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DIPLOMACY: JINNAH HOUSE
Home Truth
The house becomes a bone of contention between
Pakistan and Jinnah's family
 If
it wasn't for the battered sign that reads "Photography is strictly
prohibited", it would perhaps be an ideal location for a B-grade
horror film. Situated in a leafy lane opposite the Maharashtra chief minister's
residence, the single-storey, fading white, colonial bungalow is overrun
with creepers and weeds. Its only residents are bats that fly out and
attack baskets of fruit vendors and snakes that have forced neighbours
to build higher walls.
This is the Jinnah House or No. 2 Bhausaheb
Hiray Marg, as it is now known, uninhabited for two decades, yet a matter
of disagreement between Pakistan and India. President Pervez Musharraf
speaks of it in the same breath as Kashmir. He has even linked the return
of the house to the re-opening of the Indian consulate in Karachi.
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IN THE LIMELIGHT: Jinnah
hoped to return to his house some day
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Pakistan's claim has more to do with sentiment
than the property's estimated Rs 100 crore worth. The 1,700-sq m bungalow
was built "brick by brick" under Mohammed Ali Jinnah's personal
supervision. It was completed at a cost of Rs 2 lakh in 1936-the year
he returned to India from England to take charge of the Muslim League.
The house was dear to Jinnah. Even after Partition,
he refused to accept compensation for the property and longed to return
to it. In a letter to the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah
had begged that the house not be demolished or sold. Some day, he hoped
to return and settle there. Meanwhile, the house could be "leased
to a consulate or a small European family or a refined Indian prince for
a rent of Rs 3,000 per month". In 1948 the house was leased to the
British High Commission. Originally named South Court by Jinnah, the house
was renamed Jinnah House by the consulate, which occupied it until 1982.
The issue of leasing the house, which has been
lying vacant ever since, has been periodically raised by Pakistan. (Its
consulate in Mumbai was shut down in 1994.) But the issue is too hot a
political brick for any party. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, for one,
has already reiterated that it is India's property: "Tomorrow they
(Pakistan) will demand the Taj Mahal and the Qutab Minar."
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"It
was my grandfather's personal house. How is Pakistan involved?"
Nusli Wadia, Jinnah's
grandson
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Jinnah's only child Dina Wadia, too, has vehemently
opposed Pakistan's demand. As early as 1982, she had written to the government
staking her claim to the building. She also wrote to the then Pakistan
high commissioner in Delhi, Abdul Sattar, asking Islamabad to refrain
from making any claim. In her latest letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, sent from her New York residence last week, she has again opposed
Pakistan's claim, hinting that each time there is an Indo-Pak dialogue
there seems to be an "inappropriate demand" for this property.
"Jinnah House has absolutely nothing to do with Pakistan. It was
my grandfather's personal residence and one that he loved dearly. How
does this involve Pakistan?" asks Dina's son and Bombay Dyeing chairman
Nusli Wadia.
The Wadias feel returning the house to the family
will put an end to all Pakistani claims, a view shared by high-level government
sources who say there is no question of handing the house to Pakistan.
Their case has been bolstered after Salman Rushdie got back his ancestral
house in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, which too had been declared evacuee
property. Since Jinnah did not accept compensation for the property, they
feel they are the rightful heirs and are ready to give an undertaking
that they will not exploit the house for financial gains or demolish it.
"But since it is a decision that has political implications, it has
been put on hold," says Nusli.
Local resident associations too have opposed
its handover to Pakistan and have threatened an agitation. "We fear
it could be used as a hub of antinational activities," says Nandlal
Ragoowansi, a retired nuclear scientist and Malabar Hill denizen. As of
now, the house languishes in the care-limited to weekly inspections and
an occasional clean up-of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which
has been "exploring" options to convert it into a museum or
cultural centre. But until it takes a decision, the bats and snakes will
continue to reign supreme over Jinnah's legacy atop Malabar Hill.
—Sandeep Unnithan and Anjali Cordeiro
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METRO TODAY
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