[heated conversation]
Gentlemen!
If we could have a moment of order,
everyone will have their chance to speak.
But first, let's turn to the leader of the opposition, Nawab Mamdot.
with Chief Minister Tiwana's resignation,
the honour of forming the new government of Punjab
now rightfully belongs to the League.
Absolutely correct!
Please, please!
Nawab sahab, the League does not have enough seats to claim a majority.
Oh, give us a few days, we will give you a majority!
The people of Punjab have spoken, Governor sahab.
They don't want Punjab to be under the leadership of the League!
Well, the people have not placed the diadem of leadership upon the Akalis either!
The League is still the largest party in the assembly.
We will fight for our... PAKISTAN!
A party that incites violence on the streets
should have no right to participate in politics,
let alone form the government!
Punjab will have a League Government, no matter what!
And if it does not...
Be prepared to suffer the consequences!
[protestors shouting]
Are you threatening us?!
It is not a threat,
In your seats, gentlemen, let's...
it is a warning!
[protestors shouting]
I'll make sure every single one of you...
Don't you dare threaten us!
[protestors shouting]
We will fight for our... PAKISTAN!
Perhaps you all have forgotten
the Akalis have entered a coalition with the Congress.
This earth is my mother, Panditji.
The motherland of our spiritual masters.
If somebody wanted to usurp your motherland,
you would want to rip them limb from limb too.
But that does not mean we stoop to the level of the League!
Baldev Singh-ji, please explain to them...
Please rid your minds of the fear of Pakistan.
The Congress will never let it come into existence.
Forgive me, Panditji...
It seems you are unable to see the ground reality from your ivory tower...
Jinnah has used the idea of Pakistan to brainwash the Muslim population.
You have not heard them at those rallies...
We have.
They want there to be violence and bloodshed.
They are simply trying to provoke you!
And it is working...
In circumstances like these, we must maintain peace, and...
Even a graveyard is peaceful, Panditji!
And if the League comes into power,
that is the "peace" which will take over Punjab.
What is it the Akalis want?
[snip]
It's all about symmetry and balance!
But the balance of politics in India is at stake, Quaid.
The Akalis are spewing poison about Pakistan left and right.
We were legally entitled to form government in Punjab!
But that wimp Jenkins has instated Governor's Rule
out of the fear of Tara Singh's wrath.
We will have to launch a campaign against these Akalis!
Short-sighted people are often unable to see the whole picture.
Who?
Thanks to my glasses, mashallah, I have perfect sight!
You may have perfect sight, but you have no foresight.
You and Nawab Mamdot are picking a fight with the people
we should be forming an alliance with.
But you said there is no Pakistan unless we have Punjab!
Bengal was an easy fight.
There were only Hindus and Muslims.
Punjab has a third player the Sikhs!
It will be impossible to get Punjab without the support of the Sikhs...
...for us as well as for the Congress.
Whatever your conditions are for joining Pakistan, write them here.
Look...
All my life, I have fought for minority rights...
...and I will continue fighting.
Pakistan will not be just for Muslims,
it will be for everyone...
[coughing] ...everyone!
If Pakistan will be for everyone,
what is the need for a separate state?
We all live together here as well.
We live together,
but under the thumb of the Hindu majority!
For us, it will only be a different thumb, Jinnah sahab.
We are a minority here and we will remain a minority there.
Once I have given you my word,
nobody can harm you.
Because in Pakistan, my word will be the word of God himself!
[coughing]
I'm sorry...
Here, have some water.
-Are you okay? -I'm fine.
Jinnah sahab...
Say, we trust you.
But...
Men live and die... and the community outlives them all.
Forgive us.
We cannot leave the future of our community
at the mercy of your word today.
Jinnah sahab, perhaps you have not heard the slogans your workers shout at your rallies.
After hearing those,
how do we believe that the Sikhs will be safe in Pakistan?
Forgive us, Quaid-e-Azam.
We can never be a part of Pakistan.
Who knows what the League will do next...
The real question is, what will the Congress do next?
The loss of Punjab will have thrown the Congress into a rage.
And when in a rage... people often make poor decisions.
It appears that one section of Hindustan wants Pakistan.
It is time we came to terms with this bitter truth.
Correct?
This begs the question if the British agree to the creation of Pakistan,
what are our options?
I gave you an alternative three years ago.
The Working Committee turned a deaf ear to me then.
That, Rajaji, was because your plan includes
giving credence to the existence of Pakistan!
-But my- -Just a minute.
Jawahar, there is a right time for each option.
Three years ago, circumstances were different. But now...
Pakistan seems inevitable.
Before there is even more bloodshed...
Give Jinnah the Muslim majority areas and get it over with.
Vallabhbhai, you...
you want to divide
I want only to get rid of Jinnah...
Isn't that what you want as well?
What about the Hindus and Sikhs that live in Punjab?
We cannot abandon them.
We have seen how the Muslim League exercises their power in Bengal.
5000 dead in Calcutta,
6000 in Noakhali.
My plan has a solution for that as well.
This is the 1941 census report.
As per this report, there is a Muslim majority in western Punjab,
and a Hindu and Sikh majority in eastern Punjab.
So?
So we can beat Jinnah at his own game.
Alright...
How has Jinnah justified his demand for Pakistan?
He says that a Hindu majority has no right to rule over such a large Muslim minority.
Right!
So we can apply Jinnah's logic for India...to Punjab!
What right does the 52% Muslim majority in Punjab have,
to rule over the 48% of Hindus and Sikhs?
Right?
Vallabhbhai is absolutely right, Panditji.
The Congress should join hands with the Sikhs
and demand the eastern part of Punjab for India.
