Communalism, Jinnah, etc.
For all the present drama, I now present the hisroty of communalism in India (from this wonderful book called India's struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra)
Communalism, Bipin Chandra says has three stages:
1) Recognition that people of the same religion have the same political, economic, socio-cultural interests (what he calls secular interests), i.e., socio-political communities are based on religion.
2) Liberal Communalism, i.e. belief that secular interests of different groups are dissimilar and divergent.
3) Extreme communalism, i.e. belief that secular interests of different communities are antagonistic.
Now, different reasons are given for start of communalism in India, which range from less government jobs, landlords and peasants being of different religions, British policy, etc. but the fact of the matter remains that had the INC combatted communalism more strongly, it would never have occured.
The story begins
Muslim communalism begins with Syed Ahmed Khan, who, despite preaching Hindu-Muslim unity, for an increase in Muslim share in administrative posts professed loyalty to the British once the anti-imperialist edge of the Congress (INC) came to be known. This thus lead to the theme that the majority would dominate the minority (naturally, by definition of majority and minority), and also lead to the suppression of the minority (debatable, but the premise on which all the arguement is based). He then opposed the Swadeshi movement, and the British also started offering constitutional concessions to the Muslims. The INC was branded a Hindu organisation. At the end of 1907, the All India Muslim League was formed.
Hindu communalism also started in the 1870s. They talked about the "tyrannical" Muslim rule in the medevial period and the "liberating" influence of the British. The All India Hindu Mahasabha, set up in 1915, was the major organisation in Hindu Communalism, but did not achieve the kind of success the Muslim League (ML) did because the British had no use of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Meanwhile, the British announced the Morley-Minto Reforms, which introduced communal electorates (only Muslims can stand and only Muslims can vote).
Meanwhile, the younger Muslim nationalists were dissatisfied with the loyalist ML and soon the ML also started following the same policies as the INC, which led to the 1916 Lucknow Pact, which put forth common points to the British. However, unlike the INC, which was opposing imperialism on the understanding of the socio-eco harms of British rule, the ML opposed it on religious lines (British are destroying the Kalipha, etc.).
The unity between the two was the most during the Non-Cooperation movement in 1921-22, but once NC was withdrawn, communalism reared its head again.
In December 1927, the Delhi Proposals were framed by Muslim communal leaders which were four basic demands of the Muslims and separate Muslim electorates. The proposals mainly called for reservations on the basis of religion. The Congress proposals, called the Nehru Report (Dec. 1928), however spoke of division on a linguistic basis (thus no separate electorates), but a continued reservation of seats for Muslims (based on a population percentage). This was however rejected by the Muslim Communal leaders.
The first mistake
The INC now decided to negotiate with the muslim communal leaders. This was a mistake, since this gave implicit recognition to the muslim communal leaders as the sole leaders of the muslims, and also weakened the stand of the liberal muslims in the INC.
Jinnah
Jinnah (MAJ) was initially with the INC. But in 1919-1920, he quit due to disagreement over the mass politics that the freedon struggle was taking. However, instead of going into political oblivion, he revived the ML and became a liberal communalist. But the rest of the members of the ML, as well as the social base was full of communalists, and disagreeing with them would mean losing all political influence. MAJ was in a dilemna. He himself believed in Hindu-Muslim unity, and also in the freedom struggle. The younger muslims were being attracted towards nationalism and socialism. He thus decided to stay in Britain.
But he returned in 1936, and continued to preach Hindu-Muslim unity. The British meanwhile, by means of the Communal Award, accepted most of the ML demands, so the ML had nothing new to offer. The ML also decided to stand in the 1936-37 elections, and the INC won most of the seats. So now MAJ had three choices:
1) Stick to liberal communalism - nothing left to do, British had assepted all demands.
2) Abandon communal politics - Alas, the ego of man.
3) Take to mass politics - This would mean saying the Islam was in danger due to the Hindu majority.
Thus, gradually, MAJ turned to Extreme Communalism.
After World War II
The Cabinet Mission came to India in March 1946 to discuss transfer of power. The ML, INC and Cabinet Mission disagreed over the mechanism. The British tried to ignore the ML, which led to the infamous Calcutta riots (>5000 killed). Thus, by terror alone, MAJ was able to convince the British to consider the demands of the Muslims. These demands included Pakistan. Then partition...
And then, came MAJ's speech...
