Churchill in my view was much more than a patriotic English-man, a true Anglo-Saxon chauvinist and a two-time prime minister of U.K. He was also a great political philosopher, a great thought-processing mind, a great articulator and magician of words, a great chronicler of events and above all an absorbing personality, who in an era of great wizards and giants managed to create considerable space for himself in history. It was no small thing to be a contemporary of Lenin, of Hitler, of Mao, of Stalin, of Gandhi and of Jinnah. They all made history. And in his own way Churchill also made history by engineering the Dunkirk retreat which is the only retreat in the history of warfare that is regarded as a triumph.
My fascination with Churchill began when I read his voluminous work on the World War II. It was in several volumes. I read it in 1965. And I remember I read it in a state of complete fascination and absorption. Subsequently I read as much of Churchill as I could. His wit was phenomenal. And his hand on history’s pulse was prophetic.
It was he who once wrote that great men were products of clay, fire, air, metal, water and destiny—-all combined.
When we judge great men (or persons) let us keep those components in mind that made them.
Some had more clay, some more fie, some more air, some more metal, some more water, and some more destiny.
Pakistan hasn’t come across much greatness. Still it can boast of some very great names. To start with, let me mention its founding fathers—Iqbal and Jinnah two mighty supremos without whom Pakistan couldn’t have taken birth.
Then in the late nineteen sixties and the early seventies, Pakistan experience the feel of greatness in the dynamic personality of
Z. A. Bhutto. He too was made of the stuff Churchill had mentioned.
Where did he go wrong?
Not in the area of Vision.
Not in the area of Dynamism.
Not in the area of Charisma.
Only in the area of Character.
His failure to divorce his feudalistic background and traits led to his downfall. Yet his greatness can hardly be denied.
Pakistan does need another Bhutto. The same vision. The same dynamism. And the same charisma. But the roots of this yearned-for Bhutto should emanate from Jinnah’s character.
I can’t help remembering a dialogue here, between Chou-en-Lai and Nikita Khurushchev.
“How can you feel the aches of the have-nots Mr. Chou? You were born a prince. And I was born a peasant,” said Nikita.
“There is one thing common in us Mr. Khrushchev”, replied Chou. “We have both deserted our classes.”
Bhutto unfortunately couldn’t desert his class.
Like Omar bin Abdul Aziz did, when he took over Damascus, as Amir-ul-Momineen!
Will the next Bhutto have more of Jinnah in him?
(This Column was first published on 01-08-2009)
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