to term BJP-Modi a terrorist.

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