Muslim League - Encyclopedia Hub

Muslim League was a political organization that led the movement in the 1940’s to establish the nation of Pakistan. The group’s full name was the All-India Muslim League. It had been formed in 1906 to promote the interests of Muslims, followers of the religion of Islam, in the colony of British India. Today, the area that was British India is part of the independent countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The League played a key role in organizing British India’s Muslims and building their political power.

Origins.

In the late 1800’s, Muslims formed about one-fourth of the population of India. Hindus made up India’s majority. Muslims lived throughout India, but they made up a majority only in the northwest and northeast. Most Muslims were poor. In most regions, middle- and upper-class Muslims lacked political and economic power compared to middle- and upper-class Hindus.

In 1885, a group of Indian lawyers and professionals founded the Indian National Congress, often called simply the Congress. Members of the Congress belonged to various religions and came from all parts of India. It became the main political group seeking ways for Indians to achieve equal status with the British. But Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, India’s most influential Muslim leader at the time, urged Muslims not to join the Congress. He believed Muslims would benefit more from remaining loyal to the United Kingdom. He promoted British-style education among Muslims as a way to enhance their position. Ahmad Khan’s activities marked the beginning of a unified Muslim movement in India.

Partition of Bengal.

In 1905, Lord Curzon, the viceroy (governor) of British India, partitioned (divided) the province of Bengal into two administrative units. Hindus made up the majority in West Bengal, and Muslims were the majority in East Bengal. Many upper- and middle-class Hindus, who had dominated the economic and social life of Bengal, opposed the partition. Also in opposition were many Bengali nationalists—that is, Bengalis who wanted independence from the United Kingdom. But most Muslims favored the partition. Muslim peasants, whose landlords were mostly Hindus, believed it would give them more power. Muslims also believed the partition would provide more political and economic opportunities for them.

The Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress saw the partition as a British attempt to secure power by dividing the Indian people. In response, the Congress led the nationwide Swadeshi movement. The movement’s main feature was a boycott of British goods. Around the same time, the British were promising to make reforms to allow some Indian participation in local politics. Both the Congress’s political activities and the promise of reforms prompted Muslim leaders to begin organizing politically themselves.

In 1906, Muslim leaders met with Lord Minto, who had succeeded Lord Curzon as viceroy the previous year. They sought safeguards for Muslims in the upcoming reforms. The same year, at a conference in Dacca (now Dhaka, in Bangladesh), Muslim lawyers, professionals, and other leaders decided to form a political organization to defend their interests. The All-India Muslim League thus came into being. As a result of the increased political pressure by Muslims, the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 guaranteed representation for Muslims in elected bodies.

Meanwhile, violence had erupted over the Bengal partition. The British reversed the partition and reunited Bengal in 1911. But bitterness between Hindus and Muslims remained.

The leadership of Jinnah.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a lawyer, joined the Muslim League in 1913. He sought closer cooperation between the Congress and the League. As a result of Jinnah’s work, Hindu-Muslim relations improved. A key agreement was the Lucknow Pact of 1916, which guaranteed a certain number of seats for both Muslims and Hindus in provincial legislatures. The cooperation between Hindus and Muslims lasted more than 20 years. During this time, the League was less active. Also during this time, the movement for Indian independence from the United Kingdom grew stronger. The Congress led this movement, which most Muslims supported.

In 1934, Jinnah became president of the League. Under his leadership, the League’s activity and membership increased, and in 1937, the League won a number of seats in the provincial legislatures. However, the Congress was far more successful in the 1937 elections, with many Muslims still supporting it. After these elections, the Congress tended to ignore the League. The League condemned Congress-led provincial governments for favoring Hindus over Muslims. As a result, the division between the two groups increased.

Demand for a Muslim state.

Jinnah increased his political activity and declared that the Congress could not speak for Muslims. He came to be known as the Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader). In 1940, at its annual meeting in Lahore (now in Pakistan), the League passed a resolution calling for independence for the northwestern and northeastern areas of India, where the majority of the people were Muslims. The name Pakistan, which means land of the pure in the Urdu language, came to be used for the proposed Muslim state.

According to Jinnah, Pakistan was to be for Muslims, and India for Hindus. This vision was in sharp conflict with that of the Congress, which sought a unified India with a secular (nonreligious) government.

Support for a separate state quickly grew among India’s Muslims, especially as differences between the Congress and the League increased. The United Kingdom’s preoccupation with World War II (1939-1945) reduced its control over events in India. During the war, the Congress, led by Mohandas K. Gandhi, was engaged in a civil disobedience campaign against the British called the Quit India Movement. In response, the British arrested Gandhi and other Congress leaders and held them until the end of the war. While the Congress and the British were otherwise occupied, Jinnah toured India, organizing and expanding the League at the local level. Jinnah’s work during the war years further popularized the demand for a Muslim state.

Independence.

At the end of the war, the United Kingdom resumed serious talks with Indian leaders over the issue of independence. To show its strength—and to warn the British not to make a separate independence agreement with the Congress—the League declared Aug. 16, 1946, as Direct Action Day. Muslims held nationwide demonstrations calling for the establishment of Pakistan. Violence broke out between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Similar violence involving Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs later occurred elsewhere in India.

British and Indian leaders came to believe that India would have to be divided to end the violence. In 1947, they agreed to partition British India into two separate countries, India and Pakistan. Pakistan became independent on Aug. 14, 1947. It consisted of what became known as West Pakistan and East Pakistan, which were carved out of the northwestern and northeastern parts of India. The next day, the remaining territory gained independence as India. Jinnah became Pakistan’s first head of state, assuming the title of governor general. He served until his death the following year. East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh in 1971.

After the 1947 partition and British withdrawal, violence between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs continued. More than 10 million people crossed the new borders. Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan fled to India, and Muslims in India streamed into Pakistan. Riots killed hundreds of thousands of people.

After independence.

The All-India Muslim League became the ruling Muslim League in Pakistan. However, the League soon began to lose popular support, and it became a minority party in 1954. The League disappeared from Pakistan for several years, when military leaders controlled the government and banned political parties from 1958 to 1962. In India, the Muslim League survived only as a minor party, mainly in the state of Kerala.

In Pakistan, a number of splinter groups and new groups have had names similar to that of the original Muslim League. These names have included Jinnah League, Awami League, Convention Muslim League, Council Muslim League, and Pakistan Muslim League. Today, the Pakistan Muslim League has several factions. One of these groups, called the Pakistan Muslim League–Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q), is one of Pakistan’s two major political parties. Its main base of support is in the province of the Punjab.