Ch 9. imp of attempts to find solution to problems facing… Flashcards
outbreak of war 1939
On sept 3 1939, Britain announced it was at war w Germany and on the same day Viceroy Linlithgow announced India too was at war
Congress objected to the announcement saying that if India was to fight it would only fight as long as a promise of full independence was granted
British wouldn’t grant this but instead promised dominion status after the war
Congress could not accept this and called its members to resign from the govt
Before this it passed a resolution setting out its entire disapproval of nazism and fascism
Supported British cause but would not support Britain w out promise of independence
ML also had demands to be met before it would agree to support British
Jinnah demanded
An end to anti-Muslim policies by Congress
No law affecting Muslims should be passed unless ⅔ of Muslim members supported it
That Congress should agree to form coalitions in provincial administrations
Neither the British nor Congress would agree to these demands hence the MLs position throughout the war was one in which it did not give full support to British
Like Congress it also disapproved of nazism and fascism so it did not go as far as actually opposing the British
As Congress had resigned from the provincial govts on Dec 22, 1939, The Muslims had celebrated this day as the day of deliverance from the tyranny of Congress rule
Congress was offended by this and Nehru commented how the ML and Congress now seemed to agree on v little
Pakistan resolution
Both Allama Iqbal and Rahmat Ali had built upon earlier views of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan for the Muslims to have their own homeland
At first Jinnah did not like the idea and believed that the Musims would be better of in a federation in which they had political autonomy and promise for their rights to be safeguarded
However, the 2 years under Congress rule and the realization that British will soon be forced to leave India convinced Jinnah it was time to consider establishing a separate homeland for the Muslims
During annual session of the ML in Lahore from Mar 22-24 1940, premier of Bengal Maulvi Fazl-ul Haq put forward a resolution demanding that the regions in which Muslims were a majority should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign. The resolution was presented on 23rs March which is now a national Holiday in Pak
This resolution was passed unanimously and soon became known as the lahore resolution
However some ppl started calling t the Pk resolution and it soon adopted that name
ML = undisputed leader of Pak movement
cripps movement
The Muslim League had made its position clear but Congress was vehemently opposed to any partition of India and the British had still not accepted that their control of the country should end.
in March 1942 the British sent sir stafford cripps, member of the cabinet, to India to see if a compromise could be reached which would win support for the British war effort
Cripps proposed that:
After the war, an Indian Union would be set up with dominion status (tho individual provinces could opt out of the Union and negotiate their own independence
After the war, a constituent assembly should frame a new constitution
elections for the constituent assembly would be held immediately after the war
ML rejected the plan immediately as it contained no reference to the establishment of Pakistan
Jinnah = pleased to see that the right to opt out of a future union was included
This showed that the British realized the need to protect minority interests.
Congress also rejected the proposals as it was now demanding immediate control of India’s affairs
It was not prepared to wait until the war was over and it wasn’t sure that it trusted British to deliver their promises
Gandhi called the proposals a ‘post dated cheque on a failing bank’
Congress knew that the British were desperate and intended to exploit this
quit India movement
May 1942: Gandhi spoke at a Congress meeting in Allahabad about how “British behavior towards India has filled me w great pain”
He argued that if the British left India, they would no longer be at threat of a Japanese invasion, so they should be persuaded to go by a non-violent protest
8 Aug 1942”Congress committee passed “quit India resolution” calling for the immediate withdrawal of the British
To support the campaign there should be a mass struggle on non violent lines on a large scale
2 days later, Gandhi, Nehru and other senior congress figures were arrested and the party was banned
For several weeks there was widespread rioting and the British lost control in several parts of the country
Only strong measures, including the use of machine guns and aerial bombing restored their rule at the cost of thousands of Indian lives
ML did not approve of the quit India campaign
They saw the Hindu’s attempts to drive the british out as a means of gaining control in India to exercise their own anti Muslim wishes
Jinnah criticized this campaign as ‘blackmail’, saying that congress was trying to exploit Britain’s problems to win advantage for itself
Gandhi Jinnnah talks
Gandhi was released on medical grounds by the new viceroy Lord Wavell in May 1944
Gandhi proposed to Jinnah that the two meet in order to discuss to future of India after the british’s departure, which now seemed inevitable
Throughout sept 1944, the two met at Jinnah’s house in Bombay
Many ppl expected a compromise to be reached but the talks failed for a number of reasons.
Gandhi wanted the League to give immediate support in the struggle to remove the British. Only after the British left could partition be considered, but Jinnah knew he had to secure partition before british left
Gandhi also wanted the central govt to have control over key areas such as defence and foreign policy. Jinnah wanted these matters to be in the hand of provinces
Gandhi considered himself to be speaking for all of India, but Jinnah reminded him that he was really j the spokesman of Congress
Gandhi gave the impression that he did not support the two nation theory whereas this was now the official league policy
Thus the talks broke up w out agreement but Jinnah could claim some success from the talks.
