Politics of Separation

Tuesday, March 6 2012, 7:22 PM

ML
Background
1. By the middle of 19th century, Hindus had forged ahead due to awakening created by socio-reform
movements which were liberal and progressive. A middle class had emerged which had modern ideas.
On the other hands, the reform movements in the Muslim society were backward looking. They
emphasized on purity of Islam and were orthodox.
2. Since Muslims formed the political elite before , they were quite discontent with the . So participated
in large numbers in 1857 revolt. So after the 1857 revolt, followed a politics of discrimination against
Muslims. As a combined result, Muslims were left behind in government jobs and middle class
professions.
3. Some Muslim intellectuals realized the causes and made attempts to befriend the and to embrace
western education. Many schools and colleges were opened.
Phase 1: Secular interests linked to religion (1888-1906)
Nature & Character
1. The dominance of Hindus and religious policies of created a sense that secular interests were linked
to religion and Muslims as a community shared common interests. Terms like "Muslim interests" came
up and issue of safeguarding it as well.
2. Once such a thing came up, fanned it by beginning to favor Muslims and encouraging liberal
communalists who claimed to champion Muslim interests. associated with MAO College @ Aligarh
and encouraged Syed Ahmed Khan.
3. in 1885, INC was founded. attempted to gave it a Hindu color and won over Syed Ahmed Khan to
their side. He became a communalist now. In 1888, he setup United India Patriotic Association to
counter INC. In 1893, he setup MAO Defense Association to 'protect Muslim interests'. In 1893
when Tilak began the ganpati festival, he found the Mohammedan Defence Association.
4. In 1888, he even emphasized that Hindus and Muslims were 2 separate nations, separate people with
separate needs and aspirations. He introduced the idea that because of numerical majority, Hindus will
annihilate Muslims in any sort of representative government.
5. Essentially secular things were increasingly being given communal color (examples are Wahabi, Faraizi,
Arya Samaj, Urdu agitation) - often by vested interests like the landlords who found it an effective way
of retaining their influence. Thus Hindi became a language of Hindus and Urdu became a language of
Muslims, cow became a reason worth spilling blood for and things like playing loud music within the
audible range of a mosque became communal issues. Involvement of political leaders from both
communities gave the issues a political color as well. An example is the political recruitment of Ganpati
by TIlak in 1893.
6. The 1st muslim organization in bengal was the Mohammedan Association or Anjuman-i-Islami in 1855
with the objective of 'protecting muslim interests' and 'professing loyalty' to . Then came Hunter's
thesis in 1871 that the exclusion of muslims from the education and administrative posts was mainly
responsible for the popular appeal of the anti sentiment in the community (the wahabi and the faraizi
movements). Soon a close collaboration between educated muslims and the maulavis developed and
communalist ideas began to spread in rural areas as well. Then came swadesi and until then not all
muslims were separatists or loyalists, but the movement soon put on the unmistakable stamp of

otherness. The anti-partition campaign began to appear as anti-muslim campaign to them.

