NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY,

BHOPAL

6TH TRIMESTER

HISTORY II

PROJECT ON:

THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE

FREEDOM STRUGGLE

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. UDAY PRATAP SINGH
Associate Professor

SUBMITTED BY:
AYUSH BHATT
2009BA LL.B (Hons.) 73
 A-0935
DECLARATION:

The text reported in the project is the outcome of my own efforts and no part of this
report has been copied in any unauthorized manner and no part in it has been
incorporated without due acknowledgement.

Ayush Bhatt
2009 BA LL.B (Hons.) 73
A-0935

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………..4

2. BACKGROUND……………………………………………………………………5

3. FOUNDATION OF THE LEAGUE………………………………………………..6

4. EARLY YEARS OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE……………………………………8

5. LATER YEARS OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE……………………………………9

6. MUSLIM LEAGUE IN BENGAL…………………………………………………11

7. OBJECTIVES OF THE LEAGUE…………………………………………………12

8. CONFLICT BETWEEN THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND THE CONGRESS……13

9. CAMPAIGN FOR PAKISTAN……………………………………………………15

10. THE LEAGUE IN PAKISTAN…………………………………………………...16

11. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………17

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………18

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INTRODUCTION:

The Muslim League founded at Dhaka in 1906, was a political party in British India that
developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state on the
Indian subcontinent. After the independence of India and Pakistan, the League continued
as a minor party in India, especially in Kerala, where it is often in government within a
coalition with others. In Pakistan, the League formed the country's first government, but
disintegrated during the 1950s following an army coup. One or more factions of the
Muslim League have been in power in most of the civilian governments of Pakistan since
1947. In Bangladesh, the party was revived in 1976 and won 14 seats in 1979
parliamentary election. Since then it eventually became a party of insignificant
importance.

It was initially led by Aga Khan and ultimately by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who was
instrumental in creating public opinion in favour of Muslim nationalism and finally in
achieving Pakistan in 1947. The background of the foundation of the Muslim League at
Dhaka on 30 December 1906 may be traced back to the establishment of the Indian
National Congress in 1885.

Its original purpose was to protect the political rights of Muslims in India and to prevent
Hindu political control of the entire Indian subcontinent once independence from the
British was achieved. For several decades the group advocated Hindu and Muslim unity
within India. Under league president Mohammed Ali Jinnah, however, it came to demand
a separate Muslim state from the British out of concern that an independent India would
be dominated by Hindus. During World War II (1939-1945) the Muslim League gave
support to the British and in return the British allowed the league to gain strength. In
1947 the league succeeded in having the Muslim state of Pakistan separated from Hindu-
dominated India. Renamed the All Pakistan Muslim League, it became the majority
political party in the first parliament of the newly created nation. Although the league has
remained a political force in Pakistan, internal dissension and major losses in the 1954

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elections, particularly in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), caused the party to fragment
into several factions.
BACKGROUND:

Islamic rule was established across northern India between the 8th and the 14th centuries.
The Mughal Empire ruled most of India from Delhi from the early 16th century, but
suffered a major decline in the 18th century. The decline of the Mughal empire and its
successor states like Avadh led to a feeling of discontentment among Muslim elites.
Muslims represented about 25-30% of the population of British India, and constituted the
majority of the population in Baluchistan, East Bengal, Kashmir valley, North-West
Frontier Province, Punjab region, and the Sindh region of the Bombay Presidency.

In the late 19th century an Indian nationalist movement developed with the Indian
National Congress being founded in 1885 as a forum that became a political party
subsequently. The Congress made no conscious efforts to enlist the Muslim community in
its struggle for Indian independence. Although some Muslims were active in the
Congress, majority of Muslim leaders did not trust the Hindu predominance and most of
the Muslims remained reluctant to join the Congress Party.

