Communalist Organisations in India

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Communalist Organisations

On 1 October 1906, a 35-member delegation of the Muslim elite sections of the community mostly associated with Aligarh movement gathered at Shimla under the leadership of Aga Khan to present an address to Lord Minto, the viceroy.
They demanded proportionate representation of Muslims in government jobs, appointment of Muslim judges in High Courts and members in Viceroy’s council, etc.
Though the Shimla deputation failed to obtain any positive commitment from the Viceroy, it worked as a catalyst for the foundation of the All India Muslim League (AIML).
Muslim League was established under Nawab Salim Ullakhan on December 30, 1906.
Initially, AIML was an elitist organization of urbanized Muslims.
The League supported the partition of Bengal, demanded separate electorates for Muslims, and pressed for safeguards for Muslims in Government Service.

To promote among the Muslims of India feelings of loyalty to the British Government, and remove any misconception that may arise as to the instruction of Government with regard to any of its measures.
To protect and advance the political rights and interests of Muslims of India, and to respectfully represent their needs and aspirations to the Government.
To prevent the rise among the Muslims of India of any feeling of hostility towards other communities without prejudice to the aforementioned objects of the League.

Within three years of its formation, the AIML successfully achieved the status of separate electorates for the Muslims.
The Lucknow Pact (1916) put an official seal on a separate political identity to Muslims League.

In pursuance of the resolution passed at the fifth Punjab Hindu Conference at Ambala and the sixth conference at Ferozepur, the first all Indian Conference of Hindus was convened at Haridwar in 1915.
The All India Hindu Mahasabha was started there with headquarters at Dehra Dun.
Provincial Hindu Sabhas were started subsequently in UP, with headquarters at Allahabad and in Bombay and Bihar.
While the sabhas in Bombay and Bihar were not active, there was little response in Madras and Bengal.
The Hindu Mahasabha, represented the forces of Hindu revivalism in the political domain, raised the slogan of ‘Akhand Hindustan’ against the Muslim League’s demand of separate electorates for Muslims.

Ever since its inception, the Mahasabha’s role in the freedom struggle has been rather controversial.
While not supportive of British rule, the Mahasabha did not offer its full support to the nationalist movement either.
The Khilafat movement gave some respite to the separatist politics of the communalists and as a result, between 1920 and 1922, the Mahasabha ceased to function.
The power of mobilisation on religious grounds demonstrated by the Muslims during the Khilafat movement motivated the Hindu communalists to imitate them in mobilising the Hindu masses.
In an effort to draw Hindus into the boycott of the visit of Prince of Wales in 1921, Swami Shradhananda tried to revive the Mahasabha by organizing cow-protection propaganda.

The bloody Malabar rebellion of 1921, where Muslim peasants were pitted against both the British rulers and Hindu landlords, gave another reason for the renewed campaign of the Hindu Mahasabha.
In 1924 Lala Lajpat Rai openly advocated the partition of the Punjab into Hindu and Muslim Provinces.

In the aftermath of Non-Cooperation movement, the alliance between the Khilafatists and the Congress crumbled.
This time the communal tension in the United Province was not only due to the zeal of Hindu and Muslim religious leaders, but was fuelled by the political rivalries of the Swarajists and Liberals.
In Allahabad, Motilal Nehru and Madan Mohan Malaviya confronted each other.
When Nehru’s faction emerged victorious in the municipal elections of 1923, Malaviya’s faction began to exploit religious passions.

One great outcome of the efforts at unity, however, was an offer by the Conference of Muslims, which met at Delhi on March 20, 1927 to give up separate electorates if four proposals were accepted.

The separation of Sind from Bombay
Reforms for the Frontier and Baluchistan
Representation by population in the Punjab and Bengal
Thirty-three per cent seats for the Muslims in the Central Legislature.

Motilal Nehru and S. Srinvasan persuaded the All India Congress Committee to accept the Delhi proposals formulated by the Conference of the Muslims.
Instead of seizing the opportunity to resolve the tangle, the Congress chose to drag its feet by appointing committees, one to find out whether it was financially feasible to separate Sind from Bombay and the other to examine proportional representation as a means of safeguarding Muslim majorities.
Jinnah who had taken the initiative to narrow down the breach between the two, and had been hailed the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity by Sarojini, felt let down as the Hindu Mahasabha members present at the All Parties Convention held in Calcutta in 1928 rejected all amendments and destroyed any possibility of unity.
In despair Jinnah left the country, only to return many years later as a rank communalist.

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