Muslims and Indian Nationalism

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The most important political development in the country between 1928 and 1940 was the widening of the gulf between the Congress and the Muslim League, resulting in the emergence of the demand for partition as embodied in the famous Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League in March 1940.

This dramatic change in Muslim politics was neither due to the 'ever-present' Hindu-Muslim antagonism nor was it an inevitable consequence of a separate Muslim nationalism. It was, as the author argues, the culmination of a process that had begun in 1928 with the failure of the All Parties Convention to satisfy the moderate section of the Muslim League led by Jinnah.

The present study traces the working of the process through various political developments including the Nehru Report, Round Table Conference, the Communal Award and Provincial Autonomy.

Based on an exhaustive examination of all available published and unpublished official records and private papers, both in India and in the U.K., the book offers a penetrating and dispassionate analysis of the issues involved, and attempts to answer some important questions that are relevant for an understanding of a crucial phase of our pre-partition history. What, for instance, led to the failure of the All Parties Convention? Why did the Congress-League coalition proposals fail? How to explain the strong Muslim reaction to the Congress ministries during 1937-9? What responsibility did the Congress itself bear for this? Were there any personality factors involved? And, of course, what was the British role in encouraging Muslim intransigence?

Uma Kaura did her M.A. in History from University of Delhi in 1970 and Ph.D. from School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1975. In 1973 she was deputed to the United Kingdom to consult the private papers and other official sources in India Office Library and British Museum.

The present book is an attempt to discuss the attitude of the Muslims towards Indian nationalism between 1928 and 1940.

The outstanding political development in India during this period was the widening of the gulf between the Congress and the Muslim League, and the emergence of the demand for India's partition as embodied in the famous Lahore resolution of the Muslim League adopted in March 1940. It is not generally realized that this demand had not emerged all of a sudden but was the end result of a process which had begun in 1928 with the failure of the All Parties Convention to satisfy the moderate section of the Muslim League led by Muhammad All Jinnah. In between came the emergence of the Muslim All Parties Conference, formulation of Jinnah's Fourteen Points, the. Round Table Conferences, the elections of 1937, the failure of the Congress-League coalition proposals, the general Muslim reaction to Congress ministries during 1937-39, the intensification of separatist feelings among the Muslim elite and the encouragement of these feelings by the British, particularly after the outbreak of the Second World War. So far no serious effort has been made to analyse in depth the background and the nature of these developments. This study is based on the official records of the Government of India, both published and unpublished, and the collection of private papers deposited at the various libraries in New Delhi and London. The records of the All-India Muslim League and other collections of private papers have been deposited at the Karachi University and are not accessable to an Indian scholar. It was, however, possible to find the published records of the Muslim League and brochures and memoranda issued by it and the private papers of some Muslim leaders in New Delhi. Use has been made of the relevant Urdu sources also.

I would like to convey my sincere thanks to Professor Bimal Prasad, of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University for his constant encouragement and guidance ever since I started working on the subject. My acknowledgments are also due to the staff of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, National Archives of India, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi Library, Jamia Millia Islamia Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University Library and Sapru House Library in New Delhi; and India Office Library and British Museum in London.