Jinnah quotes on the case for Pakistan


One-India fallacy


‘…and the so-called one India is only  a means of British domination  and British rule…’

Jinnah, Cairo, December 19, 1946


The one thing which keeps the British in India is the false idea of a United India, as preached by Gandhi. A united India, I repeat, is a British creation – a myth, and a very dangerous myth, which will cause endless strife. As long as that strife exists, the British have an excuse for remaining. For once in a way, ‘divide and rule’ does not apply.

Interview quoted, with approval, in Beverley Nichols, Verdict on India, p.189

United India means that so far as the people are concerned they have no voice and it is the rulers who will rule by manoeuvring. It is that system which the British government in India is following and desires to continue.

Bombay, 24 January 1943

The British conception of the geographical unity of India is that British occupation and hold over India should continue indefinitely.

Aligarh, 9 March 1944

The British aim at some system of Government by means of which they may remain on the top. We know that this United India can never be free, although many young men are easily allured by the picture of a United India, having a national government of its own. It’s an impossibility.

Lahore, 31 March, 1944

In their secret dispatches, statements and documents they [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][i.e. the British] have made it clear since India Bill was introduced [in 1858] and when the Crown assumed the Government of India, that when they say United India, they mean perpetuation [of] British Imperialist domination. They have kept us on that line for nearly a century.

Bombay, 14 October 1944

British statesmen … put up the plea of a united India because they knew that it is the only way by means of which they can prolong and continue their lordship over the entire subcontinent of India.

Ahmedabad, 15 January 1945

… and the so-called one India is only a means of British domination and British rule that preaches the maintaining of peace and social order.

Cairo, 19 December 1946

Let me tell you who brought this idea into our head. It is the British. What does it matter to Britain if India is divided or not divided? Why should the British bother? Why are they encouraging hopes against hopes [of a united India] and offer a few passages for the leadership of the country? Britain is going, it has to go away. But why should they go about talking of a united India? Because they know it better than Indians do. Therein lies their [British] salvation. Because so long as it is insisted that India is one, they know that there will be nothing but destruction and bloodshed. This has been the idea of Britain and while leaving the country the British are inspiring the armed camp.

Bombay, 27 March 1947

Indeed, if you ask me this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free peoples long long ago.

Karachi, 11 August 1947

Malignant democracy


‘Western democracy is totally unsuited to India and its imposition on India is the disease in the body-politic.’

Jinnah, Time and Tide (London), February 1940


The government which has been in this subcontinent for 150 to 160 years … is a democratic system imposed on the Mughal system. Its sanction is the British bayonets, and not the sanction of the people.

November 9, 1942

Mr. Amery [Secretary of State for India] has made a discovery of a historical nature and has been studying the pattern of Akbar’s government for the post-war reconstruction of India. The British government in India, too, is constituted like Akbar’s government … The present Executive Council of the Viceroy is on the same pattern as that of Akbar’s. There are Muslims, Hindus, Parsis and the Sikhs, all nominated by the Viceroy to do his job.

January 24, 1943

The British statesmen know that the so-called democracy and the parliamentary system of government is nothing but a farce in this country.

Madras, 14 April 1941

This sort of game of dividing the two great sister communities by such methods has been the historical misfortune of India with the result that we are now saddled with a foreign domination and further efforts by the Congress in that same direction to divide and rule Muslims will only lead to an indefinite stay of that domination.

Bombay, 19 April 1937

The leadership of Hindu India has, I regret to say, been fooled. They have been bamboozled by the policy and diplomacy of the British Government who are dangling in front of them a united all-India constitution and democracy – the two carrots before donkeys! The British Government know – and I say to the Hindu leadership, you have lost the last shred of statesmanship if you do not realize yet that the British Government know it – that Muslim India will never submit to an all-India constitution and one central government.

