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Chapter 8 - Pakistan Movement in the years 1927-1939
Simon Commission
The Conservative government sent a constitutional commission of seven members headed by Sir John Simon in 1927.
The Simon Commission prepared a report amidst opposition by the major Indian political parties.
It recommended a federal form of government for India, abolition of diarchy and separate electorates for Muslims but no one third Muslim seats in the government it also opposed making Sindh and the NWF as provinces.
INC and ML rejected it and the Nehru Report was prepared in its response in 1928.
Dehli Proposals:
In the wake of growing communal violence, Jinnah organized an All Muslim Party Conference, on March 20, 1927, in Delhi.
He presided over the session.
It was aimed at safeguarding the political rights of the Muslims while attempting to improve relations with the Congress.
The proposals included: making Sindh an independent province, political reforms in the NWF and Balochistan to grant them provincial status and one third seats for Muslims in the Central Legislative Assembly.
The ML would drop its demand for separate Muslim electorates on the acceptance of these proposals.
These would later become part of Jinnah’s fourteen points.
Nehru Report
It was drafted by the Nehru Committee, headed by Mr. Motilal Nehru and approved by the All-Party Conference in September 1928.
It asked for Dominion status or self- rule for India, a federal form of government with a bicameral parliament and Hindi as the official language of India.
It also rejected the separate electorates for minorities though it recommended a system of reserved seats in the central parliament.
This meant there would be no separate electorates or one third seats in the Central Government for Muslims.
Gandhi gave a deadline of one year to the British to accept it.
In January 1929, the All India Muslim Conference rejected the report.
Gandhi’s Salt March
It marked the start of the second phase of the non-cooperation campaign of the INC.
The British did not comply with the Nehru Report and, therefore, Gandhi was given charge of the campaign.
He started his Salt March as part of his Satyagraha (truth- force) on 12 March 1930 from his Ashram (retreat) near Ahmedabad and marched for 24 days to reach the coastal town of Dandi.
He was accompanied by thousands of his followers. Primarily its aim was to condemn the unfair Salt Laws of the British, but gradually it began to reject all unfair laws of the British rule.
The British banned the INC and arrested several INC leaders including Gandhi and Nehru.
Satyagraha Campaign
When the Khilafat Movement was gaining momentum, Gandhi developed a type of peaceful protest against the British, called the Satyagraha.
It is a Hindi word meaning ‘truth-force’ and involves non-violent resistance.
According to Gandhi, it meant putting one’s soul against the tyrant, and therefore, had spiritual dimensions.
Its supporters were required to have a high degree of self-sacrifice.
It was demonstrated by sit-ins, peaceful strikes including hunger strike, protest marches and boycotts.
Gandhi urged his followers to accept any torture by police as a way of self-purification.
His Salt March was a part of it.
Though Jinnah disagreed, the campaign gave Gandhi international fame.
Jinnah’s Fourteen Points:
The form of the future constitution should be federal, with the residuary powers vested in the provinces
All provinces must be given equal Autonomy
All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representationof minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality
In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one-third
Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of the separate electorate at present it shall be open to any community, at any time, to abandon its separate electorate in favour of joint electorate
Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in Punjab, Bengaland NWFP provinces
Full religious liberty shall be guaranteed to all communities
No bill or resolution shall be passed in any legislature if three-fourths of the members of any community in that body oppose the bill
Separation of Sindh from Bombay
Reforms should be introduced in the NWFP and Balochistanon the same footings as in the other provinces
Muslims should be given an adequate share in all services, having due regard to the requirement of efficiency
The Constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture, education, language, religion and personal laws, as well as for Muslim charitable institutions
One-third representation shall be given to Muslims in both central and provincial cabinets
No change will be made in the constitution without the consent of the provinces
Overview:
In January 1929, Jinnah presented his 14 Points in the ML session in Delhi and they were formally accepted in March 1929.
Jinnah demanded maximum safety of political rights of all minorities, especially Muslims.
He demanded one third Muslim seats in the Central Government, preservation of the existing provincial boundaries and no acceptance of a law about any community unless it was approved by three fourth members of the same community.
Round Table Conferences
The Indian political community rejected the Simon Commission Report of 1927.
The Congress and the Muslim League both refused to accept the recommendations of the Simon Commission.
Different political parties gave vent to their feelings different ways.
The Indian political situation seemed deadlocked.
The British government refused to contemplate any form of self-government for the people of India.
This caused frustration among the masses, who often expressed their anger in violent clashes.
This political chaos forced British to come up with some decisions so, in order to review the Simon Commission Report, they announced the holding of an RTC which was held between November 1930 – January 1931.
It was attended by Muslim League but not the INC because Gandhi was in jail for his non- cooperation movement.
In the absence of INC, the largest political party of India, it was not possible to make any major decision regarding the future constitution of India.