Congress was now realising that the ML was an imp organisation and it spoke w authority on behalf of all Muslims
Lord Wavell and the Simla conference
Early 1945: war was drawing to an end and British were soon going to leave India
What the British desperately needed was agreement on what should happen when they left India
Muslims wanted partition, Hindus were against partition
Muslims had passed Pak resolution, Hindu’s believed they were the only representatives on India
Wavell proposed that an executive council be set up to govern the country under the present constitution until a new constitution could be agreed on
The council would contain equal members of Muslims and Hindus and be entirely Indian, except for the viceroy and a member controlling defence
To discuss the proposal Wavell called a conference in Simla in June 1945
Conference had leaders of the Congress, ML, Sikhs, Scheduled castes and other groups
Jinnah, Liaqut Ali Khan and Khwaja Nazimuddin led the League delegation
Gandhi led the Congress grp but congress president Abul Kalam Azad was also included. He was a Muslim which made the point that not all Muslims were represented by the League
The conference at first made some ground
All parties agreed w the principle of an executive council
A lack of agreement abt who was to be in the council led to the failure of the conference
Wavell had wanted equal number of Muslims and Hindus in the council, but Jinnah refused the pointed out that the Sikhs and the scheduled castes were bound to vote for the Hindus, which would mean that Muslims would be a minority in the executive council
Jinnah also rejected Congress’ suggestion that it could nominate Muslims as well as Hindus
Jinnah pointed out that the league had won every by-election for the last 2 years and was the undisputed voice of the Muslims
Lord Wavell could see no solution to the problem and closed the conference on 14 July
the 1945-46 elections
1945: British war prime minister Winston chuchill and his conservative party = defeated in general election
New prime minister Clement Attlee and his labor party were committed to self govt in India
Wavell told to organise elections in both provincial and central assemblies and then set up an executive council with ‘the support of the main Indian parties’
The elections were to show j how divided India had become
Congress claimed to represent all Indians and all communities, and it fought the elections on a policy of an undivided and independent India
League however, appealed to the Muslim community with a policy of establishing an independent Muslim homeland
Results announced in Dec 1945
League won 87% of the Muslim vote, all 30 Muslim seats in the central assembly and 446/495 of the Muslim seats in the provincial elections, took control in Bengal and Sindh and was the largest party in Punjab
Congress won 91% of the non Muslim vote, and took control in the other 8 states. Victory of Congress in NWFP = srs blow to ML as Congress took 19 Muslim seats to the League’s 17 seats
Elections showed the Muslim community was supporting the league and the rest of the country was generally supporting Congress
Why had the League performed poorly in 1937 but so well in 1945?
Since 1937, the League had succeeded in getting its message across and had become a force in Indian politics. It had learned lessons from 1937 and campaigned effectively to let the Muslims know exactly what it stood for
The period of Congress rule made Muslims realise that if they did not stand up for themselves, they would suffer at the hands of Congress
The subcontinent in 1945 was a different place to that of 1937. The League had passed the Pak resolution and Jinnah was fighting to show that the League was an equal force to that of Congress. The communal divide was much greater and the election results showed the split in India bw Congress and League
It was now clear that there would be no settlement in India w out the Leagues approval
cabinet mission plan
March 1946: final effort by British to settle differences in India
3 man delegation consisting of Lord Pethick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander was sent to India to find a settlement acceptable to all
The cabinet mission arrived in new delhi on March 24 1946 and met representatives of the ML, Congress, Sikhs and Hindu Mahasabha
Delegation found that there was little common ground bw the League and Congress
Jinnah insisted on the formation of Pak comprising of 6 provinces, and after this was established he might consider the setting up of a central agency of India and Pak to look after certain common subjects
Congress on the other hand were opposed to partition and did not accept Jinnah’s ideas
Hence the cabinet mission plan decided on a diff approach. It proposed that an interim govt be set up to rule India while British withdrawal from India was organised.