Madras, April 14, 1941

The British policy in this subcontinent has been for nearly 100 years based on their conviction that the Muslims and Hindus will never agree and if by some means or other they enter into an agreement by their influence or pressure then it will be nothing but a cockpit of feud beneath the umbrella of a United India with the Englishman on the top. Therefor the Britisher, with his far-sighted vision, has followed a policy and taken us on this line of a united democratic India – I don’t think they have given it up yet – the line of a United India and a democratic supremacy parliamentary system of government. The Britisher know that if we are kept on that line and are allowed to frame a constitution as a democratically united India we would never come to an agreement without their arbitration; it is the only way to prolong the lease of their supremacy.

Delhi, April 24, 1943

The British said – and mind you, I don’t take everything they say to be correct – they said: “In resisting the Congress we are really protecting you and safeguarding your interests, because if we were to surrender to the demands of the Congress it would be at your risk and sacrifice.” But the Mussalmans say, “We don’t believe that you love us so much.” We know it suits them and they are taking the fullest advantage of the situation, because if there is any agreement between Hindus and Muslims then they know the net result of that would be parting with power … They say they are ready and willing and in fact are dying to part with power … Having declared the Congress as an outlaw, what do the British say to others? They say: ‘How can we ignore Congress?’ In that case, don’t you see that not only is nobody going to believe you, but by your own admission, you are proclaiming that your anxiety, your desire, your ardent desire to move in the direction of handing over power provisionally, has been successfully held up by a rebel organization – the Congress … Is this an honest attitude?

Delhi, April 24, 1943

The British Government … say one thing at one time and another thing at another time. But the result is that they tell Mussalmans that “we are not against Pakistan, but it is the Hindus who are against it.” They tell the Hindus, “we are not against Akhand Hindustan, but it is the Mussalmans who are against it.” They are, it seems, only in favour of one thing – to see how their own Raj should continue.

Karachi, December 24, 1943

But the trouble is that if I go to grapple with John Bull [the British] the Hindus come to his rescue, and when the Hindus go to corner him to force their demands which are detrimental to us we cannot join them.

Aligarh, 9 March 1944

Such a government as may be composed of Hindus and Muslims will be artificial and … If decisions will be taken as regards legislation and administration by poll-box, this will be disastrous, for they will not stand the shock of test and trial, and will in no time divide acre and acre the opinion of the two nations put artificially together in one government dominating the whole subcontinent of India.’

Cairo, 19 December 1946

Mortal empire, immortal League


‘… the quickest way to achieve India’s freedom is by the acceptance of the Pakistan scheme …’

Jinnah, Bombay, 9 August 1942


Our ideal presupposes Indian freedom and independence; and we shall achieve India’s independence far more quickly by agreeing to the underlined principles of the Lahore resolution than by any other method …  Mr. Gandhi understands or ought to understand that to wrangle over the imaginary one and united India can only result in our submission to foreign rule.

Hubli, Matheran, 25 May 1940

Our demand is not from Hindus because the Hindus never took the whole of India. It was the Muslims who took India and ruled for 700 years. It was the British who took India from the Mussalmans. So, we are not asking the Hindus to give us anything. Our demand is made to the British, who are in possession.

Lahore, 2 March 1942

I can say without fear of contradiction that the Muslim League stands more firmly for the freedom and independence of this country than any other party.

Delhi, 23 March 1942

… Pakistan is the only solution for getting our freedom. When I say our freedom, I mean freedom of Hindus and Mussalmans, who really constitute the two major nations in this country.

Ootacamund, 2 June 1942

I ask any intelligent man if he would only apply his mind for one second, can you achieve Pakistan without the independence of India? When we say Pakistan, we mean, not our independence only, but the independence of Hindus also.

Karachi, December 24, 1943

Pakistan, the Quaid-e-Azam remarked, was not the product of the conduct or mis-conduct of Hindus.

Aligarh, 8 March 1944

While agreeing with those who blame the British Government for not parting with power, Mr. Jinnah, however, said, “but we have to get this power, in spite of the British.”

