If you go looking for Jinnah House on Mumbai’s plush Malabar Hill area, don’t expect signboards to lead you there. It is an old bungalow on a hill nestled amidst dense wildly-growing foliage and appears abandoned except for the small board put up recently on the gate reading thus: Proposed site of centre for South Asia Centre for Art and Culture. Yes, this is Jinnah House, once the abode of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
In the absence of signboards leading to Jinnah House or a name plate on its gate, the best way is to ask for the Chief Minister’s residence and bang opposite the winding road (formerly known as Mount Pleasant Road and now Bhausaheb Hirey Marg) is a white mansion lost in a time warp.
Whenever it is remembered, it is for the wrong vocal hits by Indian and Pakistani governments for whom this single-storeyed mansion remains a diplomatic flashpoint.
The latter is keen to house its consulate here, while the former gives a deaf ear. This went on until Jinnah’s only daughter, made it a triangular battle, and in 1993 legally staked her filial claim to the house in which she was born and raised.
For the second time, Dina (now 88) moved the Bombay High Court on August 7, 2007 to get back her home. Dina, a US resident, is the mother of industrialist Nusli Wadia and had married against her father’s wishes. She wants the court to declare the government’s possession of Jinnah House as illegal and revert the house to his legal heirs.
Jinnah purchased this house in 1917 and had it rebuilt by architect Claude Batley with Italian marble and walnut wood in 1936 at the cost of Rs 2 lakh. It was from here that he went to lead the Muslim League and also was to spend the happiest years of his life. Jinnah a confirmed bachelor at 41 gave his heart away to a young Ruttenbai, the daughter of an eminent Parsi Sir Dinshaw Petit and married her when she turned 18. She converted to Islam and took the name Mariam.
Although entry is restricted and all you get to see is the façade from the locked gates of 2.5 acre property which overlooks the Arabian sea, what hits you is the apathy of the authorities in allowing the structure to fade away. Enquiries reveal that the lone weekly visitor to the place is the custodian, regional officer A K Chatterjee of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (in possession since 1997). “Even Jinnah’s descendents plead at the gate to be allowed in but we have to obey orders,” says a long-time security hand.
Nothing has moved much since the government announced grandiose plans to convert it into a SAARC memorial for cultural exchange and inaugurate have it inaugurated on the 60th anniversary of India’s independence. Chatterjee is cryptic, “the place is in a dilapidated state”. He informed that the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH) were given the contract to renovate the place.
“Rain water has seeped through the roof. Carpets are destroyed. No emergency measures have been taken to arrest its further neglect,” says a source, adding that there is not much furniture to boast of as the best may have been removed a long ago. Security guards and stray dogs guarded the sprawling property.
INTACH convenor Tasneem Mehta contradicts saying, “A lot is happening. Debris is being cleared and permissions have been given.” She said it would take “2-3 years before a formal inauguration of the SAARC centre is done as many countries are involved.” INTACH’s task is convert the residential place into a cultural centre which will events with several infrastructural facilities like conference halls, guest rooms, servants quarters, toilets, among others.
Jinnah made an impassioned plea for his home immediately after Independence. India’s first High Commissioner to Pakistan Sri Prakasa in his memoirs Pakistan: Birth and Last Days brings out the longing of Jinnah for his home and his love for Bombay. “Sri Prakasa don’t break my heart. Tell Jawaharlal not to break my heart. I have built it brick by brick. Who can live in a house like that? What fine varandas? It is a house only for a small European family or for a refined prince.” You do not know how I love Bombay. I look forward to going back there. The single-storeyed bungalow is significant for the meetings Jinnah had with Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru in the run up to India’s independence from British rule and finally partition.
It was here that India’s history was altered and future carved out. The ground floor was where he met and entertained guests while the top storey was where his family lived.
Jinnah moved to Pakistan in March 1947 and died in September 1947 unable to fulfil his desire to return to his home.
The British Deputy High Commissioner occupied the place until 1982. Since then it moved into the hands of Public Works Department and later with ICCR who recently were asked to turn it into SAARC memorial. It appears that Jinnah House, like its illustrious owner, is condemned to history. And now that it is poised for a court battle, one hopes this time around its ghosts will be laid to rest.