Opinion Jinnah,Jaswant and the ban

Jinnah the politician has been dissected. What about Jinnah the lawyer? According to the late P.B. Vachha,author of the classic Famous Judges and Lawyers of Bombay,Jinnah was one of the most celebrated members of the Bombay Bar who continued his public career side by side with active legal practice. Jinnah was not a great lawyer but was exceptional in his mastery of facts and the force and lucidity with which he drove home his point. Jinnah appeared in a number of important cases. He had a towering personality and was a formidable cross-examiner who could make pulp of an untruthful witness. According to Vachha,Jinnah’s outstanding attribute was his fearlessness. Any impertinent observations from the Bench were countered by a firm response.

The illustrious former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court M.C. Chagla was in Jinnah’s chambers as a junior. In his delightful memoirs,Roses in December,Chagla writes that Jinnah’s professional standards were of the highest order but were stretched to such a ludicrous extent that he would not even suggest to solicitors that a junior in his chambers who had diligently worked up the brief be engaged with him in the case.

Chagla also recounts an incident which reveals an interesting side of Jinnah when he was contesting Bombay municipal elections from a separate Muslim electorate seat. Jinnah and Chagla were at a famous Bombay restaurant,Cornaglia. Jinnah ordered two cups of coffee,a plate of pastry and a plate of pork sausages. As they were enjoying their snacks,in came an old,bearded Muslim with a young boy. Tea and a soft drink were ordered for them. Somehow the young boy picked up one of the sausages and started eating it with much relish. After they left,Jinnah admonished Chagla for allowing the young Muslim boy to consume the forbidden meat. Chagla said his dilemma was whether he should let Jinnah lose an election by revealing the contents of the snack or consign the boy to eternal damnation. Chagla decided in Jinnah’s favour. Apparently Jinnah concurred. That was Jinnah the man. It is fervently hoped that Chagla’s book is not banned in Pakistan.

Cole Porter and Mahatma Gandhi

It is well known that the US—particularly President Franklin Roosevelt—was keen that Britain should take tangible steps towards granting self-government to Indians. Churchill was dead against the US proposal. He characterised it as hypocrisy from a nation that practised racial segregation and harangued others about the treatment of native people. According to British historian Sir Max Hastings,American support for India was even reflected in popular culture of the day,with famous jazz composer Cole Porter writing the lyric,You’re the top. You’re Mahatma Gandhi. Frankly I was not aware of this lyric. However,my knowledgeable jazz friend,Rattan Sehgal,told me that in the lyrics,which also mention other people,there is this line about the Father of our Nation. Apparently Porter was an admirer of Gandhiji. We should seriously consider an appropriate posthumous Padma for Cole Porter.