Background of communal politics in India

 Discuss the background of communal politics

 Introduction: -

       In India, after the Great Uprising, the British rulers adopted a policy of dividing Hindus and Muslims.  The British aimed to weaken Indian nationalism.  The Aligarh movement was started under the direct encouragement of the British government under the leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.  This created political consciousness among the Muslims.  One of the motives behind the partition of Bengal in 1905 was to divide the Bengali Hindus and Muslims based on religion.  Thus the British introduced communal politics in India.

        The British government wanted to keep Muslims away from the National Congress.  To this end, Governor Lord Minto met with Muslim representatives in Shimla in 1906 and promised to protect Muslim interests.  As a result, the All India Muslim League was established on 31 December 1906 in Dhaka.  After he died in 1909, the British government introduced Minto regime reforms and arranged for separate elections for Muslims.  Thus the division between the two communities in the political field is imported.  And communal politics begins.

 Lucknow Agreement: -

      During the First World War, the Muslims in India became anti-British as the British insulted and persecuted Khalifa, the religious leader of the Sultanate of Turkey.  From this attitude, the Muslim League intended to launch a movement with Congress.  In 1916, the Muslim League executed the Lucknow Pact with the Congress and under the leadership of Gandhiji, Hindus and Muslims jointly participated in the Khilafah and Non-Cooperation Movement against the British.

        This movement brought unity and harmony between the two communities.  Muslim peasants revolted against the Hindus on the Malabar coast during the Khilafat movement.  This is called Mopala Rebellion. This rebellion took communal form.  Hindu-Muslim unity was shattered in 1922 after the Khilafah and Non-Cooperation Movement.

 Communal Disputes: -

       From 1923 to 1926, communal clashes took place in different parts of India.  According to the Montague-Chelmsford regime reform, the system of separate elections for Muslims in the 1930s increased communalism.  At the Lahore session of the Muslim League in 1924, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the interests of the Muslims, demanded that Punjab and the North-West Frontier Provinces maintain a Muslim majority in the legislature.

       This led to a dispute between Congress and the Muslim League.  In 1927 the Muslim League split on the question of boycotting the Simon Commission.  At this time the Nehru Committee was formed at the All-Party Conference to draft a constitution against the Simon Commission.  When the Nehru Report was tabled in 1928, Muhammad Ali Jinnah amended the report and demanded that one-third of the membership in the Central Legislative Assembly be reserved for Muslims.  Ignoring this amendment started communal politics.

 Progress of communal politics: -

       In the session of the Muslim League in 1929, Muhammad Ali Jinnah raised a fourteen-point demand.  Notable among these demands were: 1) the introduction of a federal system of government in India, 2) separate Muslim elections, 3) Muslim membership in the central legislature and one-third of the central and provincial cabinets, 4) Bengal, Punjab and North-West Frontier Provinces  Jinnah's fourteen-point demand for restructuring and keeping the Muslim majority, 5) protection of Muslims in government service, etc., was anti-communal.

       When the lawlessness movement started under the leadership of Gandhiji in 1930, a large section of the Muslim community did not join it.  However, several Muslims, led by nationalist Muslim leaders Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Dr Ansari and Abdul Ghaffar Khan, joined the movement.  The British government called a round table meeting of Indian leaders in London to quell the anger of Indians.  The roundtable meeting failed to claim Muslim interests in these meetings.  In 1932, the British Prime Minister Macdonald's declaration of communal divisions fueled communal strife.  Muslim Anglo Indian Hindus are given the right to separate elections.  Gandhiji started a hunger strike against this mischievous attempt to create division.

 Pakistan proposal: -

      At the Allahabad Conference of the Muslim League in 1930, the famous poet and philosopher Mohammad Iqbal proposed a plan to form separate Muslim states with Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Balochistan as four ways to solve the Hindu-Muslim problem.  Many see Iqbal's proposal as the beginning of Pakistan's claim.  In 1930, Chowdhury Rahmat Ali, a Punjabi Muslim student at Cambridge University, and some of his followers, in a four-page pamphlet entitled "Now or Never", demanded the formation of a separate state called Pakistan with five Muslim-majority countries: Punjab, Afghanistan, the North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir and Pakistan.  Reported.  Muslim leaders then called the proposal a student's dream and futile.  In 1934, the Indian Muslim Conference and the Muslim League merged, increasing the strength of the Muslim League.

      The qualitative transformation of communal politics has taken place since the thirties.  Earlier, the Muslim League was against Congress but did not demand a separate state.  They demanded separate elections and opportunities for Muslims.  He spoke of the federal structure but spoke of Hindu-Muslim unity.  Since 1935, the Muslim League and the Jinnah-led Muslim community have been interested in the demands of the state.  Gradually, Muslim separatism began to drain the vitality of Indian politics.