On July 17, 1944, Gandhi wrote a letter to Jinnah and requested to meet him. Jinnah, with the approval of the Muslim League, agreed to meet Gandhi in Bombay. The Talks lasted from September 19, 1944 to September 24, 1944. Jinnah presented the stance of the Muslim League while Gandhi told him that he had called upon him in a personal capacity.
The stressed nutshell of the Gandhi’s talk was that a separate homeland for the Muslims was “nothing but a ruin for the whole of India”. Mr. Gandhi said, “If, however, Pakistan had to be conceded, the areas in which the Muslims are in an absolute majority should be demarcated by a Commission approved by both the Congress and the Muslim League. The wishes of the people of these areas will be obtained through Referendum. These areas shall form a separate state as soon as possible after India is free from foreign domination. There shall be a treaty of separation which should also provide for the efficient and satisfactory administration of foreign affairs, defense, internal communication, custom and the like which must necessarily continue to be the matters of common interest between the contracting countries”.
Jinnah explained the Muslim stance that the Muslims were a nation according to any definition of nation with a distinctive outlook of life and on life and that they were a nation of 100 million. He also clarified that the separation of a Muslim state was in favor of not only Muslims but it would also benefit the rest of India. The talks ended in smoke because Jinnah did not agree with Gandhi that the whole of the power should be transferred to the Congress after attaining independence from the British Raj and then Congress would grant freedom to the Muslims.
