Published in 1984.
Interesting book. Gave me insight into Jinnah's early years as the beacon of Hindu-Muslim unity. That is a part of Jinnah that tends to be overlooked and was so especially when I was doing research on events taking place during the final years of his life.
His shift from that champion of Hindu-Muslim unity to champion of Pakistan to once again champion of secularism is not explained all that convincingly by Wolpert. Wolpert gives us the facts and the events but in my opinion relies too much on Jinnah's vanity and megalomania to explain these shifts. He frames the shift not as Jinnah choosing his Muslim identity over his identity as an anti-imperial Indian but of him choosing the path that offered a greater certainty to power. I find Jalal's account more convincing. It maintains that Jinnah remained a secular man throughout his life, even when he was advocating for Pakistan. But what is lost in Jalal's book is the endless rhetoric that Jinnah pours out in favour of Pakistan during the years of the Pakistan movement. Pakistan was merely a bargaining chip for Jinnah but rallying Muslims of India to this bargaining chip went a long way in creating communal sentiments in India, which were to cause so much bloodshed in 1946-47. In this sense, Jinnah's hands are dirty. At the very least he is culpable of neglecting to think out the effect of all his scare-mongering.
Wolpert's book was also useful in that it was a window to Jinnah's person in those last crucial years of the Pakistan movement. Jalal considers only his goals and strategies, Wolpert gives us his feelings and aspirations. The man he finds in the 40s is frustrated, embittered and sick. The impact of these feelings on the events of the 40s should not be minimized.
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