MUSLIM LEAGUE

FACTORS LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF THE MUSLIM

LEAGUE
The following factors were responsible for the formation of the
Muslim League:
1. Loss of Sovereignty by Mughal Rulers: The British
established their supremacy in India after dethroning the
Mughal rulers who were the followers of Islam. Therefore, the
Muslims became bitter enemies of the British. They
participated in the Wahabi Movement and the uprising of 1857.
2. British Policy of Divide and Rule: To check the growth of a
united national feeling in India and to encourage communal
and separatist tendencies in Indian politics they decided to
follow the policy of Divide and Rule.

3. Relative Backwardness of the Muslim Community in

Education, Trade and Industry: The communal and separatist
trend of thinking grew among the Muslims to some extent
because of their relative backwardness in education, trade and
industry.

(i) The upper class Muslims comprising zamindars and

aristocrats were anti-British. They were conservative and
hostile to modern education.
(ii) The British government in India had consciously
discriminated against the Muslims after 1858, holding them
responsible for the uprising of 1857.
(iii) The Muslim community was not much involved in the
growth of any organised industry. They lagged behind.

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(iv) Some members of the Muslim community did not keep up
with the modern trends in social and cultural spheres. This
was because they were proud of their own
literature and culture and did not adopt the
Western system of education.

4. Role of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan: Sir Sayyid

Ahmad Khan was a great educationist and
social reformer. He regarded Hindus and
Muslims to be one Quam (nation). He
founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental
College at Aligarh which had both/Hindu and Muslim patrons.
When the Indian National Congress was founded, Sir Sayyid
Ahmad Khan opposed it. Beck's idea was that Anglo-Muslim
unity was possible, but Hindu-Muslim unity was impossible.

5. Erroneous Interpretation of History: The manner in which

Indian history was interpreted in those days contributed to the
growth of communal thinking among the Hindus and the
Muslims.

(i) Some British and communal historians divided Indian

history into the Hindu and the Muslim periods. The rule of
Turks, Afghans and Mughals was called the Muslim rule,
where the rulers were said to be the followers of Islam and
their subjects, the followers of other religions.

(ii) The British and communal historians ignored the idea of a

composite culture in India and tried to create a rift between
the two communities.

(iii) Some communal historians highlighted the myth that

Indian society and culture had reached great heights during
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the ancient period but was declining during the medieval
period which was dominated by Mughal rulers.

(iv) The communal bias was propagated through poetry,

drama, novels, short stories, newspapers, etc.

6. Rise of Assertive Nationalism: The assertive nationalists

played an important role in the national movement. But some
of their actions marked a step back in respect of the growth of
national unity. The speeches and actions of some of the
assertive nationalists annoyed some sections of Indians. For
example, the propagation of Shivaji and Ganapati festivals by
Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh's concept of India as mother and
nationalism as religion and the initiation of the Anti-Partition
agitation with dips in the Ganga did not appeal to some of the
Muslims.

7. Economic Backwardness of the Country: The economic

backwardness of the country contributed to the growth of
communalism in India. Due to the British colonial policies,
India lacked modern industrial development; and there was
acute unemployment among the educated youth. As a
consequence, there was fierce competition among the youth to
secure the few available jobs. This led the people to demand
reservation in jobs on the basis of caste, creed or religion. The
British used this opportunity to push further their policy of
divide and rule

EVENTS LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF THE MUSLIM

LEAGUE

1. The Hindi-Urdu Controversy: In the United Provinces

(present Uttar Pradesh) Urdu was the court language and all
the petitions to to
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The controversy continued for months and relations between
the communities became worse.

2. Foundation of Mohammedan Anglo Oriental Association

(1893): The growing influence and popularity of the Congress
became a cause of concern for the British. In order to counter
the growing influence of the Congress, the British encouraged
the formation of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (M.A.O.)

3. The Aligarh Politics: Nawab Mohsin-ul Mulk led the Aligarh

Movement after the death of Sir Sayyid in 1898. The Aligarh
Movement worked to instill into the minds of the Muslims a
spirit of loyalty towards the British government and worked
deliberately to keep the Muslims away from the main stream
of Indian political life. British wanted equal importance to
hindi and urdu. This made Muslims angry.

