IndexThe early yearsThe Nehru report and its impactThe Second World War and its impact on IndiaPakistan and IndiaOne of the most important developments after the Second World War was the partition of Indian subcontinent in the states now known as Pakistan and India. The financial cost of the war had been too much for the English to handle and they were now rapidly vacating their colonies. But it wasn't always conceived this way. The British, along with the Hindus, had always sought a unified India and vehemently rejected any talk of partition. But it was the Muslims, under the leadership of their leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who fought, fought, fought, burned and died so that India was partitioned and a new country emerged on the world map: Pakistan. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Early Years In his early years, Jinnah, like Nehru and Gandhi, had been part of the Indian National Congress. A celebrated lawyer and a stern and confident individual, Jinnah was adamant that Muslims should unite and support the Congress. Both Nehru and Gandhi joined the Congress in their early years after returning from abroad to promote the transfer of certain rights to Indians. Gandhi had campaigned in South Africa regarding the treatment of Indians there and Nehru had studied at Cambridge. The rights requested by Congress included greater political representation for Indians in the management of their country, the granting of some basic rights to the Indian masses, and, above all, a step in the right direction for Indians who had hitherto been considered second-class citizens. class than the The English Nehru and Gandhi, both Hindus, regarded India as belonging to the Hindus where Hindus should form the central government due to their growing numbers. Since India has been ruled for the last 1000 years by Muslim rulers, there was resentment among Hindus too due to this factor. Nehru and Gandhi also sought to transform the Indian National Congress, conceived as a platform for all religious groups in India, into one that exclusively promoted the rights and aspirations of Hindus. When Jinnah called for reforms, he was sidelined. This led to further disillusionment on the part of Jinnah, who now believed that Hindus could not be trusted once the British had left. Jinnah had worked to bring Muslims and Hindus closer together, to see beyond their differences and unite against the British. He was even a member of both the Muslim League and the Congress at one time. One of his greatest achievements towards Hindu Muslim unity was the Lucknow Pact, signed at the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru in which Hindus recognized separate representation in legislative bodies for Muslims, separate electorates for Muslims and the Unity Accord between Hindus and Muslims when speaking to the English. By now violence across the subcontinent had increased. There was the Amritsar killings episode in 1919 in which the British coldly killed around 400 people. These riots unnerved the British who introduced radical new measures to control the violence. First, the Defense of India Act was introduced during the First World War and then the Rowlett Act in 1919, which sparked protests among Indians. In August 1920, the Hijrat movement and in August 1921, the Moplah Uprising caused further unrest and dissent. Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement to upset the British. Protests, strikes, boycotts and other forms of nonviolent resistance marked the times. Nehru led the movementin the central provinces and was arrested. But Jinnah did not share Gandhi's enthusiasm and did not join him in this regard. Although it was peaceful, the movement resulted in violence and Muslims were always the first victims of such incidents. There were some disagreements within the Congress party during this time when Motilal Nehru, the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, organized his Swaaraj party. But Jawaharlal stood by Nehru and continued to support him. The Nehru Report and its Impact To pay attention to the demands of the Indians, the British sent a commission under the leadership of Viscount Simon, a liberal member of the House of Lords, to get to know the demands of the Indians. But both the Congress and the Muslim League boycotted the Commission and instead tried to formulate their demands by setting up a joint committee. The outcome of this committee was the Nehru Report (1928). The Muslim League and Jinnah were devastated. Though it was a joint committee, Muslim demands which included greater political representation for Muslims in Muslim-majority areas such as Sindh, Bengal and the North-West Frontier were completely sidelined. This made further cooperation between Hindus and Muslims impossible and further disillusioned Jinnah from his dream of Muslims and Hindus working together for a united India. Motilal Nehru had been a strong advocate of one united India with no political distinction between the two. Separate electorate and representation, he believed, would further divide the Indian people. He also did not want to risk criticism from his fellow members of Congress by granting their Muslim demands. Whatever the reason, this incident was extremely damaging to Hindu Muslim