Communalism Quotes
This statement was made long before she went into politics. Since parents are not equal in parenting ability or in resources and time availability, children will be raised differentially.
A 'kirpan' is a type of knife—a weapon—which all male Sikhs are religiously obligated to have in his possession and on his body at all times. Singh was a Sikh Maharaja (King) of an area that had about an equal number of Muslims and Sikhs. The Sikh's had a long history of living under Muslim domination and wanted no part of any more. Patiala was within the Punjab and Jinnah was insisting that the Punjab should be a Province of the new Pakistan because the Punjab was majority Muslim. However, there were many Sikhs, as well as some Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians and virtually none of these wanted to be a part of Pakistan. Further, a significant portion of the Muslim Punjab population also preferred to join India for many reasons, not the least of which was that they had become used to a democracy where they had complete freedom of religion and civil rights as well, and with the exception of Turkey none of the Muslim countries were democratic. Based on the history, actions, inactions, and statements of the Muslim League which did not democratically elect its leaders, Pakistan would not likely be a democracy that guaranteed civil rights—especially religious rights—to their citizens (and they were right). So the majority of the people of the Punjab were opposed to becoming a part of Pakistan. The Sikhs were passionate opponents of being a part of Pakistan as they knew their Muslim neighbors one of whose major reasons for wanting a Muslim state was that everyone could then be forced to be Muslim or be expelled or ethnically cleansed.
Jinnah who at later years of his life became a rabid leader and facilitator of religious bigotry and violent Jihad, was totally opposed to mixing religion in politics. His view was so strong on this point that he even criticized Gandhi for mixing religion with politics when he was a sing star of the Indian Congress Party. Jinnah's flip flop on this point led to one of the great massacres and tragedies in human history.
This is an example of the politicization of history. Late in the first millinium Islamic warriors invaded and conquered much of Hindu India. The Muguls controlled much of India for hundreds of years. When the English conquered India, the Muslims rejected Western education and legal systems while the Hindus did not. After several generations the Hindus, better educated, and more sophisticated in Western ways took advantage of the numerical majority and regained control under the British. With Independence, Islamic nationalists insisted upon partition of the country creating a Muslim country, Pakistan. Millions of Indians were murdered in internecine attacks during the partition. Subsequently, Muslim historians have written one version of the history of India, while Hindu historians have written another. They appear to come from different planets or parallel universes. British historians have a third universe.
