The British, The Bandits and The Bordermen

From the diaries and articles of K F Rustamji

Rustamji’s two articles in The Indian Express proved to be the catalyst and formed the basis for the first Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in India in 1979 and was responsible for the phenomenon of judicial activism in India. Pakistani terrorists’ plans to hijack an Indian Airlines plane piloted by Rajiv Gandhi were scuttled thanks to Rustamji and other Bordermen. However, another plane was hijacked and taken to Lahore in January 1971. A few days after the crew and passengers were let off safely, the aircraft was set ablaze. A month later, Rajiv’s mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said to Rustamji, “Do what you like, but don’t get caught.” He cashed the blank cheque and helped Bangladeshi freedom fighters. The end result: the creation of the independent state of Bangladesh in December 1971. On Prime Minister Nehru’s seventieth birthday in 1959, Rustamji gave him a unique ‘present’ - the news of the killing of the notorious nose-chopping bandit, Gabbar Singh in full view of hundreds of people. The very same Gabbar Singh who is today a household name after the film Sholay once carried a reward of Rs 50,000 and was known as Gabra. Rustamji averred that the British intelligence must have had information that Jinnah was critically ill with cancer and would not live long. The British Government was apprehensive that if Jinnah died, Pakistan would not come into being and its strategic interest in the subcontinent would suffer. Hence, in June 1947, the date for Independence was suddenly advanced to 15 August 1947 on a specious excuse. The change in the date led to the tragedy of Partition.