SEPERATE TRENDS IN INDIAN NATIONALIST POLITICS THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND THE HINDU MAHASABHA


• India is known as the “museum of world religions”.

• Communalism is “an ideology based on belief that Indian society is divided into religious communities, whose economic, political, social and cultural interests diverge and are even hostile to each other because of their religious differences” – Bipin Chandra.

• “consciously shared religious heritage becomes a dominant form of identity in which are fused a reinterpreted history coupled with a new conceptualization of the world and the position of identity group in the world” – Kenneth jones.

• Communalism is a “politised community identity” – sandria Freitag.

• Nabagopal mitra, editior of national paper started an annual public gathering called hindu mela. It was held 14 times between 1867 and 1880. nabagopal maintained that the basis of national unity of India was Hinduism.

• Bankim Chandra chatterjee, published the novel anandmath in 1882, which contained the great national song bandemataram. Through it he gave us the vision of nation as our devine mother.

• Aurobindo ghosh, “our mother country is not a piece of earth, not a figure of speech, nor a fiction of mind, but a mighty shakti composed of the shakthis of all the millions of units that makeup the nation”.

• BGT identified the “feeling of hindutva”. He was not a communalist. He understood the need of hindu-muslim unity and made a major contribution to the lucknow pact, 1916.

Muslim Separatism

• Father of Policy of divide and rule was Viceroy Lord Mayo, who ordered a top-ranking civil servant sir William hunter to write the well-known book, the Indian musalmans, which was published in 1871.

• Duffrin’s government adopted a general resolution, directing the local governments and high courts to “redress inequality” where the muslims didn’t receive their full share of state employment.

• During the last quarter of the 19th cen a num of pro-british muslim associations, such as Anjuman-i-islamia, muhammadan literacy and scientific society founded by abdul latif (1863), the national Mohammedan association led by syed ammeer ali, etc. were founded.

• The aligarh movement was founded by sir syed ahmad. In 1888 he founded the united Indian patriotic association, mainly with a view to oppose the INC. in this enterprise Beck, the british principal of MAO college, aligarh, was his principal collaborator.

• Beck’s idea was that anglo-muslim unity was possible, but hindu-muslim unity was impossible.
• This was followed by the foundation of the Muhammadam Anglo-Oriental defence association in 1894.

Simla deputation (1906) separate electorates

• On oct 1, 1906 a muslim deputation, composed of 35 persons – most of them belonging to the aristrocracy – and led by the Agakhan, ‘the spiritual head of the khoja muslim community’, met lord minto at simla.

The Foundation of Muslim League

• Nawab habibulla of decca who, favoured by curzon with a generous loan, had taken the leadership of the propartition movement. He could not join the simla deputation, but he issued a circular to some prominent muslims in different provinces containing a scheme for a ‘muslim all-india confederacy’.

• A meeting was held at decca on 30th dec 1906. it was decided to form a political association, called the all-india Muslim League.

• Aghakhan was elected permanent president of the league. Its HQs were estd at Aligarh, but its central office was shifted to lucknow in 1910.

• The first annual session of the Muslim League was held in Karachi on 29th dec, 1907.

• The ‘military nationalist ahrar movement’ was founded at this time under the leadership of Maulana ahmad ali, hakim ajmal khan, asan imam, maulana jafar alikhan, and mazhar-ul-haq.

• Some young scholars, influenced by the deoband of muslim studies (in UP) were inspired by nationalist sentiments. Among them the most prominent was Maulana abul kalam azad, a future president of the INC. Educated at the famous alazhar univ in cairo and well-versed in Islamic learning, he began to propagate his rationalist and nationalist ideas through the urdu newspaper
• alhilal, which he brought out in 1912 at the age of 24.

• In 1916, the INC and the league held their session simultaneously at lucknow and concluded an agreement for cooperation, known as “the lucknow pact”.

The Lucknow Pact

• An imp step forward in hindu-muslim unity.

• The all India hindu mahasabha led the crusade against the lucknow pact. At its conference held in lucknow, v.p.madavarao attacked the principle of separate electorates.

