Choudhary Rehmat Ali first used term Pakistan: 89 years ago i.e. in 1933, today was January 28 and a student studying law at Cambridge University used a word for the first time. This word was Pakistan. The name of the student was Chaudhary Rehmat Ali. He used the term for the first time to describe the “Muslim homelands” of western and northern India. This student was not associated with politics at all, but Pakistan was in his writings and thoughts. Today we are going to introduce you to the story of this Rahmat Ali.
Jinnah had no real idea of Pakistan
Muhammad Ali Jinnah is remembered as the founder of Pakistan, its “Quaid-i-Azam” or “Great Leader”. turned into reality, thus shaping the politics of the subcontinent for generations to come.
But he was not the first person to come up with the idea of Pakistan, nor was he its real champion. The man who first came up with the idea of Pakistan has today been sidelined in the history of the subcontinent. In fact, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali can be credited with coining the term “Pakistan”, as he presented himself as the “founder of the Pakistan National Movement”.
It was Chaudhary Rehmat who brought out a pamphlet on January 28, 1933 with the title “Now or Never: Will we live forever or perish forever”. In this, he made a strong appeal on behalf of those 30 million Pakistani Muslims living in the 5 northern parts of India.
Those who wanted a separate federal constitution as Pakistan on religious, social and historical grounds including a separate identity according to their national conditions apart from other residents of India. According to many historians, this can be seen as the birth of the idea of Pakistan. Who knew that this idea would emerge as the most important till the 1940s.
Rehmat Ali’s sharp appeal
Rehmat Ali’s appeal was a scathing criticism of “Hindu nationalism”. He had similarly strongly criticized the Muslim leaders of that era who agreed to the Round Table Conference of the All India Federation. He had claimed about these Muslim leaders that he had signed the “death-warrant of Islam and Muslims in India”. They feared that the Muslim minority would merge with the Hindu population under the proposed constitution. Chaudhary Rehmat advocated a separate sovereign power for Muslims.
For him British India was not “home of one country”. rather “the status of a country created by the British for the first time in history. They objected to India being a Hindu-only country. Thus, Rehmat Ali argued that from the beginning of history, India of that time had already There existed several “countries”, one of which was “their own”.
The country that Rehmat Ali called his own was Pakistan in his eyes. This country included “5 northern provinces of India”. These provinces were Punjab (P), North West Frontier Province or Afghan Province (A), Kashmir (K), Sindh (S) and Balochistan (Tan). Rehmat used to call it Pakistan.
He argued that this area would reduce the 10 per cent minorities in a united Indian Union with “distinctive marks of nationalism”. He also specifically said that the formation of Pakistan would be better for all Indians including Hindus. Rehmat Ali then raised a question “Is it really right for us to sacrifice our nationality in order to make India a nation?”
out of reach care
Rehmat Ali’s pamphlet did not get much attention. According to his biography written by KK Aziz, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali’s idea of creating Pakistan was taken as “a pipe dream” i.e. out of reach by the famous Muslim leaders of that time. When he met Jinnah in the year 1934 and put his intentions in front of him, Jinnah’s reply on Rahmat Ali’s intentions was at least protective of his intentions. Jinnah is then believed to have told him, “My dear boy, do not be in a hurry; Let the water flow and it will take its own course.”
But Ali was desperate and restless about Pakistan. He published the book “Pakistan: The Fatherland of Pak Nation”. In this, he presented his perspective on Pakistan in a more clear and concise manner. Although this book was based more on fiction than reality. This book was written on the partnership of strained relationships with historical facts. Even after this, this book was an echo of the voice of many people who wanted to create Pakistan in the coming years. Which used to talk about the history of a country which belonged to Muslims.
when the atmosphere began to change
The atmosphere started changing from 1937 onwards after Jinnah parted ways with the Congress. When a person like Jinnah became increasingly separatist, Rehmat Ali’s expression of Pakistan started getting strengthened in the mainstream. The result was that in 1940, the famous Lahore resolution was passed in the Lahore session of the Muslim League. In this, Muslim-majority areas in the north-western and eastern regions of India were advocated to bring geographically connected parts together to form an independent country.
It was also said in this proposal that these countries would be completely autonomous and sovereign. The interesting thing was that there was no mention of “Pakistan”, but Jinnah’s thoughts matched those of Rehmat Ali. Between 1940 and 1943, Jinnah and other leaders of the Muslim League started using “Pakistan” in their speeches and writings. Finally, in 1947, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali’s dream of Pakistan came true.
community of thoughts
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was not a politician, nor did he spend much time in the subcontinent in the 1930s and 1940s during the formative years of the struggle for Pakistan. His contribution to Pakistan was limited only to his writings and thoughts, whereas Allama Iqbal is known as a philosopher behind the formation of Pakistan.
Rehmat Ali’s work was limited to a very small audience, but it was important and arguably necessary for the formation of Pakistan. His work “Two Nation Theory” can be taken as the most radical interpretation. Later, Jinnah and the Muslim League had left no stone unturned to make it famous. There is no doubt that Rahmat Ali gave historical shape to the vision of a sovereign country.
Benedict Anderson in his book “Imagined Communities” views a country as a socially constructed community or nation, imagined by people who prefer to see themselves as part of a group. Rehmat Ali pioneered the idea of ”Pakistan”. Even though many people do not remember him like Jinnah or Iqbal, but it cannot be denied that the seed of Pakistan germinated in the mind of Chaudhary Rehmat Ali.
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