The Charismatic Leader Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
and the Creation of Pakistan
by
Description:
This book provides a detailed and systematic analysis of the charismatic leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of Indian Muslims during the crisis-ridden decade of 1937-47. Based on the concept of charisma formulated by Max Weber and developed by recent writers, the study concentrates on the ‘personality-related’ and ‘situational’ factors that led to the emergence of Jinnah as the charismatic leader of the Muslims and sustained him in that role until the creation of Pakistan.
The Charismatic Leader: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan by Sikandar Hayat. Karachi: Oxford University Press, The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, continues to attract the attention of scholars who want to understand his role in history more deeply and comprehensively. The Charismatic Leader takes the discussion further by placing it in the conceptual framework of charisma on the one hand and sociological analysis of the prevalent elite structure of Muslim India on the other. The author uses Max Weber’s two perspectives on charisma to explore the nature and character of Jinnah’s bond with the Muslims of India and to explain his leadership.
Perhaps first a word on Weber’s concepts: for the sociologist, charismatic authority was one of three forms of authority, the other two being traditional authority and rational-legal authority. Weber explained that charismatic authority (which exists when the leader’s personality inspires the loyalty and obedience of his followers) flows from the leader and in his absence can vanish. (This is different from a situation where the authority flows from institutions.) However if this authority is incorporated into society, it can lead to power being exercised by a bureaucracy. The process through which this happens, Weber called “depersonalisation and routinisation” of charisma. And as the story of Jinnah unfolds in the context of these concepts, it is evident that a rational (bureaucratic) rather than an emotional (charismatic) approach defines both the means and the end of the Pakistan Movement.
In addition, the book offers unique observations on well-known facts. The author demonstrates that Jinnah first pursued and then emerged as the guardian of “Muslim interests”. Instead of a one-dimensional approach rooted in rigidity, he took a dynamic and pragmatic approach to men and matters: first supporting the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity, then focusing on Muslim unity per se. In a similar vein he did first consider the separate electorates negotiable before holding them indispensable.
Last but not least he agreed to the Cabinet Mission Plan but abandoned it as soon as the British went back on “their plighted word”.
Somewhere along the path to Pakistan, Jinnah started to realize the difference between the “national interests” and “Muslim interests”, and thus moved towards establishing the League as the symbol of the Muslim “nation”. The writer systematically traces Jinnah’s steps towards building “national consciousness”. In and around the 1937 elections, Jinnah’s charisma started to take its final shape through crystallization of the“Muslim cause” and its expression through a set of constitutional positions. Hayat’s analysis of the “Muslim crisis” in British India is an excellent piece of scholarship. According to him, this crisis was twofold – Muslims suffered a “Systematic crisis” characterized by the widening gulf between the perceived interests of the two
leading communities, Hindus and Muslims. This was merely aggravated by the political developments: as the British government in India lost its authority and legitimacy and the institutional-constitutional governing framework proved inadequate, as did the political formulas emanating from parties, the political system in the country ground to a halt.
leading communities, Hindus and Muslims. This was merely aggravated by the political developments: as the British government in India lost its authority and legitimacy and the institutional-constitutional governing framework proved inadequate, as did the political formulas emanating from parties, the political system in the country ground to a halt.
The second crisis was one of “leadership”. Here the author does a sociological analysis of the Muslim leadership, which indeed is rare in research on Jinnah and on the Pakistan movement. He discusses the “social elites” – especially landlords and the educated professional middle class, pointing out that they lost ground after the Khilafat Movement. His analysis of provincial leaders such as Fazl-e-Hussain, Sikandar Hayat, Khizr Hayat and Fazlul Haq highlights the fact that their inability to appeal to the electorate beyond their immediate region is led, indirectly, to Jinnah’s emergence as a national leader. The relative decline of the Jamiat Ulema Hind and the Congress Muslims led by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad similarly reveals how Jinnah gained the support of the people.
After defining the “Muslim crisis” and explaining that it provides the political context for the emergence of Jinnah, the author focuses on the final phases of the latter’s career, in which the Muslim leader acquires the Weberian charisma by delivering on the promise of a separate state for the Muslims of the subcontinent, Pakistan. In this part of the book, one sees an embattled Jinnah meandering through the maze of Indian politics faced by a foe as formidable as the Congress and a confused and by-no-means friendly British government.
The creation of Pakistan, which is the title of the last chapter of this book, represents an impressive finale. Jinnah’s charisma worked miracles among the Muslim masses. At the same time, it put a huge amount of responsibility on him, as he moved on the chessboard of Indian politics, choosing between a larger Pakistan within a federated India and a smaller but independent and sovereign Pakistan.
Nonetheless, Hayat proves his point that charismatic leadership is about a relationship with a people: it results from the needs, aspirations and trust of the followers and keep evolving. This is evident as the book elaborates on the bonds between Jinnah and his followers and traces the genesis and the historical evolution of Jinnah’s leadership. Dr. Mohammad Waseem is Professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore.
Published in The Herald, April 2009.
And as the author focuses on Jinnah’s strategy to politically mobilize and organize the Indian Muslims he brings in Weber’s concept of routinisation. Jinnah’s mobilization of all the available political resources – including landed elite’s control over peasantry, the ideological strength of the intelligentsia, the organisational experience of urban-based party cadres and the financial support of the nascent Muslim bourgeoisie – indicates, according to Hayat, the structural aspects of his charismatic appeal. The formidable Muslim organization that emerged as a result of jinnah’s efforts represented the “routinsation” of his charisma, even as his personal appeal continued to transcend all party politics.
The creation of Pakistan, which is the title of the last chapter of this book, represents an impressive finale. Jinnah’s charisma worked miracles among the Muslim masses. At the same time, it put a huge amount of responsibility on him, as he moved on the chessboard of Indian politics, choosing between a larger Pakistan within a federated India and a smaller but independent and sovereign Pakistan.
Nonetheless, Hayat proves his point that charismatic leadership is about a relationship with a people: it results from the needs, aspirations and trust of the followers and keep evolving. This is evident as the book elaborates on the bonds between Jinnah and his followers and traces the genesis and the historical evolution of Jinnah’s leadership.
Published in The Herald, April 2009.
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