Gandhi was, at that time, the most prominent spokesman and leader of the INC.
Therefore, some arrangements had to be made to involve him in the political proceedings organized by the British in England.
Lord Irwin met Gandhi in jail and persuaded him to call off his non-cooperation movement.
Both reached a settlement called the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931.
Under this Gandhi was released and allowed to go to London to attend the second RTC.
The second RTC was held September – December 1931.
After some successful rounds of talks there was deadlock between the Gandhi and Jinnah over the issue of the rights of minorities.
Jinnah wanted concrete constitutional protection of minorities but Gandhi insisted that granting of religious liberty to the minorities would be sufficient.
Both leaders firmly struck to their guns and the RTC failed.
Therefore, one more RTC was needed that was held in November – December 1932 in order to reach some consensus about the future Constitution of India.
However, this conference was held only as a formality because the Labour Party, that had been enthusiastic for the conferences, had been replaced by a national government after the elections.
It was attended by only 46 delegates including Allama Iqbal and Sir Agha Khan representing the Muslims.
Communal Award
It was announced on 16th August 1932 by the British PM Ramsay MacDonald after the failure of the second RTC as he wanted to resolve the political crisis of India.
It gave the right of separate electorates to all the minorities in India and the principle of weightage was also applied.
Though, Muslim majority in Bengal and Punjab was reduced, the ML accepted it in order to reach a political settlement for the future of India.
The INC rejected it and Gandhi protested against the declaration of the Untouchables as a minority.
He began a strike of Maran Bharatt (fasting unto death).
The Government of India Act 1935
After discussing the summary of the three RTCs in the British Parliament, the Government of India Act 1935 was passed in August 1935.
It introduced a federal form of government for India with an upper house, the Council of State and a lower house, the Legislative Assembly.
Diarchy was shifted to the Centre.
A greater degree of provincial autonomy was given and three new provinces were created: Sindh, the NWFP and Orissa. Right of vote was given to 25 % of the Indians.
The real powers were still with the British as the Viceroy could veto any law made by the provinces.
It was sharply criticized by both the ML and the INC.
Reasons for Opposition
The Government of India Act 1935 was opposed by the major Indian political parties.
For them many of its clauses did not grant Indians the powers they had expected.
The main reason for its rejection was that Indians demanded complete independence but the British retained real powers such as the foreign relations and defence that Indians wanted to have under their control.
Thus in reality, the British very cleverly maintained their control on the key positions in the Indian government.
Moreover, the provincial ministers were apparently given more control over all departments, the Governors of the provinces could interfere with the provincial governments in the name of emergency.
The state of emergency could only be declared by a provincial governor.
The Governors could veto any legislation made by the Indians that they thought was against the interests of the British.
This meant the Indians were given much lesser powers than they had expected.
Though the number of voters was increased by five times, 3/4th of Indians were still deprived of voting right due to the strict property qualification.
Thus a great majority of Indians were not empowered to decide their future by electing representatives of their choice.
The state princes also resented the loss of their powers.
Due to these reasons both ML and INC opposed the Act and sharply criticized it.
According to Jinnah it was simply “thoroughly rotten, fundamentally bad and totally unacceptable”.
Nehru, initially declared the Act as “Charter of Slavery” and later on became more sarcastic by saying “it is like a machine with strong brakes but no engine.”
This shows how much disappointed the major political parties were with the Act.
1937 Elections
Outcomes:
The ML won only 109 seats while the INC got absolute majority in 5 provinces and became the single largest party in 4 other provinces by getting 707 seats.
The ML realized that it had to overcome the “image problem” and reorganise itself for the future elections.
The INC committed several atrocities against Muslims by introducing the Wardha Scheme, compulsory singing of the Bande Matram, an anti-Muslim nationalistic song of Hindus and showing disregard to the mosques and the congregational prayers.
Importance:
Despite opposing the 1935 Act, both ML and INC accepted it as both decided to contest the elections for provincial assemblies that were to be held under the Act.
ML did not perform well in the elections as compared to INC.
Out of 489 Muslim seats the ML won only 109, though it captured a number of seats in the Hindu majority provinces.
These were the first major elections contested by ML that gained good experience of launching the election campaign and creating a good vote bank.
Jinnah had little time to re-organized a highly disorganized ML and so, the ML leaders realized how organized INC was.
ML also realized that it had the ‘image problem’. For most of Muslims, the ML was a party of the elite Muslim community dominated by rich Muslim landed aristocrats.
INC on the other hand, had been a party popular among all segments and socio-economic classes of India.
Jinnah, therefore, would make hectic efforts 1937 onwards to overcome this image problem so that ML could make inroads into all classes and spheres of India.
The elections told ML of the importance of winning seats in Hindu majority provinces because there was no fear of Hindu domination in the Muslim majority provinces.