• The simon commission prepared a list of 112 riots which occurred between 1923 and 1927.

• When the great Turkish leader kemal pasha finally abolished the Caliphate, the khilafat movement also died a natural death. This lead to the revival of the all India Muslim League, whose astivites has been suspended for 4 years. Its 15th adjourned meeting was held at Lahore on may 24, 1924, with a M.A.Jinnah as president.

• The muslim started tanzeem and tabligh in order to organize the muslims as a virile community. Corresponding to these muslim organizations, a sangathan movement sprang up among the hindus for promoting physical culture and against social abuses.

• The great arya samajist leader, swami sraddhanand, organized the shuddhi (purification) movement.

• On 23rd December, 1926, swami sraddananda was stabbed to death in delhi.

The Nehru Report and 14 Points of Jinnah

• the Nehru report or the swaraj constitution, adopted by all the parties conference in 1920, which rejected the separate or communal electorate and favored the joint or mixed electorate was described by M.A.Jinnah, the leader of the M.L, who announced his infamous ’14 points’.

The Pakistan Movement

• Almost at the same time, when the INC launched the CDM for the attainment of freedom, the Muslim League made the first definite demant for a separate muslim state.

• In 1930, Sir Md Iqbal, a poet and philosopher, who also took part in politcs, while presiding over the Muslim League session at Allahabad, justified the “muslim demand for the creation of a muslim India within India”.

• Rahmath ali, educated in cambridge, and he communicated it to the muslim members of the Round Table Conference assembled in london. His conception was that the Punjab, NWFP (afgan province), kashmir, sind and baluchistan comprised the national home of the muslims, called by him Pakistan by joining the initials of the first four with the last part of the fifth.
• Rahmath ali founded the Pakistan national movement in 1933.

• A four-page leaflet, titled ‘now or never’, and signed by rahmath ali and three others, was privately circulated from Cambridge in jan 1933.

• They protested against the federal constitution favoured by the Round Table Conference.

• The results of the provincial elections in 1937 under the government of India act of 1935 were extremely disappointing from jinnah’s point of view.

• Of 485 muslims seats allotted to 11 provinces, the Muslim League secured only 108, the remaining seats (377) being own by other muslim parties and groups.

• Muslim League failed to secure even a single seat in NWFP and in sind.

• In the Punjab it secured only 1 seat (out of 48).

• In bengal it got 40 seats (out of 117).

• The Muslim League could not form a ministry in any of these 4 muslim majority provinces.

• In the Punjab it joined the coalition ministry led by sir sikandar hyat khan.

• In Bengal it joined the coaliation ministry of fazlul haq.

The Pirpur Report

• The league appointed a committee with the raja of pirpur as chairman, to collect information of the alleged atrocities upon the muslims in the congress-ruled provinces.

• The pirpur committee submitted its report on 15th nov. 1930.

Pakistan Resolution

• The Muslim League adopted a resolution at its Lahore session (march 20, 1940) which was moved by Fazlul haq, the PM of bengal, who had formed the ministry in 1937 as leader of the krishak praja party.

• A convention of muslim legislatures (april 1946) demanded the establishment of ‘a soverign independent state’ comprising Bengal, assam, the Punjab, NWFP, sind and bulichistan. The word ‘states’, and for the first time assam, which was not a muslim-majority prov was claimed as a part of that ‘state’.

CR formula

• In 1943, C.Rajagopalachary, who had resigned from the INC in 1942, devised a formula, in his personal capacity to hold talks with jinnah on his demands for Pakistan.
MG-Jinnah talks

• MG requested Jinnah to hold talks on the basis of CR Formula.

• Talks commenced on 9th September, 1944, and continued to 27th September.

Wavell plan and simla conference

• Simla conference, started on june 25th, 1945.

• The failure of the simla conference gave a veto power to the Muslim League that whatever is not acceptable to the Muslim League couldn’t be implemented.

1945-46 elections and the great communal divide

• In 1937, Muslim League won only 25% of muslim seats, in 1946 it captured almost 90%.