A turning point came in 1900 when the British administration in the largest Indian state,
the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), acceded to Hindu demands and made Hindi,
written in the Devanagari script, the official language. This seemed to aggravate Muslim
fears that the Hindu majority would seek to suppress Muslim culture and religion in an
independent India.

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FOUNDATION:

The year 1324 to 1906 marks the cleavage and culmination of Muslim politics in the
subcontinent, when the Aga Khan III led the Muslim delegation and met Lord Minto
(1845-1914), the Viceroy of India from 1905, at Simla to demand the political rights of
the Muslims of India. It was the Anglo-Indian Olympus, where the British had been
coming every summer since 1860, and by 1906 there were more than 1400 European
dwellings.

The deputation to the Viceroy consisted of the most influential leaders, such as Mohsin
al-Mulk, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Sir Ali Imam, Sir Muzammallah Khan, Sir Rafiquddin
Ahmad, Sir Muhammad Shafi, Sir Abdul Rahim, Sir Salimullah, Justice Shah Din, etc.
Syed Razi Waste writes in "Lord Minto and the Indian Nationalist Movement that, Minto
received the Muslim Deputation on October 1, 1906. Thirty-five prominent Muslim
leaders from all over India gathered there.Their leader was H.H. Aga Sir Sultan
Mohamed Shah Aga Khan from Bombay, who besides being the head of the rich Ismaili
sect of Muslims had close and friendly relations with prominent British people."
Accordingly, a memorandum was submitted to the Viceroy, insisting that the position
accorded to the Muslim community in any kind of representation direct or indirect, and
all other ways affecting their status should be commensurate not merely with their
numerical strength but also with their political importance. Lord Minto gave them a
patient hearing, assuring that their political rights and interests as a community will be
safeguarded in any administrative organisation. The Aga Khan realized that the Muslims
should not keep themselves aloof from politics because the Congress was already proving
incapable in representing the Indian Muslims. At length, the demands of separate
electorate and weightage in number in representation to all elected bodies were accepted
by the Viceroy Lord Minto, and incorporated in the Minto-Morley Reforms of 1909.

On October 24, 1906, the Aga Khan wrote a letter to Mohsin al-Mulk regarding a need to
form a Muslim organisation what had been achieved at Simla. The letter reads: "It may

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well be that provincial associations should be formed with the aim of safeguarding the
political interests of Muslims in various portions of India and similarly some central
organisation for the whole." In the meantime, The All-India Muslim Educational
Conference met at Dacca on December 30, 1906 and the letter of the Aga Khan was
circulated among the delegates. The Conference unanimously resolved that a political
association styled as the All-India Muslim League be formed to promote among the
Muslims the loyalty to the British government, to protect and advance the political rights
and interests of Muslims, and to prevent the rise among Muslims of India of any feeling
of hostility towards other communities. The Aga Khan III was thus elected permanent
President of the All-India Muslim League and Sayed Hussain Bilgrami was made the
Honorary Secretary. In tracing the origins of Pakistan, some commentators give decisive
importance to the separate electorates secured by the Muslim Deputation which was
received by the Viceroy Lord Minto at Simla on Ocotber 1, 1906. The event has been
described in the Diary of Lady Minto as `an epoch in Indian history. The delegation
established the Muslim League, which carried the seeds of Muslim separation and
eventual creation of Pakistan.

At the sixth annual session of Muslim League held on March 22-23, 1913 at Lucknow,
the Aga Khan resigned from the presidency. He hinted a numerous reasons, but did not
propose to cut himself away from the League. He said, " The League does not need a
leader but leaders." On the seventh session of the League at Agra, held on December 30-
31, 1913, Sayed Wazir Hasan (1874-1947), the Secretary of League from 1912 to 1929,
announced the resignation of the Aga Khan in the meeting, expressing, according to the
"Foundations of Pakistan" that it would be a calamity for Muslims when His Highness
resigned." Sir Ibrahim Rahimtullah appealed to the Aga Khan not to place his resignation
in their hands today and to continue as President till the rules of the League were altered.
The Aga Khan said that he would remain President for the time suggested. He said also
that in no case, it would severe his connection with the League as Vice-President. In a
meeting of the Council of the League, held on February 25, 1914, the Aga Khan was
declared the Vice-President of Muslim League, and Sir Ali Muhammad Khan (1879-

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1931) was elected as the second President of Muslim League in the eight session at
Bombay on December 30, 1915.