Communalism, Bipin Chandra says has three stages:
1) Recognition that people of the same religion have the same political, economic, socio-cultural interests (what he calls secular interests), i.e., socio-political communities are based on religion.
2) Liberal Communalism, i.e. belief that secular interests of different groups are dissimilar and divergent.
3) Extreme communalism, i.e. belief that secular interests of different communities are antagonistic.
Now, different reasons are given for start of communalism in India, which range from less government jobs, landlords and peasants being of different religions, British policy, etc. but the fact of the matter remains that had the INC combatted communalism more strongly, it would never have occured.
The story begins
Muslim communalism begins with Syed Ahmed Khan, who, despite preaching Hindu-Muslim unity, for an increase in Muslim share in administrative posts professed loyalty to the British once the anti-imperialist edge of the Congress (INC) came to be known. This thus lead to the theme that the majority would dominate the minority (naturally, by definition of majority and minority), and also lead to the suppression of the minority (debatable, but the premise on which all the arguement is based). He then opposed the Swadeshi movement, and the British also started offering constitutional concessions to the Muslims. The INC was branded a Hindu organisation. At the end of 1907, the All India Muslim League was formed.
Hindu communalism also started in the 1870s. They talked about the "tyrannical" Muslim rule in the medevial period and the "liberating" influence of the British. The All India Hindu Mahasabha, set up in 1915, was the major organisation in Hindu Communalism, but did not achieve the kind of success the Muslim League (ML) did because the British had no use of the Hindu Mahasabha.
Meanwhile, the British announced the Morley-Minto Reforms, which introduced communal electorates (only Muslims can stand and only Muslims can vote).
Meanwhile, the younger Muslim nationalists were dissatisfied with the loyalist ML and soon the ML also started following the same policies as the INC, which led to the 1916 Lucknow Pact, which put forth common points to the British. However, unlike the INC, which was opposing imperialism on the understanding of the socio-eco harms of British rule, the ML opposed it on religious lines (British are destroying the Kalipha, etc.).
The unity between the two was the most during the Non-Cooperation movement in 1921-22, but once NC was withdrawn, communalism reared its head again.
In December 1927, the Delhi Proposals were framed by Muslim communal leaders which were four basic demands of the Muslims and separate Muslim electorates. The proposals mainly called for reservations on the basis of religion. The Congress proposals, called the Nehru Report (Dec. 1928), however spoke of division on a linguistic basis (thus no separate electorates), but a continued reservation of seats for Muslims (based on a population percentage). This was however rejected by the Muslim Communal leaders.
The first mistake
The INC now decided to negotiate with the muslim communal leaders. This was a mistake, since this gave implicit recognition to the muslim communal leaders as the sole leaders of the muslims, and also weakened the stand of the liberal muslims in the INC.
Jinnah
Jinnah (MAJ) was initially with the INC. But in 1919-1920, he quit due to disagreement over the mass politics that the freedon struggle was taking. However, instead of going into political oblivion, he revived the ML and became a liberal communalist. But the rest of the members of the ML, as well as the social base was full of communalists, and disagreeing with them would mean losing all political influence. MAJ was in a dilemna. He himself believed in Hindu-Muslim unity, and also in the freedom struggle. The younger muslims were being attracted towards nationalism and socialism. He thus decided to stay in Britain.
But he returned in 1936, and continued to preach Hindu-Muslim unity. The British meanwhile, by means of the Communal Award, accepted most of the ML demands, so the ML had nothing new to offer. The ML also decided to stand in the 1936-37 elections, and the INC won most of the seats. So now MAJ had three choices:
1) Stick to liberal communalism - nothing left to do, British had assepted all demands.
2) Abandon communal politics - Alas, the ego of man.
3) Take to mass politics - This would mean saying the Islam was in danger due to the Hindu majority.
Thus, gradually, MAJ turned to Extreme Communalism.
After World War II
The Cabinet Mission came to India in March 1946 to discuss transfer of power. The ML, INC and Cabinet Mission disagreed over the mechanism. The British tried to ignore the ML, which led to the infamous Calcutta riots (>5000 killed). Thus, by terror alone, MAJ was able to convince the British to consider the demands of the Muslims. These demands included Pakistan. Then partition...
And then, came MAJ's speech...
posted by Raghav at 1:21 AM
1 Comments:
Great work. Why you left Advani? It would have been more interesting if Advani's speech was also quoted. Say our hello to your father and mother.
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