Rejection of the cabinet mission proposals by the Muslim League

• The cabinet missions proposals, announced on may 16, 1946, rejected the idea of an independent Pakistan, since it was felt that it would not solve the communal problem.

• The mission offered ‘united India with weak centre’.

• Besides, the INC and the muslim members were given equal representation in the proposed interim government.

• The Muslim League accepted both the short term and long term plan of cabinet mission on june 6, 1946 because it saw the dream of Pakistan inherent in it.

• The INC, on june 25th accepted the long term plan of joining the constuient assembly.

• Elections for the constituent assembly were held in july 1946, in which, in a house of 296, the INC enjoyed a thumping majority of 212 members and the Muslim League was represented by only 3 members.

• The vast majority of the INC in the constituent assembly alarmed the Muslim League, which withdrew its acceptance of the cabinet mission plan and gave the ‘direct action’ call to achieve Pakistan.

Jinnah’s direct action call and the great Calcutta killings

• The new government under JLN assumed charge on 2nd September, 1946.

Interim government (1946-47)

• An interim government was formed by wavell on 2nd September, 1946.

• From the strictly legal point of view it was the Governor-General’s executive concil. It was composed of 12 mem’s (including 3 muslims) nominated by the INC, and JLN was its vice-president.

• About 2 months later (26th oct, 1946), wavell admitted 5 nominiees (including a SC hindu from Bengal) of the Muslim League (replacing 3 out of 12 INC nominees who were already in the interim government) into the interim government, although it didn’t agreed to join the constituent assembly.

• This was a violation of the cabinet mission plan, for the constituent assembly and the interim government were linked together, but the INC weakly accepted it.

• The Muslim League members of the interim government, led by Liaquat ali khan (who was the finance minister) and supported by wavell and formed a ‘king’s party’ and
• embraced the INC members in different ways.

• The Muslim League had joined the interim government not to cooperate with the INC but to fight aginst it from a strong position in the citadel of power.

Increasing communal violence

• The Calcutta fires had hardly subsided when serious riots broke out in noakhali and tipperah dists on 15th oct.

• Refujees started pouring into with stories of tragic happenings. This led to raids in chapra, gaya and monghyr.

• Muslim houses were burnt and property looted in the wake of observance of ‘noakhali day’. It resulted in about 7,000 deaths.

• Another case of outbreak of violence occurred in garhmukteswar, a piligrim centre in UP, on 8th nov during a fair, in which a num of muslims were killed.

The Muslim League boycotts the constituent assembly

• The constituent assembly, though elected in july 1946, met for the first time on 9th dec, 1946.

• Princely states began to attend the constituent assembly from april 1947.

• The Muslim League didn’t join even after the british government’s approval (6 dec 1946) of its view – that the ‘grouping’ of provinces was compulsory.

ATLEE’S DECLARATION AND TOWARDS PARTITION

• On feb 20th, 1947, the british PM Atlee decided to send Lord Louis Mountbatten to replace lord wavell, as the viceroy and Governor-General.

• The british India is known as the “museum of world religions”.

• Communalism is “an ideology based on belief that Indian society is divided into religious communities, whose economic, political, social and cultural interests diverge and are even hostile to each other because of their religious differences” – Bipin Chandra.

• “consciously shared religious heritage becomes a dominant form of identity in which are fused a reinterpreted history coupled with a new conceptualization of the world and the position of identity group in the world” – Kenneth jones.

• Communalism is a “politised community identity” – sandria Freitag.

• Nabagopal mitra, editior of national paper started an annual public gathering called hindu mela. It was held 14 times between 1867 and 1880. nabagopal maintained that the basis of national unity of India was Hinduism.

• Bankim Chandra chatterjee, published the novel anandmath in 1882, which contained the great national song bandemataram. Through it he gave us the vision of nation as our devine mother.

• Aurobindo ghosh, “our mother country is not a piece of earth, not a figure of speech, nor a fiction of mind, but a mighty shakti composed of the shakthis of all the millions of units that makeup the nation”.

• BGT identified the “feeling of hindutva”. He was not a communalist. He understood the need of hindu-muslim unity and made a major contribution to the lucknow pact, 1916.

