The Hindu, Chennai, 11 June 2005 Advani, Jinnah and the secularism debate Anil Nauriya To define the nation on the basis of religion and then to say that the state would be non- religious is an oxymoron. The wreath L.K. Advani laid at M.A. Jinnah's grave in Karachi would ordinarily have been a protocol formality. It did not remain so because he went on to attest to Jinnah's "secularism," inviting an assessment that must involve also a review of his own record. Jinnah made three important pronouncements on the subject of state and nation in Pakistan. First, he spoke in August 1947, some 72 hours before the formation of Pakistan, of equal rights for all. Second, in mid-December 1947 he addressed the Muslim League Council. Here he spoke of Pakistan as being a "Muslim state based on Islamic ideals" though not an "ecclesiastical state." [Pirzada, Syed Sharifuddin (ed.), Foundations of Pakistan: All India Muslim League Documents: 1906-1947, Vol 2, p.571]. Finally, Jinnah said on March 28, 1948, in Dhaka that "Pakistan is the embodiment of the unity of the Muslim nation and so it must remain." ( Jinnah's Speeches and Statements as Governor General 1947-48, pp 211-212). If the three pronouncements are taken together these are close to the Savarkar/Advani positions. Both Savarkar and Mr. Advani have had, as a transitional position en route to Hindutva, the idea that while the state need not recognise religious distinctions, the nation is to be defined as Hindu. With this narrow understanding of nation, Mr. Advani had on January 4, 2003, speaking then as Deputy Prime Minister, expressed some resentment at the Ashoka Chakra, with its Buddhist association, being depicted on the nation's flag. Jinnah's threefold position, if translated into Hindu terms in India, would yield not merely the transitional position but the complete Hindutva position as both state and nation would be defined in Hindu terms. It so happens that for some years, especially since the 1980s, Anglocentric scholarship has been seeking to project Jinnah's position as secular. It would suit Mr. Advani to legitimise Hindutva objectives and pass them off as secular as well. There is an impression in some circles that the early Jinnah was non-religious in his political attitude. Jinnah's stand on the Khilafat issue, which arose in and after World War I, is sometimes cited in support of this view. However, Jinnah was not opposed to the Khilafat issue as such. On August 27, 1919, Jinnah and three others, sent to Lloyd George, the then British Prime Minister, a representation on behalf of the All-India Muslim League on the Khilafat question. The representation was concerned with the position of the Sultan of Turkey as the Khalifa. The penultimate paragraph of the representation is: