Muslim League

Whenever we go through the Indian modern history it is obvious that we are going to come across the role of the Muslim League in the national movement. Muhammad Ali Jinnah who proposed the idea of dividing India into two sovereign states based on the communal majority of the Hindus and the Muslims used to be one of the celebrated political personalities of the Muslim League. In this section of the article, we will try to pinpoint the historical factors leading to the formation of Muslim League.

Syed Ahmed Khan was one of the pioneers among the contemporary Muslim community who felt the necessity of establishing a separate nation where there will be no intervention of the Hindus in the administration part. He is renowned as a Muslim pragmatist who promoted education and economic awareness among Indian Muslims in the late nineteenth century. Unlike most other Indian politicians at that time, he suggested that Indian Muslims abide by the laws and regulations established by the British East India Company. In 1886 he established an organization namely the Muhammadan Education Assembly that kept its political ideologies secret from the very first day of its introduction. Within twenty years of the foundation an estimated 3000 members of this organization assembled at Dhaka where they resolved to take active participation in politics from then on. This Conference that witnessed the inauguration of the Muslim League was held on 30th December 1906. Sir Salimullah Bahadur in association with Hakim Ajmal Khan coined the name of this latest Muslim-centric political entity. It was the first of its kind in British India. The other prominent leaders of the Muslim League were Mustafa Chowdhury, Syed Nabiullah, Khwaja Salimullah, Khan Bahadur Ghulam, and others. 

In 1906, the members appointed Sultan Muhammad Shah as the President of the Muslim League. He felt that the Muslims must first strengthen their social capital by educating themselves if they wanted to realize their political agenda of founding a separate independent Muslim state. He worked towards protecting the commercial interests of the Muslims by working in close association with the British East India Company. The preliminary objectives centered on efforts that would ensure equivalent fundamental civil rights for the Muslim community as those enjoyed by the majority of the Hindu citizens. To achieve this quickly the Muslim politicians encouraged their fellow Muslim members to adhere to the British Government regulations to gain a superior priority in terms of privileges as compared to the Hindu classes. The Muslim League members attempted to generate a sense of Muslim prejudice against all the other religious classes of India.

The arrival of Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah led the All India Muslim League in 1913. He is regarded as the most successful President as during his tenure the Indian Muslims finally realized their dream of establishing a separate Muslim country in the form of Pakistan. Under his guidance, the League continued to align with the interests of the British Raj and thus terribly criticized the social reforms put forward by the Indian National Congress. This inhibited the surging sense of unity and nationalism among the Indians which the Congress wanted to ingrain among the citizens. The demand for two different countries further intensified in the late 1930s owing to the cultural and ethnic differences between the Muslims and the Hindus. However, the Muslim politicians who were against Jinnah’s Two-Nation Theory decided to resign from the Muslim League and they, later on, went on to join the Indian National Congress. This move took place after the famous Lahore conference of the Muslim League.

Many Indian Muslims strictly opposed the Two-Nation Theory which was very clear from the provincial elections of 1937 when the Indian National Congress achieved the majority of their seats in the Muslim predominated states of the north-western frontier. It was the role of the Muslim League in the national movement which forced Indians to take part in the Second World War. Later on, this proved to be a boon and catalyzed the independence campaign as the British Raj got too involved in their battles across Europe which consolidated the administrative authority of the Indian leaders. The Muslim League ultimately dissolved in 1947 when its agenda was fulfilled and a separate country was founded based on Muslim communal interests.

Conclusion

The Muslim League realized its demands four decades after its inception in Dhaka in 1906. The political leaders of the organization demanded a separate country to protect the Muslim commercial interests. Muhammad Ali Jinnah is the most successful political leader of the AIML who made their dream come true by finally becoming the founder of the independent Muslim country of Pakistan.