Where non-Muslims can be safe.
Vallabhbhai...
this is against everything
Congress has ever stood for.
Perhaps the Akalis were right...
you really do live in an ivory tower!
All the stones tossed at my head, Vallabhbhai...
would have brought my ivory tower crashing down, if I did live in one.
To this day, I have never once
compromised on my principles.
Can you say the same?
If we keep arguing over our principles here,
people will continue dying out on the streets.
We cannot let our Hindu and Sikh sisters suffer like the women of Noakhali have.
Whether anybody agrees or not,
there is only one way to stop these riots...
Partition.
[Maulana Azad] Panditji has no support in the Congress.
After the riots in Pindi, the Congress has become fearful...
I am afraid, Bapu...
...it seems as if the Congress might cave before Jinnah's demands...
I know the Congress is leaning towards the wrong decision right now.
But I also believe that as long as the Congress walks in step with Jawahar,
that will never happen.
I don't know how long Panditji will be able to hold his own.
Please return to Delhi, Bapu.
Maulana...
I have not placed responsibility alone on Jawahar...
I have also placed my trust.
You should too.
If I was a betting man,
I would wager heavily that I can read your thoughts.
Are you?
A betting man?
Punjab?
Then I ought to be.
Punjab sits on a powder keg.
One more spark and it will
surpass the horrors of Calcutta.
I cannot let it happen, not under my watch...!
Pakistan is a mad idea!
Nationalism based on religion is primitive! And dangerous!
No Congressman, myself included, wants to abandon
non-Muslims at the mercy of the League if Pakistan comes into being.
I sense a growing divide between Nehru and the Congress.
Really?
A divide that might play to our advantage when the time is right
To what end?
To persuade Congress to break from him entirely.
But we will need Nehru on board.
I was thinking, if push did come to shove,
which way he would jump...
Gandhi...
Or the Congress?
With God as my witness, Mani...
I don't want our country to be partitioned.
But what use are principles that have failed to protect so many innocent lives?
In my opinion,
if we want peace, we have no choice
but to temper our principles with practicality.
And Panditji?
Jawahar is not willing to listen to me right now...
but he will have to listen.
Mr. Jinnah, how does it feel to meet the new Viceroy?
Well, like a rose between two thorns.
A thorn!
Dickie, he called me a thorn.
[Dickie laughs]
I'm sure it was a simple misunderstanding.
He rehearsed a line trying to impress you, and well,
then by chance he ended up stood in the middle rather than yourself.
A blunder,
there's no mistaking that,
but not a malicious one, I dare say.
How fared Operation Seduction?
I proposed a United India...
And?
United India!
So he shot you down before you had a chance to say anything!
Downing Street has given him free reign...
He is just throwing his weight around!
Well, I'm sure you cut him down to size.
Tell me, Your Excellency...
Would it be acceptable to you if England is placed under German rule?
Of course not!
Not to me or to any other Englishman worth their salt.
I am a proud Muslim.
Why should I live under Hindu rule?
It hardly compares and you know it.
Let's be honest with each other, Mr. Jinnah.
Britain and Germany are entirely different nations.
So are Hindus and Muslims.
We have nothing in common
our history,
heroes, art, architecture.
Take, for example, the eternal question of the cow.
We eat what they worship!
So this is what it all boils down to, is it?
Cows?
Please tell me you didn't...
Well, I rather wish I hadn't!
It appears that the man has no sense of humour whatsoever.
Gosh.
I don't understand him!
You and I both.
He marries a non-Muslim, he drinks whiskey
and yet he's one of the leading proponents for a religious state.
The man's an enigma.
Yes...
One I am struggling to crack.
I told him that!
I don't want a religious state!
I want a state for the largest religious minority,
where they can live with dignity.
What did he say?
Well. He pretended to play the devil's advocate.
Argued that if the basis of our argument is that a Hindu majority
has no right to rule over a Muslim minority,
then the same logic applies to large non-Muslim minorities in Punjab as well.
He doesn't understand our country, our people...
Didn't you tell him that often, regional identity
is more important than religious identity?
For God's sake, Jin!
These people are Punjabi and Bengali before being Hindus and Muslims!
Good night.
And I hope you told him that!
I did!
I did.
Hello?
Yes.
Right.
Thank you.
What's wrong?
Another day in the madhouse.
How did the riots spread all the way here?
There is a Congress government here.
Maulana?
It seems our Congress workers also participated in the riots...
Uh...the Working Committee has decided to draw up
a resolution for the partition of Punjab and Bengal
Vallabhbhai...
In the name of God,
don't let India be divided.
I deeply regret having to make this decision, Maulana...
but if
this is what it takes to protect the rest of the country...
Bapu, it appears that Panditji is following the Congress's lead now,
instead of the Congress following Panditji's...
Panditji's principles have been defeated by the game of politics.
Congress wants complete authority, even if it is over half the country!
They don't want to give Jinnah a part of the government,
and so, they are ready to give Jinnah a part of the country.
Not only will these borders divide the country
but they will also be etched into our hearts forever.
People's lives will be uprooted and destroyed!
And WE will have been responsible for this destruction!
Looks like Nehru finally caved in.
I'll be damned.
He must be heartbroken.
But we are finally reaching a consensus.
I can feel it.
Only Gandhi stands apart.
But it is easier to convince one mind than several...
I think it's time we met the Mahatma!
[faint conversation]
Bapu! Bapu!
Bapu, where are you going?
The people that I entrusted with this responsibility were unable to handle it...
It is time to assume that responsibility myself!
Pyarelal, let us return to Delhi!