INTRODUCTION

Although there had been major developments related to communalism up to 1940, the 1940s represent the most crucial and decisive phase of it. It was during this period that the biggest communal demand – the demand for Pakistan – was put forward and popularized by the Muslim League. This decade also witnessed the actual creation of Pakistan in 1947. The Partition of India was the culmination of the divide and rule policy enunciated by the colonial government to maintain its regime in India.

BACKGROUND TO PAKISTAN

The demand for Pakistan did not arise in a vacuum. It was the result of certain political developments after 1937. This period witnessed major changes in the politics of communalism. In the popularization of the Pakistan demand, British policy also played a very active role by giving it acknowledgment and credibility.

Transformation of the Muslim League

The year 1937 was a turning point in the history of Muslim communalism. In the Provincial Legislative Assembly elections held that year, the League won only 109 out of 492 reserved Muslim seats and just 4.8% of total Muslim votes. These poor results showed the League that it must expand its base among various sections of the Muslim population, especially the urban lower middle classes. Since a radical socio-economic programme was impossible due to the League’s social base of landlords and loyalist elements, it instead raised the cry of “Islam in danger” and the threat of “Hindu Raj.” This appeal to protect religion soon turned into a campaign of hatred against other faiths. According to W.C. Smith, communal propaganda was filled with “fervor, fear, contempt and bitter hatred.”

Jinnah and other League leaders declared that the real aim of the Congress was not independence but a Hindu Raj that would dominate Muslims and destroy their faith. Once the fear of Hindu Raj became deeply rooted in the Muslim psyche, it was easy to promote the idea of a separate homeland where Muslims could live and practice their faith freely. The demand for Pakistan thus flowed naturally from this politics of fear and hatred. At its Lahore session in March 1940, the League passed the famous Lahore Resolution, demanding a sovereign state for Muslims on the ground that Hindus and Muslims were two nations.

The British Policy

The growth of Muslim communalism was significantly aided by the official backing of the British Government. By 1937, their divide and rule policy aimed to keep the Hindu-Muslim divide unbridgeable. Other divisive tactics—like encouraging landlords, backward classes, or scheduled castes against the National Movement, or splitting the Congress into Right and Left wings—had failed. The 1937 elections revealed that communalism was the only effective weapon left for the British to weaken Indian nationalism.

After the Second World War broke out, Viceroy Linlithgow actively fostered the Muslim League. The Pakistan demand was used to counter the Congress demand for a British promise of freedom after the war and immediate transfer of power to Indians. The British insisted that Hindus and Muslims must first agree on how power would be transferred. The League was officially recognized as the representative voice of Muslims, even though its electoral strength did not justify the claim. The British also promised that no political settlement would be made unless it was acceptable to the League, giving Jinnah a virtual veto power, which he skillfully used after the war.