Giants and
Myths
Milestones on the Road to Partition-Part 6
By Professor Nazeer
Ahmed
CA
Allama
Iqbal’s Allahabad address was a milestone
on the road to partition. Notwithstanding the
ambiguities in his political thought, Iqbal gave
a concrete philosophical foundation for the two-nation
theory and was a source of inspiration for Jinnah.
Iqbal was the principal figure who convinced Jinnah
in 1935 to return to India from his retirement
in England and lead the Muslim League. Upon Iqbal’s
death in 1938, Jinnah eulogized him: ‘He
was undoubtedly one of the greatest poets, philosophers
and seers of humanity of all times…to me
he was a personal friend, philosopher and guide
and as such the main source of my inspiration
and spiritual support.’
Meanwhile the British sponsored a series of round
table conferences in London to hammer out a compromise
between the various contestants on the Indian
scene. These conferences revealed how deep were
the divisions between the principal religious
communities on how to share power in an independent
India.
The first round table conference in 1930 was attended
by Gandhi, Jinnah, Ambedkar, Agha Khan, Malaviya,
Sarojini Naidu as well as representatives from
the Akali Dal and Hindu Mahasabha. The main issues
on the table were a dominion status for India,
separate electorates and electoral weights for
Muslims and other minorities, preservation of
statutory Muslim majorities in the Punjab and
Bengal, federal structure in a future constitution,
and separate representation for the so-called
untouchables. There was no meeting of the minds
on these issues and the conference broke down.
Gandhi launched a civil disobedience movement
and many Congress workers were arrested. A labor
government came to power in London in 1931, released
the Congress workers and called a second round
table conference. Jinnah was by now fed up with
Indian politics and did not attend. The second
conference also broke down. A third round table
conference called in 1932 was boycotted by the
Congress party and nothing was accomplished.
The failure of the Indian parties to come to an
agreement prompted the British to advance their
own ideas for self-government. The communal award
of 1932 accepted the principle of separate electorates
for the Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. Bowing
to the demand of the Muslim Leaguers from UP for
greater representation, the communal award increased
Muslim representation in the UP legislature to
30 percent while their population was only 20
percent. To compensate for this increase, the
representation of Muslims in the Muslim majority
provinces of Punjab and Bengal was decreased.
In the Punjab, Muslims constituted 60 percent
of the population and their representation in
the provincial legislature was decreased to 50
percent. In Bengal, the Muslims constituted 55
percent of the population and their representation
was decreased to 40 percent.
Muslim politics in north India was as yet immature,
dominated by zamindari interests in UP. The end
result of their bargaining with the British was
a loss of majority in all of the erstwhile provinces.
It showed the futility of political horse-trading
to achieve increased representation for Muslims
in regions where they were a small minority. The
process worked both ways. Increased power for
the Muslim nawabs and zamindars of UP would mean
decreased power for the Muslims of the Punjab
and Bengal.
The communal award also accorded a minority status
to the so-called Untouchables and awarded them
separate electorates. Gandhi saw in this a grave
threat to the cohesiveness of Hindu society. If
the depressed classes were classified as a separate
minority, the Hindus who constituted over 65 percent
of the population in British India, would be reduced
to 49 percent, thereby losing their electoral
majority. Gandhi started a fast unto death if
this stipulation was not reversed. The fast applied
tremendous pressures on Dr. Ambedkar and there
were threats on his life if Gandhi died. Protracted
negotiations took place between Ambedkar and representatives
of Gandhi and an agreement was reached whereby
seats would be reserved for the Untouchables in
the provincial as well as central legislatures
but only as a part of the overall seats allocated
to the Hindus. Gandhi was fighting a two-pronged
battle, one for the independence of India, the
other for maintaining the cohesiveness of Hindu
society so that it would emerge as a major political
force in a post-colonial subcontinent.
The Gandhi-Ambedkar pact of 1932 was a major triumph
for Gandhi. It was the first time Gandhi had succeeded
in the Indian milieu since his return from South
Africa in 1915. It confirmed his status as a social
reformer of the first rank. The so-called Untouchables
stayed within the Hindu fold and in independent
India have made noticeable gains in education,
employment and politics.
In 1933, the British government appointed a commission
under the chairmanship of Lord Linlithgow to review
and recommend reforms for the administration of
the British Raj. The result was the Government
of India Act of 1935. The Act did not give the
Indians the power to draft or enact their own
constitution nor was there a Bill of Rights. It
recommended the separation of Burma from British
India and the establishment of Sindh and Orissa
as separate states. It granted limited self-government
to the provinces. The elected provincial legislatures
served at the pleasure of the British governors
who had the authority to convene or dissolve them.
The federal legislature was to be elected indirectly
with substantial reservations for the princes
and the viceroy’s nominees. Separate communal
electorates were accepted for Hindus, Muslims
and Christians.
The elections of 1937 were held under the Government
of India Act of 1935. The Indian National Congress,
as the oldest and best organized party, won 750
of a total of 1,771 seats. It had a majority of
seats in Madras, United Provinces, Central Provinces,
Bihar and Orissa and held the largest number of
seats in four other provinces including Bengal
and NW Frontier. But it captured only 26 of the
491 seats reserved for Muslims. The Muslim League
fared no better. It captured only 106 seats out
of a total of 491 reserved Muslim seats. Significantly,
it failed miserably in the Punjab where it won
only two seats and 39 out of 250 seats in Bengal.
The Congress formed cabinets in the provinces
where it had a clear majority. It joined coalitions
in Assam and Sindh. Jinnah offered to form coalitions
with the Congress in the critical UP and Bombay
legislatures. But the Congress, buoyed by its
success at the polls, rejected the offer. An elated
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru declared that there were
only two political powers in India, namely, the
British and the Congress. He offered to cooperate
with the League in UP only if it effectively dissolved
itself and joined the Congress.
In declining to cooperate with the League in 1937,
the Congress missed a golden opportunity to forge
a united political alliance in India. The League
had cooperated with the Congress in some of the
local electoral districts in UP and in return
expected that the Congress would invite it to
form a coalition government. Maulana Azad records
in his book, “India Wins Freedom,”
that he had arranged for two of the senior members
of the League, Chaudhari Khaliquzzaman and Nawab
Ismail Khan, to join the UP ministry. But the
UP Congress went back on the tacit pre-election
understanding for a coalition with the League.
Only one ministerial seat was offered to the UP
Muslims and that too if they abandoned their allegiance
to the League and joined the Congress.
Mohammed Mujeeb, a prominent member of the League
recalls (Ref: India’s Partition, ed. by
Musheerul Hasan, p. 410): “I was at home
in Lucknow when the draft of the agreement proposed
by Maulana Azad on behalf of the Congress was
sent to Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman. My immediate reaction
on reading it was that the Muslim League was being
asked to abolish itself”. Ultimately, the
lone Muslim seat in the ministry was given to
Jameet e ulema e Hind, a religious party which
had shifted its allegiance from the League to
Congress. (To be continued)
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