• Father of Policy of divide and rule was Viceroy Lord Mayo, who ordered a top-ranking civil servant sir William hunter to write the well-known book, the Indian musalmans, which was published in 1871.

• Duffrin’s government adopted a general resolution, directing the local governments and high courts to “redress inequality” where the muslims didn’t receive their full share of state employment.

• During the last quarter of the 19th cen a num of pro-british muslim associations, such as Anjuman-i-islamia, muhammadan literacy and scientific society founded by abdul latif (1863), the

• The aligarh movement was founded by sir syed ahmad. In 1888 he founded the united Indian patriotic association, mainly with a view to oppose the INC. in this enterprise Beck, the british principal of MAO college, aligarh, was his principal collaborator.

• Beck’s idea was that anglo-muslim unity was possible, but hindu-muslim unity was impossible.
• This was followed by the foundation of the Muhammadam Anglo-Oriental defence association in 1894.

• On oct 1, 1906 a muslim deputation, composed of 35 persons – most of them belonging to the aristrocracy – and led by the Agakhan, ‘the spiritual head of the khoja muslim community’
• Nawab habibulla of decca who, favoured by curzon with a generous loan, had taken the leadership of the propartition movement. He could not join the simla deputation, but he issued a circular to some prominent muslims in different provinces containing a scheme for a ‘muslim all-india confederacy’.

• A meeting was held at decca on 30th dec 1906. it was decided to form a political association, called the all-india Muslim League.

• Aghakhan was elected permanent president of the league. Its HQs were estd at Aligarh, but its central office was shifted to lucknow in 1910.

• The first annual session of the Muslim League was held in Karachi on 29th dec, 1907.

• The ‘military nationalist ahrar movement’ was founded at this time under the leadership of Maulana ahmad ali, hakim ajmal khan, asan imam, maulana jafar alikhan, and mazhar-ul-haq.

• Some young scholars, influenced by the deoband of muslim studies (in UP) were inspired by nationalist sentiments. Among them the most prominent was Maulana abul kalam azad, a future president of the INC. Educated at the famous alazhar univ in cairo and well-versed in Islamic learning, he began to propagate his rationalist and nationalist ideas through the urdu newspaper
alhilal, which he brought out in 1912 at the age of 24.

• In 1916, the INC and the league held their session simultaneously at lucknow and concluded
• An imp step forward in hindu-muslim unity.

• The all India hindu mahasabha led the crusade against the lucknow pact. At its conference held in lucknow, v.p.madavarao attacked the principle of separate electorates.

• The simon commission prepared a list of 112 riots which occurred between 1923 and 1927.

• When the great Turkish leader kemal pasha finally abolished the Caliphate, the khilafat movement also died a natural death. This lead to the revival of the all India Muslim League, whose astivites has been suspended for 4 years. Its 15th adjourned meeting was held at Lahore on may 24, 1924, with a M.A.Jinnah as president.

• The muslim started tanzeem and tabligh in order to organize the muslims as a virile community. Corresponding to these muslim organizations, a sangathan movement sprang up among the hindus for promoting physical culture and against social abuses.

• The great arya samajist leader, swami sraddhanand, organized the shuddhi (purification) movement.

• On 23rd December
• the Nehru report or the swaraj constitution, adopted by all the parties conference in 1920, which rejected the separate or communal electorate and favored the joint or mixed electorate was described by M.A.Jinnah, the leader of the M.L, who announced his infamous ’14 points’.


• Almost at the same time, when the INC launched the CDM for the attainment of freedom, the Muslim League made the first definite demant for a separate muslim state.

• In 1930, Sir Md Iqbal, a poet and philosopher, who also took part in politcs, while presiding over the Muslim League session at Allahabad, justified the “muslim demand for the creation of a muslim India within India”.

• Rahmath ali, educated in cambridge, and he communicated it to the muslim members of the Round Table Conference assembled in london. His conception was that the Punjab, NWFP (afgan province), kashmir, sind and baluchistan comprised the national home of the muslims, called by him Pakistan by joining the initials of the first four with the last part of the fifth.
• Rahmath ali founded
• A four-page leaflet, titled ‘now or never’, and signed by rahmath ali and three others, was privately circulated from Cambridge in jan 1933.