EARLY YEARS:

Sir Agha Khan was appointed the first Honorary President of the Muslim League. The
headquarters were established at Lucknow. There were also six vice-presidents, a
secretary and two joint secretaries initially appointed for a three-years term,
proportionately from different provinces. The principles of the League were espoused in
the "Green Book," which included the organization’s constitution, written by Maulana
Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include establishing an independent
Muslim state, but rather concentrated on protecting Muslim liberties and rights,
promoting understanding between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating
the Muslim and Indian community at large on the actions of the government, and
discouraging violence.

The idea of a Muslim political party was not new, but Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's advice to
stand aloof from separatist ideas had previously persuaded Indian Muslims to avoid
political mobilisation. Among those Muslims in the Congress who did not initially join
the All India Muslim League was Muhammed Ali Jinnah. This was because the first
article of the League's platform was "To promote among the Mussalmans [Muslims] of
India, feelings of loyalty to the British Government." Jinnah did not join the League until
1913, when it changed its platform to one of Indian independence as a reaction against
the British decision to reverse the 1905 Partition of Bengal, which the League regarded as
a betrayal of the Bengali Muslims. At this stage Jinnah believed in Muslim-Hindu co-
operation to achieve an independent, united India, although he argued that Muslims
should be guaranteed one-third of the seats in any Indian Parliament.

Jinnah became the Muslim League's president in 1916, and negotiated the Lucknow Pact
with the Congress, in which Congress conceded the principle of separate electorates and
weighted representation for the Muslim community. But Jinnah broke with the Congress

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in 1920 when the Congress leader, Mohandas Gandhi, launched a law violating Non-
Cooperation Movement against the British, which Jinnah disapproved of. Jinnah also
became convinced that the Congress would renounce its support for separate electorates
for Muslims, which indeed it did in 1928. Jinnah had little liking for either the Hindu
asceticism of Gandhi or the secular socialism of the other major Congress leader,
Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Muslim League remained in a moribund condition for full one year after its inception
in December 1906. But within a few years younger generation of the Muslims with
'middle class' background and radical ideas found their way into the politics of the
Muslim League. They not only discarded the programme of unqualified loyalty to the
British rulers, but also challenged the British colonial rule in India and demanded self-
government.

In the 1910s the League adopted a creed similar to that of the Indian National Congress.
When the Hindu-Muslim relation improved considerably, for instance during the period
of Lucknow Agreement (1916) and the period of Khilafat and Non-cooperation
Movement, the All India Muslim League became almost a dead organisation. For several
years since 1920, the Muslim League was in a state of suspended animation as the
Khilafat organisation had taken up all the work of the community at the time, and the
League had practically nothing to do.

LATER YEARS:

Though founded as a political organisation, the Muslim League did not develop any
noticeable political programme even within the framework of loyalty to the raj. It was
never a meaningful organisation politically until Muhammad Ali Jinnah took up its
leadership in 1935. Implored by many Muslim leaders, Jinnah returned from London to
India and took up the presidency of the Muslim League. In view of the ensuing general
elections under the India Act of 1935, Jinnah reorganised and restructured the central and

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provincial branches of the Muslim League and asked the new committees to get ready for
electoral politics ahead.

In the elections held in 1937, the Muslim League had an astounding performance in
Bengal. Of the total 482 seats reserved for the Muslims in all nine provinces, the League
could secure only 104. As high as 36 seats, more than one third of the total, were bagged
from Bengal alone. Party-wise, the Muslim League emerged as the second largest group
in the legislature, the first being the Congress. The Bengal victory of the League was said
to have been scored on account of the combined support of the Western educated Bengal
Muslim professionals and the Muslim landed gentry. The Ulama class, it may be noted,
tended to remain aloof from the Muslim League activities.