Syed Ahmad's Concept of Nationalism
1. His idea of being a muslim was not opposed to being an Indian but he did not visualize India as a
nation state based on individual citizenship. Instead it was to be a lose federation of communities or
qaums and in this federation of qaums the Muslims should get preferential treatment from the virtue of
being the past rulers.
Factors Responsible
1. Rise of modern politics: Earlier people's involvement in politics was negligible. But the modern politics
was people based and public opinion mattered. So people had to be mobilized. Naturally they had to
be organized along some lines. Caste, religion, region etc. formed natural organizing lines and became
political identities. Even some of the nationalists used symbols of Hinduism to rally people and thus
made it easier for the communalists to point fingers.
2. Colonial government: It always stroked communalism to divide Indian people and deny existence of
India. So while normally such political identities give way to modern identities based on economic lines,
this never happened in India because supported communal division. They supported communal
forces, communal press and extended concessions to them. They favored the concept of communal
electorates. The colonial government always tried to project Muslims as a homogenous community.
The Indian census made religion as the fundamental category for ordering and classifying demographic
and developmental data. The breakup of education and occupation statistics gave an objective
expression to the vague communal thoughts.
3. Rise of middle class: Communalism is a middle class phenomenon, fanned by them, to protect their
interest. Reservations in legislatures and jobs sound appealing to all though they benefit mainly the
middle class. Colonial rule here played an important role again because as a result of destruction of
industries, the middle class had to rely mainly on government jobs.
4. Social differences: At the same time the structure of Indian society too made things easier for
communalists. In entire areas, certain classes or religious communities dominated the resources and
power. So it was easier for communalists to point finger and rally people behind them. So tenantlandlord struggles were repeatedly given religious color. It was also easier to rally people in the name
of religion as religion had always played an important role in Indian society.
5. Intensification of rivalry: Once communal tendencies evolved in one group, other groups' radical
elements too gained popularity by pointing fingers. This only worsened the situation. Revivalist
movements in both communities fueled it. The Wahabi and Faraizi movements rejected the earlier
syncretism and sought to Islamize the muslim culture by purging customs of un-Islamic origin. Thus
communalism began to percolate among the masses as well.
Phase 2: Interests are divergent (1906-1937)
Nature & Character
1. ML was founded in 1906 @ Dhaka. Its members were aristocratic elements and ML truly represented
their interests in the name of representing 'Muslim interests'. It began with the demand of communal
electorates for Muslims. While earlier the jagirdari elements had managed to keep the ulamas distant
from the center stage of politics, now the Aligarh school ulammas came to be directly involved in
central politics.
2. Though from 1912-1924 ML purged its jagirdari elements and moved towards Congress, its
nationalism was flawed in the sense it was not fully secular. Protecting Muslim interests remained the
core and nationalism was taken too because it was though Muslim interests could be better served via

the nationalist cause. Instead of fighting for political and economic reasons, they fought them on
question of Caliph and holy places. They viewed the Balkan and the Tripoli wars as a conspiracy of
the west to weaken the muslim turks. This was a step back because it introduced the tendency of
looking @ purely politico-economic questions from religious viewpoint.
3. Congress too failed to check communalism at this stage because its policy was flawed. It followed a
policy of negotiating with Muslim communal leaders first in 1916 and then in 1919-20 instead of
expanding its base among Muslims. This had many negative effects - (a) It gave legitimacy to Muslim
communal leaders' claims of 'representing Muslims'. (b) It made life tough for Muslim leaders inside
Congress as they lost the ground of their existence to the communal leaders. (c) It accepted the notion
that there were things such as 'Muslim interests' and 'Hindu interests'.
4. Hindu communalism also began to grow and it was used as a means of justification by Muslim
communalism. Chicken and egg problem. Both used each other to justify that the interests of two
communities were divergent. Hindu Mahasabha was founded in 1915 and RSS in 1925.
There was a 'crisis of unity' after the NCM.
1. Communal riots broke out after the end of the khilafat and the NCM. Issues like cow and music
before the mosque became the issues of the riots. The 1926 elections were fought openly on
communal issues. There was not a single muslim congress candidate in Bengal. Elsewhere all congress
muslim candidates lost. The majority of elected congressmen were pro hindu sympathizers. The
uncomfortable association of the local congress leaders with hindu mahasabha also complicated the
situation. Naturally in such situation communal institutions of both communities gained following. Even
Dr. Kitchlew for whom Jalliawalah happened became a hard core communalist. Shaukat Ali in 1929
observed that congress had become a hindu organization.
2. Within ML as well there were issues between the supporters of communal electorates and the
opposers.
Additional factors
1. Swadesi & Boycott Movements: These were immensely powerful movements and to counter this,
government had to form ML and encourage separatist elements.
2. Congress' Policy: It was bound to fail as - (a) By negotiating with communal leaders, Congress gave
them political space and legitimacy. (b) It accepted notions of 'communal interests'. (c) It made life
difficult for secular Muslim leaders. (d) When one set of demands were fulfilled, other more radical
communal demands came up - either from new leaders or from the same ones. This led to
progressively increasing communalism and even the liberal communalists were forced to become
radical to save their careers.
Phase 3: Interests are conflicting and incompatible (1937 onwards)
Nature & Character
1. Idea of a separate state was propounded in 1916 by Abdul Sattar while participating in 2nd Comintern
@ Moscow. In 1924, Lala Lajpat Rai echoed separate state theory. In 1930, @ Allahabad session of
ML, Mohd. Iqbal proposed a separate state in NW parts of the country. In 1933, Rahmat Ali
proposed Pakistan. It was @ Karachi meeting of the Sind branch of ML presided over by Jinnah that
a resolution was passed which mentioned the need for 'political self determination of the 2 nations' and
asked ML to think of appropriate measures to realize it. This was the 1st official declaration of the 2
nation theory by ML. Some commies however argued that this was not separation yet and it merely
signified muslims becoming a 'nation' from a 'minority' and thus any development in India must take
consent of the muslim nation as well.