• They protested against the federal constitution favoured by the Round Table Conference.

• The results of the provincial elections in 1937 under the government of India act of 1935 were extremely disappointing from jinnah’s point of view.

• Of 485 muslims seats allotted to 11 provinces, the Muslim League secured only 108, the remaining seats (377) being own by other muslim parties and groups.

• Muslim League failed to secure even a single seat in NWFP and in sind.

• In the Punjab it secured only 1 seat (out of 48).

• In bengal it got 40 seats (out of 117).

• The Muslim League could not form a ministry in any of these 4 muslim majority provinces.

• In the Punjab it joined the coalition ministry led by sir sikandar hyat khan.

• In Bengal it joined the coaliation ministry of fazlul haq.

• The league appointed a committee with the raja of pirpur as chairman, to collect information of the alleged atrocities upon the muslims in the congress-ruled provinces.

• The Muslim League adopted a resolution at its Lahore session (march 20, 1940) which was moved by Fazlul haq, the PM of bengal, who had formed the ministry in 1937 as leader of the krishak praja party.

• A convention of muslim legislatures (april 1946) demanded the establishment of ‘a soverign independent state’ comprising Bengal, assam, the Punjab, NWFP, sind and bulichistan. The word ‘states’, and for the first time assam, which was not a muslim-majority prov was claimed as a part of that ‘state’.

• In 1943, C.Rajagopalachary, who had resigned from the INC in 1942, devised a formula, in his
• MG requested Jinnah to hold talks on the basis of CR Formula.

• Talks
• Simla conference, started on june 25th, 1945.

• The failure of the simla conference gave a veto power to the Muslim League that whatever is not

• In 1937, Muslim League won only 25% of muslim seats, in 1946 it captured almost 90%.


• The cabinet missions proposals, announced on may 16, 1946, rejected the idea of an independent Pakistan, since it was felt that it would not solve the communal problem.

• The mission offered ‘united India with weak centre’.

• Besides, the INC and the muslim members were given equal representation in the proposed interim government.

• The Muslim League accepted both the short term and long term plan of cabinet mission on june 6, 1946 because it saw the dream of Pakistan inherent in it.

• The INC, on june 25th accepted the long term plan of joining the constuient assembly.

• Elections for the constituent assembly were held in july 1946, in which, in a house of 296, the INC enjoyed a thumping majority of 212 members and the Muslim League was represented by only 3 members.

• The vast majority of the INC in the constituent assembly alarmed the Muslim League, which withdrew its acceptance of the cabinet mission plan and gave the ‘direct action’ call to achieve Pakistan.
• The new government under JLN assumed charge on 2nd September, 1946.

• An interim government was formed by wavell on 2nd September, 1946.

• From the strictly legal point of view it was the Governor-General’s executive concil. It was composed of 12 mem’s (including 3 muslims) nominated by the INC, and JLN was its vice-president.

• About 2 months later (26th oct, 1946), wavell admitted 5 nominiees (including a SC hindu from Bengal) of the Muslim League (replacing 3 out of 12 INC nominees who were already in the interim government) into the interim government, although it didn’t agreed to join the constituent assembly.

• This was a violation of the cabinet mission plan, for the constituent assembly and the interim government were linked together, but the INC weakly accepted it.

• The Muslim League members of the interim government, led by Liaquat ali khan (who was the finance minister) and supported by wavell and formed a ‘king’s party’ and
• embraced the INC members in different ways.

• The
• The Calcutta fires had hardly subsided when serious riots broke out in noakhali and tipperah dists on 15th oct.

• Refujees started pouring into with stories of tragic happenings. This led to raids in chapra, gaya and monghyr.

• Muslim houses were burnt and property looted in the wake of observance of ‘noakhali day’. It resulted in about 7,000 deaths.

• Another case
• The constituent assembly, though elected in july 1946, met for the first time on 9th dec, 1946.

• Princely states began to attend the constituent assembly from april 1947.