In 1937, Ak Fazlul Huq , Chief Minister of Bengal, joined the Muslim League and with
that his ministry had become virtually a Muslim League one. Using the immense personal
popularity of Huq, Bengal was made the fortress for the League. Fazlul Huq as the leader
of the Bengal Muslims moved the Lahore Resolution for independent homelands for the
Indian Muslims from the platform of the Muslim League. The Lahore Resolution of 1940
had a tremendous effect on the Bengal Muslim public opinion.

The Muslim League had formed the ministry under the leadership of Khwaja Nazimuddin
in 1943 when Fazlul Huq tendered his resignation. The period from 1943 to 1946 was the
period for making the Muslim League a real national organisation. Under the leadership
of Hussain Suhrahardy and Abul Hashim, the League became so popular that in the
elections of 1946 it bagged 110 seats out of 117 reserved for the Muslims of Bengal. It
established the fact that the Muslim League was the sole spokesman of the Bengal
Muslim community.

The League performance in other Muslim dominated provinces of India was equally
enthusiastic besides the North West Frontier Province which was still under the Congress
influence. The performance of the League in the elections of 1946 made its leader
Muhammad Ali Jinnah the undisputed leader of the Indian Muslims. So far as the Muslim
community was concerned, Jinnah was now inevitably to be consulted with in all

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negotiations and agreements concerning the transfer of power by the British. The Muslim
League became the organisation for almost every Indian Muslim when the independence
came on 14 August 1947.

MUSLIM LEAGUE IN BENGAL:

Provincial Muslim League with the partition of Bengal in 1905, two wings of the Bengal
Muslim League were formed separately in the new province of Eastern Bengal and
Assam, and in West Bengal. To help forming the Eastern Bengal and Assam Muslim
League (EBAML) a provisional committee was formed in early July 1908 with Chowdry
Ahmed Siddiqui as president and Nawab Salimullah as secretary. The EBAML was given
a concrete shape on 17 March 1911 at a meeting with Nawab Salimullah and Khan
Bahadur as president and secretary respectively. Eleven noted Muslims from East Bengal
were elected vice-presidents. The leadership of the EBAML worked hard to gain support
from the AIML in favour of sustaining the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in
the face of strong Congress opposition. It pleaded to the British authorities for separate
electorate and promotion of Muslim education in the form of sending petitions and
deputation.

The Calcutta based West Bengal Muslim League (WBML) was formed on 21 January
1909 with Prince Jehander Mirza as president. Since any literate British Indian Muslim
aged 21 years or above could become member of the WBML, its office bearers also
included non-Bengali Muslims. The leaders of the WBML often sent representation to the
government and adopted resolutions pleading for separate electorates, appointments of
Muslims in the government's Executive Council and increasing facilities for Muslim
education. But, they hardly cared to work for the permanence of the Partition of Bengal
or to organize the League outside Calcutta.

Following the annulment of the Partition of Bengal, the EBAML and the WBML were
amalgamated into the Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML) as the provincial
branch of the AIML on 2 March 1912. Nawab Salimullah was elected its president. It was
only after the amalgamation of the EBAML and the WBML into the BPML that the

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organization maintained a separate party office and frequently held council meetings. But
the Muslim League and for that matter its provincial organs were never meaningful
organizations politically until Muhammad Ali Jinnah took up its leadership in 1935. It
was from November 1943 that some new and effective measures were undertaken to
reorganize the BPML under the guidance of Abul Hashim, the new general secretary of
the party. By 1946 the BPML succeeded in building itself up as a mass party, and in the
Assembly elections of 1946 it achieved a comprehensive victory capturing 97 per cent of
the Muslim seats.