4. Partition of Bengal (1905): Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal

into two provinces apparently on administrative grounds.
However, the real purpose of the Partition of
Bengal was to create a between the Hindus
and the Muslims and stop the rising tide of
nationalism.

5. Muslim deputation to the viceroy, lord

Minto: to create a possible opposition to the
congress by using the muslims, the viceroy,
lord Minto, appointed a committee (Arundale
committee) to work out an expansion of the legislative council.
this spurred some communal-minded muslims to action.

FORMATION OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE

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The success of the Muslim deputation to the Viceroy motivated
the Muslims to start a separate political organisation. Nawab
Salimullah of Dacca took the initiative. In December 1906,
when eminent Muslim leaders assembled at Dacca in
connection with the Mohammedan Educational Conference, he
arranged a meeting to consider such a proposal. All India
Muslim League set up at Dec. 30, 1906 under Nawab
Salimullah of Dacca. Aga Khan elected as Permanent
President.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE

The objectives of the League were laid down as follows:

(i) To promote, among the Muslims of India, support for the

British government and to remove any misconceptions
regarding the intention of the government in relation to Indian
Muslims.
(ii) To protect and advance the political rights and interests of
the Muslims and to represent their needs and aspirations to
the government in mild and moderate language.
(iii) To prevent the rise of feelings of hostility between the
Muslims of India and other communities.

IMPACT OF THE MUSLIM LEAGUE ON THE NATIONAL

MOVEMENT
The British welcomed the formation of the Muslim League.
They supported the League to provide an opposition to the
Congress. They won initially the support of the Muslims by
asserting that the Muslim interests were different from those
of the Hindus. The policies of the Muslim League to some
extent weakened nationalist sentiments.

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League's Role in the Beginning: The League had a separate
entity. Initially it stood apart from the National Movement. It
sought greater representation of Muslims in all services. As
regards representation in Assemblies, t wanted more seats
than its numerical representation warranted. Its political
activities were directed not so much against the foreign rulers
as against the Congress.

Government Support to the League: With the help of Lord

Minto, the Viceroy, the Muslim League secured its demand for
separate electorates, i.e., the system of election to legislatures
which divides voters on the basis of religion, caste or
occupation. The Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 provided
separate electorates for Muslim whereby seats were reserved
for the Muslims from where Muslims could vote for the
Muslim candidates.

The Phase of Rapprochement(Friendly): From 1910 to 1913

new forces emerged in Muslim League politics and some of its
leaders realised that rapprochement with the Congress was
desirable. Several factors were responsible for this change in
attitude: (i) Britain's hostility to Turkey in the Turko-Italian
War (1911-12) and the Balkan Wars (1912-13) made a large
section of Muslim leaders critical of British policies; (ii) the
annulment of the Partition of Bengal in 1911 was seen as
detrimental to the interests of the Muslims in India; (iii) the
younger section of emerging Muslim leaders disliked the
loyalist politics of the Aligarh group and the leadership of big
Nawabs and Zamindars; and (iv) some young scholars,
influenced by the Deoband school of Muslim studies were
inspired by nationalist sentiments.

Congress and the League: When the British Government acted

against the Turkish interests and supported the cause of the
Balkan countries, the Indian Muslims stood up and launched
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the Khilafat Movement against the British. The Congress
cooperated with them and the Khilafat issue was included as
one of the demands of the Non-cooperation Movement. As a
result, a pact which is known as the Lucknow Pact was signed.
The Lucknow Pact refers to the joint scheme of political
reforms agreed to by both the Congress and the Muslim League
in 1916 regarding the structure of government in India and the
relationship between the Hindus and the Muslims. According
to this Pact, the Congress accepted the concept of communal
electorate which subsequently added to the communal
bitterness.

Partition of the Country on Communal Lines: The communal

divide continued. In 1930 the idea of two nation states was
born and in the 1940 session of the League at Lahore, Jinnah
put forward his two-nation theory. The communal riots broke
out in the country and in 1947, a separate country, Pakistan,
came into existence.
The Lucknow PACT
The agreement between Congress and Muslim League in 1916.
Significance of Lucknow Pact:
1. Hindu Muslim Unity
2. Unity within the Congress
3. Pressure on the british
4. Need to pacify the Indians

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