Votes from Hindu majority provinces were crucial for ML because they reflected the growing political awareness and fear of Hindu domination in the Muslims of these provinces.
ML could use these votes to prove its claim of representing all Indian Muslims.
This way the INC claim of ‘an all Indian party’ could be effectively countered.
The Rule of Congress:
INC introduced a number of anti-Muslim policies. Muslims hated INC rule so much that at the end of INC rule they celebrated the Day of Deliverance on 22nd December 1939.
After taking charge in July 1937, Congress declared Bande Matram as the national anthem.
This was a Bengali song composed by Bankim Chatterji and it meant “Hail you O’ motherland”.
It contained anti Muslim sentiments through which Hindus were encouraged to expel Muslims from Hindustan through expressions peculiar exclusively to Hinduism.
For example, it says, “Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen, with her hands that strike, and her swords of sheen; thou art Lakshmi lotus throned”.
This was not a Congress policy, but the singing of the song was made compulsory before the start of official business everyday in the provincial assemblies.
This greatly offended the Muslims who began to feel that were being forced to become familiar with Hinduism.
A number of anti Muslim measures were adopted which were collectively called the INC tyrannies.
The Congress flag was given the status of national flag by hoisting it together with the Union Jack.
This was done to convey the message that there were only two political powers in India i.e. British and Congress.
Muslims felt that INC was bent upon ignoring the importance of Indian Muslims.
Muslims were forbidden to eat beef and received harsh punishments and slaughtering of cows was prohibited.
Muslims were not allowed to construct new mosques.
Hindus would play drum in front of mosques during the deliverance of Azan and pigs were pushed into the mosques when Muslims were praying.
Sometimes there were anti-Muslim riots in which Muslims were attacked and their houses and property set on fire.
They also feared that if they lodged complaint against the Hindus, the local administration would act in favour of Hindus.
Viceroy Lord Linlithgow himself admitted ‘many instances of continued oppressions in small ways’.
Muslims developed a strong fear about their religious and cultural traditions in case of a Hindu dominated India.
In the INC ruled provinces, the Wardha Scheme was implemented.
It was an educational scheme based on Gandhi’s views and introduced into all educational institutes.
Under this, teaching was to be in Hindi.
Spinning of cotton by hand was made part of curriculum in all schools.
Religious education was banned for all students.
Students, regardless of their religion, were expected to bow before the portrait of Gandhi in a worship manner.
Muslims saw these measures as an attempt to subvert their love for Islam as their religion did not allow bowing before any image or portrait.
A ban on Urdu and religious education inculcated insecurity among Muslims about their cultural identity.
The Day of Deliverance:
After the resignation of all INC ministers, Jinnah called on the Muslim community to celebrate this on 22 December 1939.
He appealed to all local, district and provincial branches of the ML to hold public meetings to support this declaration.
He also appealed to celebrate the occasion in all gatherings in a peaceful and sober way.
The INC objected to this celebration.
The Muslim League under Congress Rule:
After failing to unite Hindus and Muslims, Jinnah devoted himself to organize Muslims and bring them on the platform of Muslim League.
At the Lucknow meeting of ML in October 1937, Jinnah urged the party members to build up support from the grass roots.
He argued that in the 1937 elections the ML won seats in the areas where it had established its branches before 1937.
He launched an aggressive campaign to increase the vote bank of the ML.
He toured several cities to win support for the ML, and delivered convincing speeches in favour of the party.
His efforts began to bear fruit, and its membership grew tremendously.
By 1938, several thousand Muslims joined the ML including the Chief Minister of Bengal, Assam and Punjab.
Jinnah began to urge Muslims to seek political guidance from Islam.
He advocated that Islam taught its followers liberty, equality and strong bonds of fraternity.
This had a positive impact on the Muslims who could now see that their rights and cultural interests were seriously threatened by the INC.
During its rule 1937-1939, the INC had significantly endorsed the views of Jinnah.
Though the Muslim members of the INC criticized Jinnah’s efforts and predicted his failure, he continued his efforts with a strong determination.
At the annual meeting of the ML in 1938, a women’s sub-committee was set up, led by Miss Fatimah Jinnah.
This way Jinnah was able to involve Muslim women in the mission of the ML.
The INC was alarmed over this progress of the ML, and it began to recognize the importance of the ML.
Arrangements were made for talks between Jinnah and Nehru, though the INC refused to accept Jinnah’s stance that the ML alone was the representative of all Indian Muslims.
Consequently, by 1939 Hindu-Muslim relations were quite strained.
Therefore, the Muslims, on the call of Jinnah, quite justifiably celebrated the Day of Deliverance in December 1939 to mark the end of the INC rule.
Finally, Jinnah was able to attract hundreds of thousands of Muslims to attend the historic session of the ML held in Lahore in March 1940.
The ML representatives from the Muslim majority and minority provinces fully supported Jinnah’s demand for a separate Muslim homeland.