Chapter 3F: His Holiness had assumed that all Muslims would want an independent Muslim nation

Chapter 3F: His Holiness had assumed that all Muslims would want an independent Muslim nation. And that he would own that nation. Most Muslims were Sunni, some like the Iranians are Shias. And a small faction of the Shias are Ismailis or Khojas.

But there is another sect. The Dawood Bohras. They are small compared to the Ismailis (1 million vs 15 million). But not in Bombay. The Bohras dominate trading. They have a strong standing in industry (Azim Premji for example). And they did not want to take sides.

The Bohras community is led by the Syedna who operates from the Saifee Mahal at Malabar Hill in Mumbai. A stones throw away from Mohammad Ali Jinnahs house on Mount Pleasant Road.

The Ismailis believe Aga Khan is GOD. He is the Imam. But the Syedna says he is a representative of the Imam. He is NOT God. And that makes him more human, more successful and more focused on business. The Aga Khan wanted the Syedna to join the Muslim League. The Congress was wooing him. But the Syedna was apolitical. He did not see any need or rationale in asking his followers to shift to the Muslim nation. The Bohras were traders. They sold to all faiths. They had no reason to take sides.

The Bohras said they were Indians, they wanted to stay put where they were… and that while Indian rule was good, they weren’t too troubled by British rule either. They support the local and national govt, irrespective of which party was in power. This was giving Aga Khan sleepless nights. Worse of all the Syedna had no personal wealth, no European wives and was actually building any running charitable institutions.

Over the last fifty years, I have personally seen the Bohras from the Saifee English elocution to the Saifee Hospital at Chowpatty to their restoration and reconstruction of Bhendi Bazaar which my school friend Qutub Mandviwala – by far India’s best architect today – did a fabulous job of. They have endeared themselves to both society and the country – focusing on what matters to their community – which is business – and staying away from everything else. Disobedience or activism makes bad business.

And this was causing indigestion for the Aga Khan. He realised that his ambition for a Muslim nation could not include Bombay or Gujarat. Or Rajasthan. The map he had of his Muslim nation was now Afganistan, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Kashmir.

And the strategy was clear. Adolf Hitler had shown the way. Kill them. Or expel them. There were exactly 6 million Hindus in the target states.

About the same as the Jews killed by Hitler. A precedent was there. The technology was proven. It just needed swift execution.

The only problem was BN and his army of activists. They were not into non violence. He was after all the, “The King of War”. But his idea of war, which the Americans later learned from him. “Was to keep it far from home”. And to supply both sides of the war .

The Aga Khan focused on diplomacy. The others were focused on business.