The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 111
111 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN would be about to convene after vacation. That is how I went to the Supreme Court. Question : Do you want to say a word about your reasons? I would have thought that the Viceroy's arguments would have been very powerful. Khan : They were. The reasons, those that I gave to the Viceroy, I can repeat immediately. There was something else also which I shall add and that might come as a surprise to people who think one should not be influenced by that kind of thing, but I have always been influenced by that kind of thing. My reason was that though the greater part of my public career up to then had been what people would call political, I had never taken very kindly to politics. For one, in Government at that time, there was no question of belonging to any political party. It was a reserved government and anyone who joined it cut asunder from party affiliations. But even later, after independence when it became a matter of party and politics, I was not much of a party man. I have always carried out quite loyally my duties and obligations to the party to which I have belonged, but it has always been a somewhat restricting and irksome position. Some people take pleasure in party politics but I do not. I have been perfectly happy to work with a chief who would look after the party business, so that I could carry on my duties, departmental as well as political. On the other hand, the practice of the law and judicial work have been a much greater attraction to me since the beginning of my career. I derive more satisfaction from work on that side, and I suppose it is a good dispensation of Providence that some of us have a bent one way and others have a bent the other way. I also mentioned one other matter to the Viceroy somewhat incidentally, "There is something else also that you might perhaps be interested in. I think I am afflicted with a weakness on the political side, which might be of some use to me on the Bench. I may be wrong, but I believe I have the capacity to see and to appreciate the other man's point of view. " When my decision came to be known, everybody was surprised. I shall, however, tell you what influenced me even more than any of the things that I told the Viceroy. In the course of the week preceding the Monday on which the Viceroy spoke to me - I think that Monday was the 16th of June - I had three dreams, one after the other, with an