Review: India Wins Freedom: The Complete Version

India Wins Freedom: The Complete Version by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember, many years back, when the complete version of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s book was released, it had aroused a lot of curiosity as there was new content which he had authorized for release only after 30 years. There is certainly material critical of other leaders (especially Sardar Patel towards the end of the book) though the treatment is fairly mature. The book is right on most aspects including the fact that partition was not progress towards peace. The main issue with the book though is that it has a “I know best” tone right through the entire book with blame laid on others –Patel, Jinnah, Nehru & Gandhiji.

The book covers the period in the late 1930s and 40s leading up to the freedom of India. Considerable part of the coverage is the period in the early 1940s when Maulana Azad was the President of the Indian National Congress. The second world war and whether Indians will participate is contentious, with most in the Congress wanting to tie to independence finds detailed discussion. The Quit India movement is launched in 1942. Maulana Azad holds that this was a mistake and all prominent Congress leaders ended up in jail, while the Muslim League grew during that time and built up a case for partition.

Maulana Azad makes the point that there was apprehension among the Muslims on their status if the leadership was largely Hindu. His reasoning here is spot on that rather than partition - constitutional safeguards, federal structure of states and strong leadership would have provided the safeguards and that is what he worked towards. He points to mistakes Nehru made on two occasion where he could not arrive at a power sharing in states (in 1937) with the Muslim league and later in 1946 mentioned in public that the cabinet plan will be improvised as needed. Mr Jinnah, already not too happy with the cabinet plan, promptly rejected the cabinet plan. The interim government was a turbulent affair with the Muslim League holding the Finance portfolio and entered into constant bickering and stonewalling proposals. This apparently led Patel and later Nehru to give on the possibility of working with the League. At the same time Lord Mountbatten became an advocate of partition as well. While he is very critical of Patel here, he also opines that maybe Lady Mountbatten had a role in convincing Nehru. Maulana Azad now looks towards Gandhiji, who does try his best in convincing Mr Jinnah but had to lose hope finally.

Partition arrives, and with it, large scale violence and dislocation of people. As Maulana Azad points out, with mixed populations in so many places, partition could never have been a good solution (events completely bear him out with minorities in Pakistan facing intimidation and their numbers declining steeply). However, it was a genie which could not be put back in the bottle after the League went full steam with it. Gandhiji’s fast in Delhi to bring the communal violence to an end makes for very moving reading. Already very frail, he does it with great risks to his health, hardly able to move after a few days. He breaks his fast by sipping juice from Maulana Azad’s hands finally as communities meet him and work to end the violence and acrimony. Very soon, further tragedy strikes with Gandhiji’s assassination, and here again Maulana Azad feels more caution could have been taken as there was a bomb attack shortly before.

At the end as Maulana Azad writes, all were losers with an unstable Pakistan struggling to establish a functional democracy and constant animosity between the nations. This is entirely correct – the problems between the two nations is far greater than within a multi-cultural India which now has a larger Muslim population than Pakistan, other than all major world religions.

The only mistake which Maulana Azad says he personally made was not seeking re-election in 1946 as Congress President, instead proposing Nehru’s name. It is always somebody else who is to blame for all problems, and this is the most irritating aspect of the book. This is an important book, and in hindsight Maulana Azad makes all the right points with remarkable foresight on what partition would mean.

After every account that I read of the Indian Independence movement, my respect for Mahatma Gandhi only goes up further. With his selflessness, love for all and absolute commitment to non-violence, he is the role model the world needs to follow.


View all my reviews