Ali Jinnah, Dina and Partition

Ali Jinnah and his daughter Dina

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was nothing if not complicated. Jinnah, an alcohol-drinking, pork-eating, English-loving barrister, was the founder of  the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Yesterday, his only child Dina Wadia died and that too is complicated.

(Caution, especially for Germans, who like to dwell in prejudices about Muslim women, even if they are "only" half Muslim)

Ali Jinnah was always impeccably dressed and he certainly proved to be a pain in the ass for Lord Mountbatton during his final mission. Dina Wadia died in New York on Nov. 2.

MUMBAI: When Dina Wadia, the only daughter of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, told him in the 1930s that she wanted to marry a young man named Neville Wadia from a prominent Parsi family of Bombay that had built the famous Cusrow Baug in Colaba and Jer Baug and Rustom Baug in Byculla, he was furious. "There are millions of Muslim boys in India," he told her, and she could marry anyone she chose. Dina promptly replied, "Father, there were millions of Muslim girls in India. Why did you not marry one of them?"


The young Jinnah had married a Parsi girl, Rattanbai "Ruttie" Petit (she died in 1929). Dina Wadia, their only child and mother of Bombay Dyeing chairman NusliWadia, who stood up to her father by marrying Neville Wadia at a time when Jinnah was consolidating his position as the pre-eminent leader of India's Muslims and who later staked claim to Jinnah House at Malabar Hill as the Pakistan founder's "sole heir," passed away at her New York residence on Thursday. She was 98 and had been ailing for some time.


The London-born Dina spent a major part of her life in Mumbai but had been living in the US for the past few decades. Her industrialist son Nusli, who shared a close bond with her, had been shuttling between Mumbai and New York, spending a lot of time with her. Nusli had told TOI in 2008 that "I speak to my mother once a day every day no matter where I am... I don't think there is any mother-son relationship in the world as close as ours." Besides Nusli, Dina is survived by her daughter Diana, grandsons Ness and Jeh, and great-grandchildren Jah and Ella. Her funeral will be held in New York.

More in Times of India and a blog from Pakistan. A very good book about the time around the partition talks is:

India Wins Freedom: The Complete Version
by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Humayun Kabir (Editor)
(You can find a free Pdf on the interweaves)