2. But still none of the important leaders of ML supported the 2 nation theory including Jinnah. Only after
ML lost the 1937 elections and faced an existential threat that it began to cry 'Islam in danger' and
'Pakistan'.
3. The 1937 elections were fought by ML largely on a liberal agenda which resembled INC's. On the
other hand the Krishak Praja Party of Fazlul Haq in Bengal fought the election on class issues by
rallying lower class muslims and low caste hindu peasants. In Punjab Sikandar Hayat too formed a
coalition of Hindu and Muslim upper peasant elements and won. ML had no issue left since its demand
for communal electorates had been fulfilled. So it merely wanted more reservations and to protect
'Muslim interests'. In the elections, it fared badly. It got only 4.4% of the Muslim votes and only
110/485 seats reserved for Muslims. Congress ditched ML.
4. After the defeat and facing existential threat, it took resort to extremism. It came up with a series of
fabricated reports telling tales of oppressions of Muslims in INC ruled states and took resort to
communal riots. Of course, policy of INC to tackle communalism also has to be blamed since it never
made a serious effort to reach out to Muslim masses. It always followed a policy of negotiating with
communal Muslim leaders. This not only gave these leaders legitimacy but also discouraged Muslim
leaders inside Congress.
5. Communalism now became increasingly radical, mass based and violent. The reactionary elements in
the society like zamindars increasingly turned to communalism for the defense of their interests.
Additional Factors
1. Existential threat to reactionary elements: The CDM and Congress governments had considerably
strengthened INM and now the zamindars couldn't justify defending their interests plainly. So they took
recourse to communalism to protect their interests.
2. Exhaustion of other sources of division: Other division lines like caste, region, leftist-rightist ideology
had been defeated by the INM. So took gave their full support to communalism.
3. Nature of communalism itself and Congress' mistakes: Appeasement of communalism leads to its
radicalization inevitably. By the Communal Award of 1932 and GoI Act of 1935 almost all major
demands of communalists had been accepted. So they resorted to something more radical to save their
careers. Congress was finally realizing its mistake and pushing out communalists and also launching a
mass contact program among Muslims under JLN but it was already too late.
Logic of communalism - Jinnah a case study
Nationalist --> Communal Nationalist --> Liberal Communalist --> Radical Communalist.
1. Jinnah was one of the most secular Muslim leaders earlier on. His first step towards communalism was
taken perhaps unintentionally when he entered legislature on a Muslim electorate seat. Then in 1913
he joined Muslim league and became a communal nationalist. He still opposed communal electorates
but increasingly spoke on behalf of 'Muslim interests'.
2. In 1919-20 when Congress took a turn towards mass movements, liberals like Jinnah faced the threat
of political end. So he turned to communal politics and became a liberal communalist. He revived ML
in 1924. He raised demands on 'protecting Muslim interests' and the strategy worked well until CDM.
3. In this phase he tried to develop Muslims into vote banks i.e. they should organize themselves as one
unit and press for their demands @ all forums. Gradually he kept on surrendering to more radical
demands. By 1937 elections, all his demands were fulfilled and he fought on a liberal ideology.
4. Facing existential threat after the elections, he unleashed Pakistan. In Hindus, communal leaders like
Madan Mohan Malviya retired from active politics after 1937 but their place was taken over by fascist
communalists like Gowalikar.
5. Congress leaders couldn't have negotiated with him because he insisted that Congress declared itself a