• The Muslim
• On feb 20th, 1947, the british PM Atlee decided to send Lord Louis Mountbatten to replace lord wavell, as the viceroy and Governor-General.

• government decided to quit India by a fixed date i.e., not later than june 1948.

Mountbatten plan

• Mountbatten, the 34th and last of the british Governor-General and the last of the viceroys, arrived in new delhi on march 22nd, 1947.

• The working committee resolution of 8th march 1947 made no comment on Atlee’s announcement (20th feb, 1947).

• Mountbatten spent 2 months in negotiations and then prepared a plan which was accepted by the leaders of the INC and Jinnah on 2nd june 1947. it was announced by atlee in the
• house of commons on the next day; therefore, it came to be known as ‘the june 3rd plan’.
• The essence of the plan was partition of India.

• The Bengal and the Punjab legislative assemblies decided in favour of partitioning the provinces.

• The sind legislative assembly decided to join a ‘new and separate constituent assembly’.

• In baluchistan, a decision to join a ‘new and separate constituent assembly’ was made by a meeting of the shahi jirga and non-official members of the quetta municipality.

• In the NWFP the followers of abdul ghaffar khan boycotted the referendum; as a result only 50.49% of the voters took part in it, and the decision was in favour of joining a ‘new and separate constituent assembly’.

• In the referendum in the sylhet a majority voted for joining the new province composed of the muslim-majority dists in bengal.

• The voting process in all these cases was completed by the middle of july 1947.

• Two boundary commissions with a common chairman, sir ciral radcliffe, demarked the
• boundaries between the two punjabs and the two bengals. Their award was handed over to
• the leaders of the INC and the Muslim League on 17th August 1947.

• Pandit govind ballabh pant, who moved the resolution in the AICC said, “this was the only way to achieve the freedom and liberty of the country. It would assure an Indian union
• with a strong centre….. the choice today was between accepting the statement of june 3rd
• plan or committing suicide”.

• The hindu mahasabha even called for an all-india ‘anti-pakistan day’.

• The extremists on the muslim side were also dissatisfied and the khaksars, a group of
• militant muslims (who demanded a pakistan stretching from Karachi to calcutta), staged
• demonstrations when the all India Muslim League council met in delhi.

All-india hindu mahasabha

• In dec 1910, it was decided at a meeting of the leading hindus held at Allahabad that an all-india hindu mahasabha should be formed with HQs at Allahabad.

• A hindu conference was held at amritsar in 1911 under the auspices of the Punjab hindu mahasabha.

• The organizers of the hindu mahasabha used to call the annual session of the akhil
• bharatiya hindu conference at Hardwar, generally on the occasion of certain annual fairs.

• The head office of the hindu mahasabha was also located at the hardwar.

• The 5th akil bharatiya hindu conference was held on dec 26-27, 1918, which was attended by representatives of different provinces. Many regard this session as the real foundation of hindu mahasabha.

• The most sensational activity of the hindu mahasabha was the reconversion of 4.5 lakhs of malkhana rajputs, who had embraced islam and were now eager to get back to the old religion. They were all taken back into the hindu fold in 1924.

• Another imp event in the history of the mahasabha was the presidensial address by Pandit madan mohan malaviya at the special session of the mahasabha held on dec 27, 1924 at belguam.

• With the advent of bhai paramanand and b.s.moonje, the party acquired a more aggressive and militant charater.

• To fight the INC from within, pandit madan mohan malavia and m.s.aney, both of whom wielded considerable influence among the rank and file, formed the INC nationalist party
• which was to act as a powerful pressure group.

• The 1932 sesssion of the mahasabha had unreservedly condemned the british government’s communal award; in 1933, it debated the feasibility of making an appeal to
• the league of nations on the problem of Indian minorities.

• In the autumn of 1943, V.D.Savarkar resigned from the party leadership and though re-elected president for another year, stayed away under medical advice.

• The silver jubilee session of the mahasabha held at amritsar was presided over by Dr.Sham Prasad mukarjee and inaugurated by the maharaja of Cossimbazar, whose father had been the first president of the party.

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