Muslim League leaders from Bengal took the lead in moving vital resolutions affecting
the fate of the Indian Muslims. They cherished the desire for the implementation of the
Lahore Resolution with the hope for the creation of two Muslim states in the Northwest
and Northeast of the subcontinent.

OBJECTIVES OF THE LEAGUE:

Three factors had kept Muslims away from the Congress, Sir Syed's advice to the
Muslims to give it a wide berth, Hindu agitation against the partition of Bengal and the
Hindu religious revivalism's hostility towards the Muslims. The Muslims remained loyal
to Sir Syed's advice but events were quickly changing the Indian scene and politics were
being thrust on all sections of the population.

But the main motivating factor was that the Muslims' intellectual class wanted
representation; the masses needed a platform on which to unite.

The headquarters of the All India Muslim League was established in Lucknow, and Sir
Aga Khan was elected as its first president. Also elected were six vice-presidents, a
secretary and two joint secretaries for a term of three years. The initial membership was
400, with members hailing proportionately from all provinces. Maulana Muhammad Ali
Jouhar wrote the constitution of the League, known as the "Green Book". Branches were

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also setup in other provinces. Syed Ameer Ali established a branch of the League in
London in 1908, supporting the same objectives.

Following were the objectives of the Muslim League:

1. To inculcate among Muslims a feeling of loyalty to the government and to disabuse

their minds of misunderstandings and misconceptions of its actions and intentions.

2. To protect and advance the political rights and interests of the Muslims of India and to
represent their needs and aspirations to the government from time to time.

3. To prevent the growth of ill will between Muslims and other nationalities without
compromising to it's own purposes.

Many Hindu historians and several British writers have alleged that the Muslim League
was founded at official instigation. They argue that it was Lord Minto who inspired the
establishment of a Muslim organization so as to divide the Congress and to minimize the
strength of the Indian Freedom Movement. But these statements are not supported by
evidence. Contrary to this, the widely accepted view is that the Muslim League was
basically established to protect and advance the Muslim interests and to combat the
growing influence of the Indian National Congress.

CONFLICT BETWEEN THE LEAGUE AND THE CONGRESS

Jinnah became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt to form a Hindu-
Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in Britain. The leadership of the League
was taken over by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a
separate Muslim state in India. The "Two-Nation Theory," the belief that Hindus and
Muslims were two different nations who could not live in one country, gained popularity
among Muslims. The two-state solution was rejected by the Congress leaders, who

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favoured a united India based on composite national identity. Iqbal's policy of uniting the
North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh into a new Muslim
majority state united the many factions of the League.

In 1927 the British proposed a constitution for India as recommended by the Simon
Commission, but they failed to reconcile all parties. The British then turned the matter
over to the League and the Congress, and in 1928 an All-Parties Congress was convened
in Delhi. The attempt failed, but two more conferences were held. At the Bombay
conference in May, it was agreed that a small committee should work on the constitution.
The prominent Congress leader Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal) headed the
committee, which included two Muslims, Syed Ali Imam and Shoaib Quereshi.

The League, however, rejected the proposal that the committee returned (called the Nehru
Report), arguing that it gave too little representation (one quarter) to Muslims – the
League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature. Jinnah reported
a "parting of the ways" after reading the report, and relations between the Congress and
the League began to sour.

The election in Britain of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government in 1929 fuelled new
hopes for progress towards self-government in India. Gandhi traveled to London,
claiming to represent all Indians and criticising the League as sectarian and divisive.
Round-table talks were held, but these achieved little, since Gandhi and the League were
unable reach a compromise. The fall of the Labour government in 1931 ended this period
of optimism.

Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan presided at the Delhi Meeting of the All India Muslim
League in 1931 and advocated the cause of the Indian Muslims through his presidential
address.

In the 1935 Government of India Act, the British for the first time proposed to hand over
substantial power to elected Indian provincial legislatures, with elections to be held in
1937. Jinnah returned to India and resumed leadership of the League, which now
perceived the Hindu majority as a threat. After the elections the League took office in

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Bengal and Punjab, but the Congress won office in most of the other Indian states, and
refused to share power with the League in states with large Muslim minorities.