relations and to a united India. In response to the Nehru report, Jinnah issued his famous Fourteen Points in March 1929. He called for equal rights, opportunities and political representation for Muslims as compared to Hindus. . He also sought to protect Muslims from further legislative attacks by Congress by calling for several changes in the legislative framework. The Muslim League joined in support of these demands while the Congress held firm to the idea of ​​one India. Both parties wanted an end to British rule, but there was no common ground on what should replace it. When Gandhi started another civil disobedience movement in 1930, it was criticized by the Muslim League not only as a movement for independence but also for establishing rule over Muslims. This lack of unity among the Indians made it difficult for the English to know what to do. Next. When a series of round tables held by the British failed, things became more complicated. Gandhi did not attend the first conference and continued his non-cooperation movement which landed him in prison. In the second conference, he supported the Nehru Report and rejected grants for minorities. This led to the failure of the conferences. In 1935, the British introduced the Government of India Act which granted broad rights to Indians. But both the Muslim League and the Congress opposed the act as it did not give India the independence they desired. The 1937 elections further demonstrated the divide between Hindus and Muslims. The Congress won an overwhelming majority and established government across India, including Muslim-majority areas. The elections had been fair, but it was the Congress' treatment of Muslims that made them realize what would happen to them if the Hindus relinquished control once the British left. On the political front, the Congress completely ignored the Muslim League and refused to add any Muslim to the government unlessthat he should not join the Congress. Congress flags flew on public buildings and a Hindu nationalist song, Bande Mata ram, became the new national anthem. This hymn encouraged the expulsion of Muslims from the subcontinent. A basic education program, introduced by Gandhi, removed religious instruction and replaced Urdu with Hindi as the medium of instruction. A local council in the central provinces instructed pupils, including Muslim boys, to bow before Gandhi's portrait. Muslims living under Hindu rule felt harassed. They saw these moves as an attempt by Hindus to deny their culture and identity. This was proof that, even with legal protections, Muslims could not trust Congress to safeguard their rights. The arrogant and uncompromising attitude of the Congress after the 1937 elections convinced more Muslims that Quaid e Azam, as Jinnah was now popularly known, was not wrong in judging the threats against them according to Congress rules. World War II and its impact on IndiaWhen World War 2, the difference between the Congress and the Muslim League became more evident. In reaction to Britain's failure to consult the Indians before convincing India to join the war effort, Congress resigned from the government and continued to oppose the British war effort. The League, on the other hand, was pleased with these developments and declared this the "Day of Liberation". He provided limited support to the British during the war, claiming that they did not want Nazi Germany to win. The English then sent Sir Stafford Cripps with a promise of independence once the war was over. But this offer had come too late. The Muslim League saw Cripps' proposals leading to a Hindu majority imposing a new Indian Union and denying Muslim rights while Gandhi wanted immediate power. Both parties rejected the proposals. Gandhi started the Quit India movement, which Jinnah saw as a ploy by the Congress to gain full control once the British left. This movement caused severe bouts of violence unseen in India in the last twenty years. In 1944, Gandhi and Jinnah met several times to discuss what would happen once the British left. The talks ended in stalemate as Gandhi still claimed to represent all Indians, including Muslims, and wanted independence first, and then consider partition. He argued that Muslims could not be called a nation in any way and that they were not at all distinct from the rest of India. BUT Jinnah knew that Congress could never be trusted to fulfill its promise once the British had left and wanted the partition issue to be resolved before the departure of the British. He argued that by any canon of international law, Muslims were a nation since they had a completely different way of life from that of Hindus. The Quaids had called for a separate Muslim homeland called Pakistan earlier during the Lahore Resolution of 23 March 1940. The Wavell Plan at Simla proposed an Executive Council with an equal number of Muslim and Hindu ministers. But since Sikhs and other electors would surely vote with Hindus, Muslims would never be able to share power and the government of a united India would be dominated by Hindus. Highlighting this reason, Quaid proposed that Pakistan was a necessity. Another Cripps mission in 1946 failed again and exposed the irrevocable differences between Jinnah and Gandhi. The Quaid, despite everything, had been.