Updated 28/2/2011 9:30:47 AM
Pak connection of Indian budget
Pak connection of Indian budget
Vivek Shukla
New Delhi: As Union Finance Minister, Pranab Kumar Mukherjee would present general budget in the Herbert Baker designed North Block, it is still not known whether he knows the facts that the interim budget of the country of 1946 was presented and prepared by two gentle men who later become the prime ministers of Pakistan.
The Interim Budget of 1946 was prepared in a huge mansion at Tilak Marg (then Harding Lane). That was then the home of Liaquat Ali Khan, a top Muslim League leader, who served as finance minister in the Interim Cabinet headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. Later, he became the first prime minister of Pakistan.
It is said that Liaquat Ali Khan along with a senior civil servant of finance department , M A Bogra, prepared the tax proposals of that Budget in his mansion. It is a quirk of history that even Bogra went on to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was only the second Bengali leader to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Khan presented the Interim Budget on February 2, 1946, as the finance minister of the Interim government. And he took the Budget papers from his house to Parliament . A scion of a feudal family in Karnal , Liaquat supposedly presented a socialist budget . He imposed a 25% tax on business profits over one lakh rupees, doubled corporate tax, imposed capital gains tax, and doubled export duty on tea.
The Budget also proposed a commission to unearth tax evaders. Socialists in Congress supported these proposals . But others like Patel were outraged, claiming Liaquat was really attacking Hindu businessmen (like G D Birla, Jamnalal Bajaj and Walchand) who had long financed Congress. Some say that was a communal interpretation of a Budget that equally affected Muslim and Parsi industrialists.
Liaquat Ali Khan had the power to block any expenditure . He constantly queried and blocked spending proposals of Congress ministers. Sardar Patel is reported to have said that he could not even appoint a peon without Liaquats approval, which took ages.
Hindu businessmen also feared that Liaquat would selectively target them for tax evasion via the new commission, a fear some Congressmen shared. Liaquats tactics proved successful. Ultimately , the conduct of Liaquat Ali Khan apparently convinced Patel and Nehru that working with the Muslim League was impossible.
It is also said that Nehru and Patel accepted Partition because by conceding Pakistan to Jinnah, they would have no more of him and eliminate his nuisance value ; or as Nehru put it privately , that by cutting the head we shall get rid of headache . After Partition, and later after Jinnahs death in 1948, Liaquat Ali Khan became Pakistans top leader. Liaquat was assassinated in 1951 in Rawalpindi at the same park where Benazir Bhutto was killed in 2007.
Once Pakistan became a reality, Khan left for Pakistan and his house at Tilak Marg became the official residence of Pakistan high commissioner in Delhi. Unlike Jinnah, Khan could not sell off his house for some unknown reasons. If he sold it then, it would have fetched him close to Rs 2 lakh, the amount Jinnah got after selling his Aurangzeb Road house.
During the final phase of the British rule in India, the colonial government made only last attempt to bring together the Congress and the Muslim League under an Interim government to try and avert Partition. The Interim Cabinet had 16 members. Sardar Patel and Babu Jagjivan Ram were also members of that government.
Veteran writer, Arbinda Ghosh , says that even though Muslim League was keen to take up the home portfolio, at the advice of Bogra they settled for finance. Bogra was a Muslim League sympathizer. He convinced Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan that more than home, finance was a key ministry.
Some say that the head of Interim government, Jawaharlal Nehru, himself offered Muslim League the finance portfolio. Muhammad Ali Bogra remained the prime minister of Pakistan from 1953 to 1955. He was born in Bogra, a district in Bangladesh , and studied at the Calcutta University .
Some historians even claim it was Liaquat Ali Khan who convinced Jinnah that Muslims of India needed a separate country. In a way, he played an influential role in the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. And his big house was the bastion of Muslim League activities.
Be that as it may, when the Nehru asked the Muslim League to send its nominees for representation in the Interim government, Khan was asked to lead the League group in the Union Cabinet. Last but not the least, Khan`s wife,Gul-e-Rana,used to teach English at IP college of the capital.