Lahore, 31 March 1944

… the only way, the only honest way, for Great Britain is to divide and quit.

Karachi, December 24, 1943

British die-hard ruling class will be more opposed than anybody else to Pakistan materializing, because in my judgement, that is the only way of getting freedom in the quickest and surest way. They know it.

Bombay, 14 October 1944

I believe and I am convinced that the quickest and shortest route to India’s freedom and the liberty of all the peoples of India lies in our agreeing to the establishment of Pakistan. One day, perhaps, you will realize that the real opposition and obstacle to my ideal will appear far more strenuously from our rulers than from our sister communities.

Ahmedabad, 13 January 1945

We are fighting for Pakistan, we are fighting for freedom of every man on this subcontinent. It is Hindu Congress which is withholding freedom of all of us by obsession.

Peshawar, 27 November 1945

Any honest man must admit that the Muslim India’s fight for Pakistan is not directed against Hindus. From whom we can take Pakistan? Not from Hindus. They are themselves slaves. It has to be wrested from the unwilling hands of those who are now dominating over us. It does not only mean freedom of Muslims but it also means freedom for all.

Lahore, 7 January 1946


Aristocratic Radicalism


‘That is where I am at variance with the Congress. They do not want the independence of India…’

Jinnah, Central Legislative Assembly, 19 November 1940


Mr. Gandhi understands or ought to understand that to wrangle over the imaginary one and united India can only result in our submission to foreign rule.

Hubli, Matheran, 25 May 1940

That is where I am at variance with the Congress. They do not want the independence of India … What they want is, under the over-lordship of Britain, power and patronage to dominate the Muslims and rest of minorities … The fact is that the Congress wants domination of India under the shelter of British bayonets.

Central Legislative Assembly, 19 November 1940

I am unable to accept that the Hindus and the Congress are fighting for the independence or freedom of the people of the country … We know why they have launched the civil disobedience movement. The British government know why. It is to coerce the British Government to recognize the Congress as the only authoritative and representative organization of the people of India. The Congress says: “Come to settlement with us. We are your friends; we desire to maintain your supremacy in this country. Come to terms with us and ignore the Mussalmans and other minorities.”

Delhi, 30 November 1940

Mr. Jinnah said that the Congress had been deceiving Muslim youth by saying that it was fighting for the freedom of the country … The Congress fraud had now been exposed by the Muslim League.

Cawnpore, 30 March 1941

He [Gandhi] does not mean to achieve India’s independence. He and Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru are both indulging in slogans and catchwords.

Bombay, 22 June 1942

Mr. Jinnah reiterated that the Muslim League was for immediate Independence but the Congress stood in the way.

Reported in The Eastern Times, 20 August 1942

They [the high caste Hindu leaders] wanted the British in this country, though that was not their official policy.

Bombay, 24 January 1943

It is the Congress which is mainly responsible for holding up India’s progress … they are postponing the progress and the freedom of this subcontinent.

Quetta, 3 July 1943

If British Government announced its intention of setting up Pakistan and Hindustan, Congress and Hindus would accept it within three months. In other words, the Government would have called the Congress bluff.

New Delhi, 29 February 1944

… the desire of the Hindus to dominate over the Muslims and make them slaves in a united India … was a dream, and once that dream was abandoned, the Hindu and the Muslim nations together could achieve freedom for both at the quickest possible time.

Karachi, 25 October 1945

It was Hindu Congress which was withholding freedom of all of us by obsession.

Peshawar, 27 November 1945

It is only the Caste Hindu Fascist Congress and their few individual henchmen of other communities, who want to be installed in power and authority of the Government of India to dominate and rule over the Mussalmans and other minority communities of India with the aid of British bayonets.

Bombay, 18 August 1946

On Quit India Movement

“If they can persuade the British Government to withdraw,” said Jinnah, “the Muslim League would welcome it.”

