Establishment of Muslim League - General Knowledge of Modern India

Establishment of Muslim League

ROLE

The British officers had contributed in promoting the communal element in India. The rise of Hindu nationalism had created fear among the Muslims. Sir Syed Ahmed's role in improving the social, economic and political life of Muslims was commendable. In the 20th century, continuous efforts were being made to elect representatives to the council, to get the Muslims appointed in government service. Seeing the anti-government attitude among the Hindus, the British officials had adopted a policy of giving protection to the Muslims leaving the old policy of repression towards them. The partition of Bengal had given a direct impetus to Muslim communalism. Lord Curzon visited East Bengal several times and made it clear that he was going to build East Bengal only for the Muslim majority area where Muslims would get ample opportunity to develop.

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LORD MINTO

Lord Minto became the Viceroy of India after Lord Curzon. India Minister Lord Marley was in favor of constitutional reform. Lord Minto agreed with Marley's idea, but he wanted to stop the pace of Indian national awakening along with reform. That's why they wanted to make the gulf of differences between Hindus and Muslims even deeper. For this purpose, he sent his personal secretary Smith to meet the Principal of Aligarh College, Archiwald, and suggested sending a delegation of Muslims. The Muslim delegation was given a message to present the demand for communal representation. Archiwald put Smith's suggestion in front of Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, the secretary of Aligarh College. 

SIR AGA KHAN

Archiwald had gone to Shimla during the summer vacation. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk received another letter from Haji Muhammad Islam Khan from Nainital, in which the Muslims were offered to put their demand in front of the government in connection with the expansion of the assembly. Archiwald had suggested in his letter that importance should be given to the signature of prominent Muslim representatives on the charter of demands, the inclusion of Muslim representatives from all the provinces and separate elections or nominations. In the light of these letters, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk prepared a prayer letter by getting signatures of 4000 Muslims and made a delegation of 35 prominent Muslims from different regions. Sir Aga Khan led the Muslim delegation. On October 1, 1906, the Muslim delegation met the Viceroy in Shimla. The delegation presented the demand for communal representation. 

The following demands were made in the application -

01. Muslims should get proper proportion of places in government services. 

02. There should be an end to the competitive element in jobs. 

03. Muslims should also get the post of judge in every High Court and Chief Court. 

04. Separate facilities should be given to send representatives to both the communities in the municipalities. 

05 A separate electorate should be made for the Legislative Council consisting of Muslim landlords, lawyers, businessmen, Muslim members of district councils and municipalities and Muslim graduates with five years' experience. 

06. The interests of Muslims should be kept in mind while appointing Indians in the Viceroy's Council. 

07. Muslim University should be established. 

08. Viceroy Lord Minto expressed happiness after meeting the delegation and wrote a long letter in reply in which the matter of giving protection to Muslims was accepted.

LORD MINTO SAID THAT- "The Muslim community should be completely sure that their rights and interests will be protected in the work of administrative reorganization that will be done by me."

According to Maulana Muhammad Ali, the Muslim delegation was a flute played by the British. There was predominance of anti-Hindu people in it. The Muslims were more excited by the success of the delegation and on the other hand the British officials were also pleased. An English officer informed Minto's wife Mary Minto that - 'A very big thing happened today. Today such an act has happened, whose impact will remain on India and its politics till eternity. We have stopped 6 crore 20 lakh people from joining the rebel side. Mary Minto termed it as an epochal event. 

BIRTH OF MUSLIM LEAGUE

At the invitation of Viceroy Lord Minto, the elite Muslims of India got an opportunity to enter politics and they returned from Shimla as full-fledged politicians. The politics of Aligarh spread all over the country. Dhaka had become the stronghold of the movement as a result of Bengal-Partition. Nawab Salim Ullah Khan of Dhaka had suggested the creation of an organization called 'Muslim All India Confederacy'. After getting the assurance of cooperation and protection from the British, a conference of Muslims was called in Dhaka on December 30, 1906 AD. Nawab Bakar-ul-Mulk was made the president of the conference. The foundation of a Muslim organization at all India level was laid in this meeting. The organization was named "All India Muslim League". The proposal of the Muslim confederacy was rejected by the majority. Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk had said in the students' meeting of Aligarh that 'It would be better if the Muslims consider themselves to be such an army of the British who are ready to shed their blood and make sacrifices for the British state.' Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk had advised Muslims not to participate in the Congress movement. It is the national duty of the Muslims to pay allegiance to the British rule. The credit for the establishment of the Muslim League can be given to the British. The Muslim League was established only to create obstacles in the way of the national movement. This organization was of sycophants. Viceroy Lord Minto and India Minister Marley also had cooperation in raising the Muslims. In the first session, there is no clear outline regarding the purpose of the Muslim League. The second session of the Muslim League was held in Karachi in 1907, in which a constitution was made for the league. Constitution In the constitution of the Muslim League, the objectives of the Muslim League were respectively as follows -

01. To create a sense of loyalty among the Indian Muslims towards the British government and to remove the misconceptions of the government towards the Muslims regarding any scheme.

02. To protect the political and other rights of Indian Muslims and to put their needs and high aspirations in front of the government in a moderate language. 

03. To create, as far as possible, friendly feelings between the Muslims and other communities in India, without prejudice to the above objectives.

In the Karachi conference, Aga Khan was made the permanent president of the Muslim League, who was the head of the Khoja community. Aga Khan was a friend of the British and due to busyness, an acting president was elected for the league every year. In 1908, Sir Ali Imam, who was from Bihar, was made the working president of the Muslim League. Sir Ali Imam also termed loyalty to British rule as loyalty to India and he believed that improvement in the present administration system is possible only when the British rule remains. Lord Marley had said that the Congress is crying out to capture the moon.

COMMUNAL REPRESENTATION

The Muslim League came to be considered as the representative body of the Muslims. The principle of communal representation was severely criticized by a few Muslims. But his voice was suppressed. Muslims gradually started staying away from the Congress. The Muslim League also could not take the form of a people's representative body. On political questions, the government used to give advice only to the representatives of the Muslim League.

On one hand, the Muslim delegation was demanding representation on communal basis, while on the other hand, the extremists of Congress were demanding full independence. The increasing popularity of extremists in India increased the concern of the government. Lord Marley was not in favor of communal representation earlier, but on the request of Minto, the matter of communal representation was accepted. On that basis, Marley-Minto reform of 1909 AD was implemented.

CREATION OF PAKISTAN AS A COUNTRY

By accepting the demand of separate electorate for Muslims in the Act of 1909, the displeasure of Hindus was bought by the British government. The feeling of enmity increased between the two sects. Muslims got the right to vote directly, but Hindus and other communities were denied the right. The policy of discrimination in property and educational qualification was adopted. A Muslim graduate with five years of experience could become a voter and it was not logical to give voting rights to landlords who paid three thousand or more taxes on the basis of communalism. Due to the resentment that spread inside the country due to being deprived of facilities and rights in comparison to Hindus and Muslims, riots took place in many places. Dr. Rajendra Prasad had rightly said that 'the real father of Pakistan was not Jinnah or Rahimtullah but Lord Minto.' The diplomacy of the British was successful and communal tension arose in India, which ultimately could not calm down even after the partition of India.