Hindu organization.
Hindu Mahasabha
1. In 1909, Punjab Hindu Sabha was founded and its leaders focused their anger on Congress for
appeasing Muslims and sacrificing 'Hindu interests'.
2. In 1915, HM was founded under the leadership of Maharaja of Kasimbazar.
3. By 1937, its place was taken over by RSS and they evens supported fascist Germany and Italy.
Independence
Post-War Scenario in India
1. legitimacy was gone. When the leaders came out of the jail they expected to find demoralized
people. But they found jubilated masses. Freedom was in the air and everybody could sense it.
2. Labor party had come to power in . It wanted to resolve the issue at the earliest so ban on Congress
was revoked, elections were held and Congress was invited for the talks. The most significant part of
the elections was that it mobilized people against - the elections were to prove end of legitimacy in
India. Nationalist issues were @ the forefront in the campaigning. Main issues were reopening cases of
repressions during QIM and enquiries, INA trials.
Why there was a dissent in pillars of rule - bureaucracy, police and military
1. QIM had completely undermined the legitimacy. Post war international scenario, government and
strength of nationalist movement had convinced days of rule in India were limited and power would
go in the hands of Congress. So bureaucracy chose to support their new masters.
2. The elections of 1945 were fought on the issues of reopening cases of official excesses during QIM!
Nothing can be worse for the morale of bureaucracy. The government failed to check such speeches
of enquiries.
3. INA trials brought out the sympathies of military with INA men in open. Military personnel and
bureaucrats openly took part in the meetings in support of INA men and even donated.
Debate: Why did finally quit? Why did Congress accept partition?
(a) Colonial version
1. It was fulfillment of long term promise of granting India self-government.
2. Partition was unfortunate and happened because the 2 communities failed to arrive at any mutually
acceptable conclusion on how to transfer power.
(b) Communist version
1. left India because of the uprisings and radical action in 1945-46.
2. Bourgeoisie Congress frightened of a mass uprising struck a deal with and agreed to partition to grab
power quickly.
(c) Nationalist version
1. Since the beginning Congress had a 2 fold task - (a) to mobilize various communities against the
colonial rule and to exert pressure on . (b) to unite all communities sufficiently into a nation. While it
succeeded in the first one and united them sufficiently to exert pressure on , they failed in the latter
task and couldn't weld them into a nation.
2. Prove that the reforms of 1909, 1919, 1935 were not a means of delegation of power to Indians with

3.

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the objective of self government but was to maintain the essentials of rule in India. Even in 1950s the
were thinking of means to consolidate their hold over other colonies in Africa and Asia.
The growing pitch of nationalism and defiant mood in the country had made rule almost impossible
by the end. Even the strongholds of rule - the loyalists, the bureaucracy and the military were
flinching. The beliefs that were mai baaps of India and they were invincible were gone.
had been weakened considerably and the cold war international politics couldn't give them a chance
to continue their rule.
were losing the economic control of India. From 30s, London had little control over the economic
policies of GoI, protective tariffs had been imposed, India became a creditor from a debtor to (
owed India 1.3 bio now), had to pay for the use of Indian army now, empire in other parts of the
world was shaky so strategic defence argument also didn't work. India was no longer her imperial
asset, rather had become a source of weakness. And this situation arose due to strength of the
nationalist movement and not by any designs. Even though Labor party had Indian independence on
its manifesto since 1935, after coming to the power they turned out to be remarkably unradical in their
approach. But India by now was beyond manageable for .
strategy was that of force and conciliation i.e. carrot and stick. After Cripps mission and Quit India,
there was no room for further reforms and only thing they could negotiate was on how to transfer the
power. A policy of suppression couldn't have been carried on for perpetuity.
Congress accepted partition because it had failed and had to accept what people wanted. The interim
government had failed. Direct Action and communal riots could be countered only by an early transfer
of full power. Also the balkanization of the country had to be prevented. Gandhiji in his prayer meeting
said, "you ask me why I accepted partition. I accepted it because you wanted it."

Whatever pre war tendencies may have existed, the pattern of post war decolonialisation was
impacted by the war.
1. The QIM and its brutal repression ruptured the relationship between the and the people and lay
hollow their claim of being mai baaps. The Bengal famine, the war time food security, INA question
had eroded the moral legitimacy of the Raj.
2. Then there were international realities of cold war. Also were losing the economic control of India.