Bombay, 22 June 1942

I refuse to believe that Mr. Gandhi thinks for a moment that the British would withdraw immediately at his request … Mr. Gandhi … is launching a movement whose only and only object is by hook or by crook to bring about a situation which will destroy the Pakistan scheme.

Bombay, 30 July 1942

Thereafter, Mr. Gandhi hit upon an extraordinary formula which was that the British must withdraw. I shall be very glad if they do it tomorrow. We shall settle our affairs alright.

Jullundur, 15 November 1942

The Muslims have no objection to the British withdrawing from India today.

Bombay, 30 July 1942

New destinies


‘Do you visualize that millions have been exploited and cannot get one meal a day! If that is the idea of Pakistan,  I would not have it …’

Jinnah, 30th Annual Session of the Muslim League, Delhi, 1943


To the Mussalmans of India in every province, in every district, in every tahsil, in every town, I say, your foremost duty is to formulate a constructive and ameliorative programme of work of the people’s welfare, and to devise ways and means of social, economic, and political uplift of the Mussalmans.

25th Annual Session of the League, Lucknow, 1937

We have, under the present conditions, to organize our people, to build up the Muslim masses for a better world and for their immediate uplift, social and economic, and we have to formulate plans of a constructive and ameliorative character, which would give them immediate relief from poverty and wretchedness from which they are suffering more than any other section of the people in India.

Special Session of the League, Calcutta, 1938

I say that the Muslim League is not going to be an ally of anyone, but would be the ally even of the devil if need be in the interests of Muslims.

26th Annual Sessionof the League, Patna, 1938

What does the Muslim intelligentsia propose to do? I may tell you that unless you get this into your blood, unless you are prepared to take off your coats and are willing to sacrifice all that you can and work selflessly, earnestly and sincerely for your people, you will never realize your aim … I think that the masses are wide awake. They only want your guidance and your lead. Come forward as servants of Islam, organize the people economically, socially, educationally and politically …

27th Annual Session of the League, Lahore, 1940

What next? … Think of the future and devise another five-year plan. This could be no other than how best and how quickly to build up the departments of national life of Muslim India [educational, social, economic and political].

28th Annual Session of the League, Madras, 1941

At Madras we defined our policy, we defined our ideology, we defined our programme, and … I appeal to everyone of you that you should make some beginning in one direction or other with regard to the programme and the policy that we have laid down.

29th Annual Session of the League, Allahabad, 1942

There are millions and millions of our people who hardly get one meal a day. Is this civilization? Is this the aim of Pakistan? Do you visualize that millions have been exploited and cannot get one meal a day! If that is the idea of Pakistan, I would not have it.

30th Annual Session of the League, Delhi, 1943

First, you must undertake, in real earnest, a constructive programme for the uplift of our people, educationally, socially, economically and politically.

31th Annual Session of the League, Karachi, 1943

… we should wholly and solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor.

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, 11 August, 1947

The creation of the new State has placed a tremendous responsibility on the citizens of Pakistan. It gives them an opportunity to demonstrate to the world how can a nation, containing many elements, live in peace and amity and work for the betterment of all its citizens, irrespective of caste or creed.

First broadcast after independence, 15 August 1947

It should be our aim not only to remove want and fear of all types, but also to secure liberty, fraternity and equality as enjoined upon us by Islam.

Address to KMC, 25 August 1947

The establishment of Pakistan … was means to an end and not the end in itself. The idea was that we should have a State where we could live and breathe as free men, and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture, and where principles of Islamic social justice could have a free play.

Address to the Officers, 11 October 1947

… the State exists not for life but for good life.

Message on Eid-ul-Azha, 24 October 1947

You are only voicing my sentiments and the sentiments of millions of Mussalmans when you say that Pakistan should be based on [the] sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism – no other ‘ism’ – which emphasise equality and brotherhood of man.

Public Address, Chittagong, 26 March 1948

The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contended people. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice.

Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the State Bank of Pakistan Karachi, 1 July 1948

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