Daily Times

There is a strange paradox about the Quaid e Azam. We know so much about his person and his mission, but know so little about his better half, that is, Mrs. Jinnah commonly known as Mrs. Ruttie Jinnah.

Most people only vaguely know that she was the daughter of a Parsi businessman, Sir Dinshaw Petitc who was also a friend of Mr, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the brilliant young Barrister of Bombay. Sir Dinshaw’s daughter, Miss Rattan Bai was an enchanting child, precociously bright, and in the words of Stanley Wolpert, “almost too lovely, too fragile to be real and her mind was so alert , her intellect so lively and probing that she took as much interest in politics as she did in romantic poetry and literature.” She usually joined her parent’s discussions with Mr. Jinnah and argued with him on a wide range of topics, although he was 22 years older than her. Her adolescent mind was captivated by Jinnah’s brilliance, and as she came to respect his opinions, her admiration for him grew. Soon they realised that they had many things in common, which led her to confess her love to him. Later, when Mr. Jinnah formally put this proposal to her father, he rejected it.

Sir Dinshaw also obtained an injunction against Jinnah marrying his daughter when she was only 16 years of age. Mr. Jinnah had full respect for the court’s order, and did not meet Ruttie for nearly two years until she became 18 and could freely exercise her right to marry. But under the Civil Marriage Act, marriage was not possible between a Zoroastrian and a Muslim. To overcome that hurdle, Ruttie embraced Islam and both were married on April 19, 1918 under Muslim rites.

The news of their marriage reverberated throughout India. Sir Dinshah cut off all relations with his daughter and never saw her again. Most of the Parsi community turned against Jinnah, but the latter remained unruffled because of his flourishing legal practice and his growing popularity as the sole spokesman of Muslims of India.

Beyond this point, the histories are full of details of Mr. Jinnah’s great struggle against the British and Hindu leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Patel, and there is very little about Jinnah’s personal life. Mostly, he is portrayed as a stiff, cold and non-sentimental person; too obsessed with his legal and political engagements and showing little traits of warmth, love. Some writers have even blamed him for neglecting his wife Ruttie’s tender feelings of love and companionship and leaving her sad and forlorn, cut off from her husband, her parents and even members of her own community who were opposed to her marriage with Jinnah. Resultantly, she fell ill due to acute insomnia and depression and died when she was barely 29 years of age.

The more Ruttie was vivacious and full of life, the more Jinnah was sober and serious. But Ruttie’s political views were the same as those of Jinnah

Some of the historians, like Hector Bolitho, Stanley Wolpert and Aziz Beg have uncovered some aspects of Mr. Jinnah’s private life only sketchily without making it their main focus. Recently two good books have appeared highlighting his private life. One is “Ruttie Jinnah” by Khawaja RaziHaider, an excellently researched biography of Ruttie Jinnah, and the other by a prominent Indian journalist Sheela Reddy, by the title of “Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah, the Marriage that Shook India”. The latter book is more voluminous and alongside their personal life, she covers at length a great part of Mr. Jinnah’s public life with an empathy and insight rarely shown by a Hindu historian. Her account of Ruttie is built around 200 letters that she so painstakingly collected from friends and admirers of Ruttie.

Through these histories, it has been shown that Mr. Jinnah, despite his cool reserve, was unmistakably devoted to his beautiful wayward bride and was proud of her fashionable dressing and her fierce commitment to the nationalist struggle. And Ruttie , on her part, worshipped him, and in her deep intimacy often teased and cajoled her unbending husband who, to the outside world, appeared to be distant and intimidating.

In her early days of marriage, she often accompanied her husband to his political meetings, participated in discussions and freely gave her opinions, and Mr. Jinnah instead of restraining her, often felt proud of the brilliance of his wife. This practice continued for years and Mr. Jinnah never stopped her from taking part in his political struggle. Once in a meeting, Lady Willington, the wife of the Governor of Bombay passed some uncomplimentary remarks against Ruttie. Mr. Jinnah protested against this behaviour and left the Hall along with Ruttie and never met the governor again.

After returning from their honeymoon in Nainital, they settled in Bombay where Ruttie decorated their palatial house with the interior décor of her choice, adding antiques and works of arts to create an atmosphere to reflect the dignity of her great husband. Jinnah always felt pleased with the artistic taste of his wife. Not confined to her home alone, Ruttie enlivened the musty office chamber of her husband with bright paint and elegant furniture. Hector Bolitho once observed that, “Mr. Jinnah succumbed to his wife’s eager charm: he enjoyed her spontaneity and allowed her to influence his behavior as a politician.” The more Ruttie was vivacious and full of life, the more Jinnah was sober and serious. But Ruttie’s political views were the same as those of Jinnah. She was eager to see independence of India, and abolition of all laws that enslaved people. Once when the British government deported the Editor of Bombay Chronicle for criticising Lord Wellington, the passing of Rowlatt Bill, and the tragedy of JallianwalaBagh, the whole of India rose in protest against it, and Ruttie took out a rally against that action and made impassioned speeches against the British government. The Quaid e Azam felt pleased over her courage and determination. Ruttie continued to be a source of inspiration for her husband and together they visited England twice.

There was complete homogeneity between the two, except that Jinnah had to keep away from home touring various parts of India for which she had to remain confined to her house, all by herself nursing her lone daughter Dina. In her loneliness, she developed deep interest in theology and spiritualism. She even attempted to coax her husband to this subject, but Jinnah showed no interest in it. Her obsession with metaphysics resulted in her nervous tension and insomnia, but she did not waver in her love for her husband. In her last letter, written on October 5, 1928, just four months before her death, she expressed profound love for her husband, calling him her ‘darling’ and ‘sweetheart’ and assuring him of her unflinching love, she bade him goodbye. On February 20, 1929 she breathed her last. As her body was being lowered into the grave, the Quaid broke down and wept bitterly. That was the only occasion when he shed tears. For the loss of her, he never married again.

The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence

Published in Daily Times, February 21^st 2019.