Source :: http://www.news24online.com/Pak-connection-of-Indian-budget_News24_22570.aspx
Pak connection of Indian budget
Pak connection of Indian budget
Vivek Shukla
New Delhi: As Union Finance Minister, Pranab Kumar Mukherjee would present general budget in the Herbert Baker designed North Block, it is still not known whether he knows the facts that the interim budget of the country of 1946 was presented and prepared by two gentle men who later become the prime ministers of Pakistan.
The Interim Budget of 1946 was prepared in a huge mansion at Tilak Marg (then Harding Lane). That was then the home of Liaquat Ali Khan, a top Muslim League leader, who served as finance minister in the Interim Cabinet headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. Later, he became the first prime minister of Pakistan.
It is said that Liaquat Ali Khan along with a senior civil servant of finance department , M A Bogra, prepared the tax proposals of that Budget in his mansion. It is a quirk of history that even Bogra went on to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was only the second Bengali leader to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Khan presented the Interim Budget on February 2, 1946, as the finance minister of the Interim government. And he took the Budget papers from his house to Parliament . A scion of a feudal family in Karnal , Liaquat supposedly presented a socialist budget . He imposed a 25% tax on business profits over one lakh rupees, doubled corporate tax, imposed capital gains tax, and doubled export duty on tea.
The Budget also proposed a commission to unearth tax evaders. Socialists in Congress supported these proposals . But others like Patel were outraged, claiming Liaquat was really attacking Hindu businessmen (like G D Birla, Jamnalal Bajaj and Walchand) who had long financed Congress. Some say that was a communal interpretation of a Budget that equally affected Muslim and Parsi industrialists.
Liaquat Ali Khan had the power to block any expenditure . He constantly queried and blocked spending proposals of Congress ministers. Sardar Patel is reported to have said that he could not even appoint a peon without Liaquats approval, which took ages.
Hindu businessmen also feared that Liaquat would selectively target them for tax evasion via the new commission, a fear some Congressmen shared. Liaquats tactics proved successful. Ultimately , the conduct of Liaquat Ali Khan apparently convinced Patel and Nehru that working with the Muslim League was impossible.
It is also said that Nehru and Patel accepted Partition because by conceding Pakistan to Jinnah, they would have no more of him and eliminate his nuisance value ; or as Nehru put it privately , that by cutting the head we shall get rid of headache . After Partition, and later after Jinnahs death in 1948, Liaquat Ali Khan became Pakistans top leader. Liaquat was assassinated in 1951 in Rawalpindi at the same park where Benazir Bhutto was killed in 2007.
Once Pakistan became a reality, Khan left for Pakistan and his house at Tilak Marg became the official residence of Pakistan high commissioner in Delhi. Unlike Jinnah, Khan could not sell off his house for some unknown reasons. If he sold it then, it would have fetched him close to Rs 2 lakh, the amount Jinnah got after selling his Aurangzeb Road house.
During the final phase of the British rule in India, the colonial government made only last attempt to bring together the Congress and the Muslim League under an Interim government to try and avert Partition. The Interim Cabinet had 16 members. Sardar Patel and Babu Jagjivan Ram were also members of that government.
Veteran writer, Arbinda Ghosh , says that even though Muslim League was keen to take up the home portfolio, at the advice of Bogra they settled for finance. Bogra was a Muslim League sympathizer. He convinced Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan that more than home, finance was a key ministry.
Some say that the head of Interim government, Jawaharlal Nehru, himself offered Muslim League the finance portfolio. Muhammad Ali Bogra remained the prime minister of Pakistan from 1953 to 1955. He was born in Bogra, a district in Bangladesh , and studied at the Calcutta University .
Some historians even claim it was Liaquat Ali Khan who convinced Jinnah that Muslims of India needed a separate country. In a way, he played an influential role in the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. And his big house was the bastion of Muslim League activities.
Be that as it may, when the Nehru asked the Muslim League to send its nominees for representation in the Interim government, Khan was asked to lead the League group in the Union Cabinet. Last but not the least, Khan`s wife,Gul-e-Rana,used to teach English at IP college of the capital.
Source :: http://www.news24online.com/Pak-connection-of-Indian-budget_News24_22570.aspx
