Mariomassone

====''The discovery of India''====

=====[[Incipit]]=====

:''Ahmadnagar Fort, 13th April 1944''<br>''It is more than twenty months since we were brought here, more than twenty months of my ninth term of imprisonment. The new moon, a shimmering crescent in the darkening sky, greeted us on our arrival here. The bright fortnight of the waxing moon had begun. Ever since then each coming of the new moon has been a reminder to me that another month of my imprisonment is over.

 

*Anche nella Lega musulmana il Signor Jinnah è una figura solitaria che si tiene distante dai suoi colleghi più vicini, ampiamente rispettato, ma con distacco, più temuto che amato. Sulla sua abilità come politico non vi sono dubbi, ma in qualche modo questa abilità è legata alle condizioni peculiari dell'attuale dominio britannico in India. Si distingue come politico-avvocato, come stratega, come uno che pensa di mantenere l'equilibrio tra l'India nazionalista e il potere britannico. Se le condizioni fossero diverse e se dovesse affrontare concreti problemi politici ed economici, è difficile dire fin dove lo porterebbe questa abilità. Forse lui stesso dubita al riguardo, sebbene non abbia assolutamente una bassa opinione di sé. Questo potrebbe spiegare quell'impulso inconscio in lui di opporsi al cambiamento, di lasciare le cose come sono, e di evitare la discussione e la serena valutazione dei problemi con persone che non sono completamente d'accordo con lui. (p. 389)

:''Mr. Jinnah is a lone figure even in the Moslem League, keeping apart from his closest co-workers, widely but distantly respected, more feared than liked. About his ability as a politician there is no doubt, but somehow that ability is tied up with the peculiar conditions of British rule in India to-day. He shines as a lawyer-politician, as a tactician, as one who thinks that he holds the balance between nationalist India and the British power. If conditions were different and he had to face real problems, political, and economic, it is difficult to say how far his ability would carry him. Perhaps he is himself doubtful of this, although he has no small opinion of himself. This may be an explanation for that subconscious urge in him against change, to keep things going as they are, and to avoid discussion and the calm consideration of problems with people who do not wholly agree with him.''

*{{NDR|Su [[Mohammad Ali Jinnah]]}} Le sue avversioni e antipatie sono evidenti, ma che cosa gli piace? Con tutta la sua forza e tenacia, è una persona stranamente negativa, il cui simbolo appropriato potrebbe ben essere un «no». Per questo tutti i tentativi di comprendere il suo aspetto positivo falliscono, e resta inafferrabile.<br>Da quando il dominio britannico si stabilì in India, i musulmani hanno prodotto poche figure eminenti del tipo moderno. Hanno prodotto degli uomini notevoli ma, di norma, rappresentavano la continuazione della vecchia cultura e tradizione, e non si integravano facilmente con gli sviluppi moderni. [...] Anche gli indù sono arretrati, talvolta ancora più provinciali e vincolati a modi tradizionali di pensiero e pratica dei musulmani, ma ciò nonostante hanno prodotto uomini molto eminenti nella scienza, nell'industria, e in altri campi. (p. 390)

:''His aversions and dislikes are obvious, but what does he like? With all his strength and tenacity, he is a strangely negative person whose appropriate symbol might well be a "no". Hence all attempts to understand his positive aspect fail and one cannot come to grips with it.<br>Since British rule came to India, Moslems have produced few outstanding figures of the modern type. They have produced some remarkable men but, as a rule, these represented the continuation of the old culture and tradition and did not easily fit with modern developments. [...] The Hindus are backwards also, sometimes even more hide-bound and tied up with traditional ways of thought and practice than the Moslems, but nevertheless they have produced some very eminent men in science, industry, and other fields.''

:''Mr. Jinnah's demand was based on a new theory he had recently propounded - that India consisted of two nations, Hindu and Moslem. Why only two I do not know, for if nationality was based on religion, then there were many nations in India. Of two brothers one may be a Hindu, another a Moslem; they would belong to two different nations. These two nations existed in varying proportions in most of the villages of India. They were nations which had no boundaries; they overlapped. A Bengali Moslem and a Bengali Hindu living together, speaking the same language, and having much the same traditions and customs, belonged to different nations. All this was very difficult to grasp; it seemed a reversion to some medieval theory.''