Evolution of the Two-Nation Theory

At a Glance

• 1887 Anti-Congress front backed by the government
• 1906 Simla Deputation; Muslim League founded
• After 1937 League turned to extreme communalism; Muslims described as a separate nation
• 24 March 1940 Pakistan Resolution at Lahore
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Post-War Scenario, Cabinet Mission and Communalism

Where Does It Fit?

This is the eighth and last topic of the category on the post-war scenario, the Cabinet Mission and communalism. The previous topic explained the birth and spread of communalism. This topic traces the growth of the two-nation theory. The next category begins with Attlee’s statement of 20 February 1947. Previous topic: Birth, Spread and Characteristics of Indian Communalism.

What Were the Beginnings, 1887 to 1909?

The earlier period is in Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement and the Simla Deputation in Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909, and the Formation of the Muslim League.

What Happened Between 1912 and 1932?

• 1912 to 1924: the League was dominated by younger Muslim nationalists, though their nationalism was inspired by a communal view of political questions.
• 1915: the first session of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, under the Maharaja of Kasim Bazar.
• 1916: the Congress accepted the League’s demand for separate electorates and the two presented joint demands to the government, but as separate political entities, which gave political legitimacy to the League. This is in Lucknow Session of 1916 and the Lucknow Pact.
• 1920 to 1922: Muslims took part in the Rowlatt and Khilafat non-cooperation agitations, but with a communal element in their political outlook.
• 1920s: communal riots loomed over the country. Arya Samajists began the Shuddhi and Sangathan movements to reconvert those who had become Muslims, and Muslims began the Tabligh and Tanzeem movements in reply. Some nationalists turned communal: the Swarajists divided along communal lines and many Responsivists joined the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Ali brothers, after a united front with the Congress, accused it of protecting only Hindu interests. The Congress did not find a suitable strategy against communalism.
• 1928: Muslim hardliners and the Sikh League opposed the Nehru Report, and Jinnah put forward fourteen points seeking separate electorates and reservation in services and self-governing bodies.

The Congress’s dealings with the League in 1928 are criticised on four counts: it gave legitimacy to the League’s politics and so recognised society as divided into separate communities with separate interests, it undermined secular nationalist Muslims, concessions to one community prompted similar demands from others, and an all-out attack on communalism became difficult. These are assessments in the secular-nationalist tradition. The Nehru Report is in Nehru Report, 1928 and Muslim and Hindu Communal Responses to the Nehru Report.

What Happened Between 1930 and 1937?

From 1930 to 1934 some Muslim groups, such as the Jamaat-i-ulema-i-Hind, the State of Kashmir and the Khudai Khidmatgars, took part in the Civil Disobedience Movement, but overall Muslim participation was nowhere near the Khilafat level. While the Congress stayed away from two of the three Round Table Conferences, the communalists attended all three. In 1932 the Communal Award accepted the Muslim communal demands in the fourteen points. These events are in First and Second Round Table Conferences and Communal Award, 1932.

How Did Extreme Communalism Emerge After 1937?

After the League performed badly in the 1937 provincial elections, it decided to resort to extreme communalism. There began a tendency to project Muslims not as a minority but as a separate nation. In the early 1930s a young Muslim intellectual, Rahmat Ali, had proposed the idea of a separate Muslim nation, and the poet Iqbal developed it further. From then on communalism was organised as a mass movement with its base among the middle and upper classes. Vicious propaganda was launched against the Congress by Z.A. Suleri, F.M. Durrani, Fazl-ul-Haq and others. Extreme communalism was based on fear, hatred and violence of word and deed. The elections are in Congress in the 1937 Elections.

Until 1937 there had been liberal communalism centred on safeguards and reservations, communal but upholding liberal, democratic, humanistic and nationalistic values and the idea that the communities could be welded into one nation. The extreme communalism of Muslims found an echo in the militant communal nationalism of Hindus, represented by the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS and in the thought of leaders like Golwalkar. The reasons given for the advent of extreme communalism were: with increasing radicalisation, reactionary elements searched for a social base through communalism; the colonial administration had exhausted other means to divide nationalists; and earlier failures to challenge communal tendencies had emboldened the communalists. Gandhi is quoted as saying that the question of majority and minority was a creation of the British government and would disappear with their withdrawal, and Maulana Mohammad Ali as saying that the Indians divided and the British ruled. The stages of communal thought are in Birth, Spread and Characteristics of Indian Communalism.

What Happened From 1937 to 1947?

From 1937 to 1939 Jinnah blocked avenues for conciliation by putting forward an impossible demand that the Congress should declare itself a Hindu organisation and recognise the Muslim League as the sole representative of the Muslims of India. On 24 March 1940 the League passed the Pakistan Resolution at its Lahore session, calling for the grouping of all geographically contiguous Muslim-majority areas, mainly in the north-west and east of India, into independent states in which the constituent units would be autonomous and sovereign, with adequate safeguards for Muslims where they were in a minority.

During the Second World War the British Indian government gave the League a virtual veto on any political settlement. The League made full use of it and stuck to its demand for a separate Pakistan through the negotiations of the August Offer, the Cripps proposals, the Shimla Conference and the Cabinet Mission Plan. Finally it got what it sought: an independent Pakistan comprising the Muslim-majority areas of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, the North-West Frontier Province and Bengal in 1947. A Pakistani account quoted in the standard text says that after 1940 it was clear to Muslims that their destiny was a separate nationhood with a separate homeland, and the Aga Khan is quoted as saying that the sovereign nation of Pakistan was born in the Muslim University of Aligarh. These are statements of the League’s own view. The August Offer and the proposals that followed are in August Offer, 1940, Cripps Mission, 1942, Wavell Plan and the Simla Conference and Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946.

As an analytical point, the theory grew in steps: separate electorates gave Muslims a separate political identity, the Congress’s recognition of the League gave it status, the communal riots of the 1920s hardened feeling, and the failure of 1937 pushed the League from safeguards to separate nationhood. The final result in 1947 is covered in the next category, starting with Attlee’s Statement of 20 February 1947.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Timeline Dates from 1887 to 1940 are stock Prelims facts
• Liberal to extreme communalism The turn after 1937 is a frequent Mains point
• Lahore Resolution The key document of the demand for Pakistan

What Came Next?

The next category begins with Attlee’s statement of 20 February 1947 on the transfer of power. Next topic: Attlee’s Statement of 20 February 1947.

Key People and Terms

• Two-nation theory The claim that Hindus and Muslims are separate nations
• Simla Deputation The 1906 Muslim delegation to Lord Minto
• Pakistan Resolution The Lahore resolution of 24 March 1940
• Rahmat Ali Young Muslim intellectual who proposed a separate Muslim nation in the early 1930s
• Shuddhi and Sangathan Hindu reconversion and organisation movements
• Tabligh and Tanzeem Muslim movements in reply

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for the stages of the demand for Pakistan. These points add depth.

• Beginnings 1887-1909
• Hardening 1920s and 1930s
• Culmination Lahore and the war years