CAMPAIGN FOR PAKISTAN:

At a League conference in Lahore in 1940, Jinnah said: "Hindus and the Muslims belong
to two different religions, philosophies, social customs and literature. It is quite clear that
Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have
different epics, different heroes and different episodes. To yoke together two such nations
under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to
growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the
government of such a state."

At Lahore the League formally recommitted itself to creating an independent Muslim

state called Pakistan, including Sindh, Punjab, the North West Frontier Province and
Bengal, that would be "wholly autonomous and sovereign." The resolution guaranteed
protection for non-Muslim religions. The Lahore Resolution was adopted on March 23,
1940, and its principles formed the foundation for Pakistan's first constitution. Talks
between Jinnah and Gandhi in 1944 in Bombay failed to achieve agreement. This was the
last attempt to reach a single-state solution.

In the 1940s, Jinnah emerged as the recognised leader of the Indian Muslims and was
popularly known as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader). In the Constituent Assembly elections
of 1946, the League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (and about 89.2% of
Muslim votes) on a policy of creating an independent state of Pakistan, and with an
implied threat of secession if this was not granted. Gandhi and Nehru, who with the
election of another Labour government in Britain in 1945 saw independence within
reach, were adamantly opposed to dividing India. They knew that the Hindus, who saw
India as one indivisible entity, could never agree to such a thing.

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By 1946 the British had neither the will, nor the financial or military power, to hold India
any longer, and Jinnah knew that independence was imminent. Political deadlock ensued
in the Constituent Assembly, and Britain's Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, sent a special
mission to India to mediate the situation. When the talks broke down, Attlee sent Earl
Mountbatten, India's last Viceroy, to negotiate the partition of India and immediate
British withdrawal. Mountbatten told Gandhi and Nehru that if they did not accept
partition there would be civil war. However, triggered mainly by events related to
controversial partition of British India's Punjab and Bengal provinces (between India and
Pakistan), a 'civil war' did in fact break out in these provinces and spread to other areas of
mixed population, with an unprecedent loss of life and property on both sides.

After the formation of Pakistan, the Muslim League survived as a minor party in India,
but later splintered into several groups, the most important of which is the Indian Union
Muslim League.

THE LEAGUE IN PAKISTAN:

In 1988, after the death of Pakistan's military ruler and later civilian President
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a new Muslim League was formed under the leadership of
Nawaz Sharif, but it had no connection with the original Muslim League. Sharif was
Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 1999, when he was ousted in
Pakistan's third military coup. At the controversial elections held by the military regime
of Pervez Musharraf in October, five different parties using the name Muslim League
contested seats. The largest of these, the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), won
69 seats out of 272, and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), loyal to Nawaz Sharif,
won 19 seats. After the last elections held in 2008, Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League is in
the ruling coalition and the Quaid-e-Azam league is in opposition.

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CONCLUSION:

The Muslim League was a political group that led the movement calling for a separate
Muslim nation to be created at the time of the partition of British India in 1947. The
Muslim League was founded in 1906 to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims. At first
the league was encouraged by the British and was generally favourable to their rule, but
the organization adopted self-government for India as its goal in 1913. For several
decades the league and its leaders, notably Mohammed Ali Jinnah, called for Hindu-
Muslim unity in a united and independent India. It was not until 1940 that the league
called for the formation of a Muslim state that would be separate from the projected
independent country of India. The league wanted a separate nation for India’s Muslims
because it feared that an independent India would be dominated by Hindus. As a result of
the Muslim league, the state of Pakistan was formed.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

BOOKS:

 Struggle for Indian Independence by Bipin Chandra

 Social Background of Indian Nationalism by A.R. Desai

WEBSITES:

 www.en.wikipedia.org
 www.quiad.gov.pk
 www.pmln.com.pk


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