This question is always asked in the historical perimeter as why Mohammad Ali Jinnah turned to extreme communal-ism from his earlier position of secular politician. A lot of efforts have been done from both sides to find out the answers to this question. Historians have tried to find the answer of this question in the series of negotiations including the Simon Commission, Rajgopalachari formula, Desi-Liqayat pact, Cripps Mission, Cabinet Mission plan and finally the Mountbatten plan which decided to carve out Pakistan from India.
Same way, a lot of importance is given to the election of 1937 when Muslim League was defeated very badly. Historians do believe that it was this incidence which prompted Jinnah to turn to non secular politics. The reason was simple since he did not find any other way to establish his position as a leader, he has to opt out for communal politics.
But very few of the researcher and scholars have tried to focus on the Delhi proposal which I think is the main reason for separate India and Pakistan. Delhi proposal was the outcome of the Nehru report given by Motilal Nehru in the year 1927 when Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians that they can’t form their own constitution. The two main proposals of the report include dominion status to India under British Raj and joint electorate instead of separate one to Muslim league in India. The report also states that in the center and in the areas where Muslim population is in minority, seats will be reserved for them based on the proportion of the population.
The first proposal of dominion status was opposed by Congress party itself. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted complete freedom instead of dominion status. The second proposal was moderately opposed by Muslim league. But in the end they agreed when some minor amendments were done in it. These amendments are known as 'Delhi proposal'.
Delhi proposal which was accepted by almost all the parties talks about four basic things. First, that there will be joint electorates instead of separate electorates for Muslims. It means that Muslims league fully accepted the concept of Joint electorates. From Congress’s point of view this was a major relief to their secular ideology. Congress never excepted that Muslim league would accept joint electorate but to their surprise Muslim league accepted it.
Secondly, it proposed that one third of the seats will be reserved for Muslims in the center assembly. This Claus was also quite acceptable since looking at the population of Muslims at that time; which was quit large; acceptance of one third of reserve seats in the center was not a bad option.
Third, it talked about representations to Muslims in Punjab and Bengal in proportion to their population. These regions were the Muslim majority areas at that time. Muslim league accepted representation on the account of proportion of population instead of separate electorate in these areas. So for Congress it was a good deal and quite acceptable.
Fourth, Muslim league asked for carving out new province of Sindh, Baluchistan and North West Frontier Post. These separate provinces would not have harmed Congress party in any way because carving out separate province does not necessarily mean that Muslim would have control over them. Congress party would have easily won a respectable number of seats from the region.
So the conclusion of the story is that all these four points given by the Muslim league were quite acceptable. It could have been a small price paid in order to avoid the conflict between Muslim league and Congress. It could have been a small price for avoiding future negotiations in which Muslim league included the demand of Separate Pakistan. At last it could have avoided the series of negotiations which led to the partition of India.
Though all the major parties accepted the Delhi proposal but it was Hindu Mahasabha which rejected it. They didn't accept the idea of one third representations to Muslims in the center assembly. Same time, they didn't accept the idea of demarcating three separate provinces. The result of this was excepted one, Muslim league backed out from Delhi proposal. Jinnah became confident that soft stance is not useful for Muslim League. Only aggressive and communal politics can fetch the acceptance of demands. He gave a 14 point formula which was deliberately carved out in such a way that Congress would never accept it.
What happened after that is known to us. Muslim league became aggressive and so did the Hindu Mahasabha and the Congress party. The series of negotiations proposed by British officers never yielded fruits as Muslim league never wanted something less than separate Pakistan which was ardently opposed by Congress party.
The future of the young generation both the states could have been different if congress party would have persuaded Hindu Mahasabha to accept the Delhi proposal. But in some way or other we have to accept that politicians can never satisfy expectation of every person. In the game of politics, which is basically played to find out the solutions we can’t make every person happy. We can only hope that the people from both sides of boundary would accept this truth.
Same way, a lot of importance is given to the election of 1937 when Muslim League was defeated very badly. Historians do believe that it was this incidence which prompted Jinnah to turn to non secular politics. The reason was simple since he did not find any other way to establish his position as a leader, he has to opt out for communal politics.
But very few of the researcher and scholars have tried to focus on the Delhi proposal which I think is the main reason for separate India and Pakistan. Delhi proposal was the outcome of the Nehru report given by Motilal Nehru in the year 1927 when Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians that they can’t form their own constitution. The two main proposals of the report include dominion status to India under British Raj and joint electorate instead of separate one to Muslim league in India. The report also states that in the center and in the areas where Muslim population is in minority, seats will be reserved for them based on the proportion of the population.
The first proposal of dominion status was opposed by Congress party itself. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted complete freedom instead of dominion status. The second proposal was moderately opposed by Muslim league. But in the end they agreed when some minor amendments were done in it. These amendments are known as 'Delhi proposal'.
Delhi proposal which was accepted by almost all the parties talks about four basic things. First, that there will be joint electorates instead of separate electorates for Muslims. It means that Muslims league fully accepted the concept of Joint electorates. From Congress’s point of view this was a major relief to their secular ideology. Congress never excepted that Muslim league would accept joint electorate but to their surprise Muslim league accepted it.
Secondly, it proposed that one third of the seats will be reserved for Muslims in the center assembly. This Claus was also quite acceptable since looking at the population of Muslims at that time; which was quit large; acceptance of one third of reserve seats in the center was not a bad option.
Third, it talked about representations to Muslims in Punjab and Bengal in proportion to their population. These regions were the Muslim majority areas at that time. Muslim league accepted representation on the account of proportion of population instead of separate electorate in these areas. So for Congress it was a good deal and quite acceptable.
Fourth, Muslim league asked for carving out new province of Sindh, Baluchistan and North West Frontier Post. These separate provinces would not have harmed Congress party in any way because carving out separate province does not necessarily mean that Muslim would have control over them. Congress party would have easily won a respectable number of seats from the region.
So the conclusion of the story is that all these four points given by the Muslim league were quite acceptable. It could have been a small price paid in order to avoid the conflict between Muslim league and Congress. It could have been a small price for avoiding future negotiations in which Muslim league included the demand of Separate Pakistan. At last it could have avoided the series of negotiations which led to the partition of India.
Though all the major parties accepted the Delhi proposal but it was Hindu Mahasabha which rejected it. They didn't accept the idea of one third representations to Muslims in the center assembly. Same time, they didn't accept the idea of demarcating three separate provinces. The result of this was excepted one, Muslim league backed out from Delhi proposal. Jinnah became confident that soft stance is not useful for Muslim League. Only aggressive and communal politics can fetch the acceptance of demands. He gave a 14 point formula which was deliberately carved out in such a way that Congress would never accept it.
What happened after that is known to us. Muslim league became aggressive and so did the Hindu Mahasabha and the Congress party. The series of negotiations proposed by British officers never yielded fruits as Muslim league never wanted something less than separate Pakistan which was ardently opposed by Congress party.
The future of the young generation both the states could have been different if congress party would have persuaded Hindu Mahasabha to accept the Delhi proposal. But in some way or other we have to accept that politicians can never satisfy expectation of every person. In the game of politics, which is basically played to find out the solutions we can’t make every person happy. We can only hope that the people from both sides of boundary would accept this truth.
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