The govt would form an all India commission from members of the provincial and central legislatures
The commission would then decide whether there should be one or two states after the British had left
Neither Congress nor the League agreed to the new plan but the delegation continued its work in 1946 and announced its final plan
It rejected the idea of establishing Pakistan
Instead there would be 3 different parts to a post-British India
Hindu Majority territories
Western Muslim provinces
Bengal and Assam
Each part would have local autonomy and would be able to draw up its own constitution
Foreign affairs, defence and communication would be managed by a central Indian Union
ML stated that it was prepared to nominate members to an interim cabinet to oversee the move to independence based on this plan
Nehru said that Congress would not feel bound by this plan once the British had left
League felt that this made further discussions pointless and any agreement after the British left might j be overturned, hence the plan was dropped
direct action day
Muslims feared that British might pull out and leave India to solve its own problems
If this happened, the Muslims would surely suffer at the hands of the overwhelming Hindu majority
A show of Muslim solidarity and an indication of Muslim strength to both British and Congress was needed
July 1946: ML passed a resolution declaring that it should prepare for the final struggle against British and Congress
16 Aug: ML called for direct action day to show strength of Muslim feelings
In many places there were thousands of peaceful demonstrations to show Muslim solidarity
However in Calcutta the demonstration turned to violence in which up to 4000 ppl died in the great calcutta killing.
towards independence
Despite failure to reach agreement bw ML and Congress, British were determined to make arrangements to leave India
Late Aug 1945: British asked Nehru to form an executive council to act as an interim govt as congress = largest party in India
Jinnah refused to nominate members to the council until Congress accepted that it had no right to nominate Muslims
So on 2 sept 1945, the council was sworn in w only congress members
However Jinnah also realized that it was imp that there were league members in the council so 5 league members including Liaquat Ali Khan were nominated
In a political masterstroke, Jinnah also nominated a Hindu as he knew that if Pak was formed there would be several Hindus there and he wanted to show that he wasn’t anti-Hindu
Elections were held for a constituent assembly bw July & Dec 1946
When it first met on 9 december, league members refused to attend
In retaliation, congress demanded the resignation of the league members from the executive council since the league had originally rejected the cabinet mission plan
If they did not resign, congress would withdraw its own members
British prime minister Attlee decided it was time for decisive action
3 June Plan
Feb 1947: Attlee announced that British were to leave India no sooner than June 1948
New viceroy, Viscount Mountbatten was sent to work out a plan for the transfer of power
Attlee had deliberately kept a short timespan for arrangements to be made as he feared that if more time was given it would only lead to more disagreements
March 1947: riots & killings bw Muslims and Hindus in Punjab. Trouble spread to other provinces
It seemed that the civil war with inevitable thousands of death was only months away
Mountbatten arrived in India and after meetings w diff leaders, he was convinced that partition was inevitable, hence on 3 June 1947,the plan was announced
Two states should be set up, Pak and India. The interim constitution of both states was the 1935 Govt of India Act
Each state was to have dominion status and have an executive responsible to a constituent assembly
Muslim majority provinces would vote either to stay in India or join Pak
Sindh & Balochistan, provincial legislatures → Pak
Bengal & Punjab had 2 decisions to make; firstly whether to join Pak, and if so then they had to decide whether the provinces should be portioned into Muslim and Non Muslim areas. Both decided that they should join Pak and their Muslim minority areas should stay in India
NWFP → Pak after referendum
M.M district of Sylhet in Assam joined eastern wing of Pak
In a press conference held the day after the plan was announced, Mountbatten said that final transfer of power might be brought forward from June 1948 to Aug 1947
The date generally became accepted as the date when British rule would end
7 weeks left to deal w problems involved in partition:
There was still a need to draw boundaries bw Muslim and Non Muslim areas, particularly in Bengal and Punjab
Issue of princes; what was to happen if a prince went against the wishes of his ppl in deciding which country to join
Division of assets was still undecided
Though India had decided Mountbatten should be the first governor general of India, Jinnah was to be Pakistan’s governor general. Consequently, Paks rs w British still had to be resolved
Radcliffe award
An issue that couldn’t be resolved bt 15 aug was the boundary bw Muslim and non Muslim areas
Mountbatten had appointed sir cyril Radcliffe to head a boundary commission to establish the new borders
Radcliffe had 4 assistants, 2 nominated by League, & 2 by congress
Decision of the boundary commission was announced on 16 Aug. League was disappointed to hear the Calcutta was given to India, though it was surrounded by Muslim areas
In Punjab, both Ferozepur and Gurdaspur were given to India
Muslims = disappointed
Ferozepur = M.M and Pakistanis had evidence to suggest that radcliffe had originally awarded it to Pak but had been forced by Mountbatten to change his mind
Gurdaspur =M.M. by awarding it to India, the Indians now had a border w Kashmir and future disputes bw India and Pakistan became inevitable
Jinnah told ppl of Pak that the awards were ‘wrong, unjust and perverse’, however partition had taken place 2 days earlier and there was little to be done, besides there were many problems which were pressing for the new country
independence act
15 July 1947: Indian Independence act
Act stated that from 15 aug British India would be partitioned into 2 dominion states, India and Pak
Each state would have complete freedom to pass any law it wished
GOIA would be the provisional constitution until the states devised their own
