Facts Are Sacred by Wali Khan

Facts are sacred – I

Communal politics And the British The tilt towards Muslim League

ALTHOUGH they long consider themselves as of the ruling stock, the Muslims of Indiahad lost effective power to the British. They were crushed following the 1857 nationalbid to put the aliens in their place. And neighbouring Afghanistan was brought under theheel through Amir Abdul Rehman. Thus, if externally the path of Russia's possible thrusthad been blocked, internally no force had remained that could challenge the British.Some six hundred princely states had also through their rulers become subservient tothem. Thus by the beginning the 20th century London's grip over India had becomeunshakable.The British colonist was however an extremely canny, weather beaten, modern-daypirate. It was not enough merely to establish the grip; it was also necessary to maintaintheir firm holds. He was faced with a country the size of a sub-continent and a populationthat was numberless. He thought hard how he could keep these under his thumb. He hadfought Nemours battles, and even, by fair means and foul, conquered countries. But hecould not set a soldier on every Indian. He had therefore to find a way that the Indiansremained divided amongst themselves. For if they joined hands the situation couldbecome, like the one caricatured by a Hindu humourist who said that if all the Indianseven pee' together these handful of British- hers would all be flooded away.The Englishman had seized power from the Muslim. He had driven out the latter'sdelusion about his birth-right to rule. He also realised that although Muslims had rulingIndia for centuries, they were a minority of the population. So while earlier he washelping the non-Muslims and making them fight the Muslims on his behalf and himself benefiting from this mutual hostility, he decided that it might not be sound strategy tokeep lending strength to the Hindus who were the country's preponderant majority. Therewas also another consideration. There were no Hindus in other countries around Indiawhereas Muslims were spread in the four corners of the world from North Africa theBalkans, and from Turkey to Afghanistan, the whole hemisphere virtually belonged tothem. Above everything else, the Ottoman Empire constituted the Muslim caliphate. Thusthe Muslims were a strong and organised world force.Against that here in south Asia the situation was as follows:-- When the British won the Battle of Plassey in 1757 they took Bengal, or eastern India,out of the Muslim hands.- When they overran south in 1799 they routed Tipu sultan, the head of a highly regardedMuslim dynasty.- Central India they devoured in 1857, after an Indian bid for independence in whichMuslims played a prominent part.

- Northern India had shown some resistance, but that too was quelled after the Balakotmartyrs fell in 1831.Nearby Afghanistan was another citadel of Muslim power. But it too was eventuallytamed following a treaty in 1893.As a result of these triumphs, the Englishman became the undisputed master of India. Allkinds of internal and external dangers were ended. So much so that he went and signed apact even with Russia in 1907, making it pledge not to interfere this side of the borders,inside Afghanistan. All doors thus secured, our English man settled down toconsolidating his position in India.After divesting the Muslims of their passion about ruling and putting them to one side, hestarted giving all his attention to the Hindus. The latte began to be favoured with whitecollar jobs, trading contracts and numerous other gestures of official support. Theeducated Hindu section was endowed with influence and respectability. However, whenHindus gradually began to draw together the Englishman got worried. He weighted thepossibility of their uniting together and presenting a challenge to him. They were after alla big majority in the country.As for the Muslims, he had already broken their spine. There was no one left amongthem, especially after their failure of 1857, who could ever pose a threat to him. Theprominent Muslims that there were, only vied with one another to demonstrate theirloyalty to the British.Reflecting on the Hindu numbers, however the British again turned to the Muslims. Thebeginning was made from Bengal. The province was spilt into two in 1905, so as toseparate the Muslim majority eastern half and give the Muslims a sense of self importance. That was how the start was made to please the Muslims and try and winthem over.As time passed the game of playing on alternative side of the communal street began tolook more and more interesting to the foreign ruler. On the occasion of official functionsand in the show of official favours a tilt now infavour of the Muslims now of Hindusseemed to offer good rewards.Meanwhile, the British also began laying stress on the natives acquiring education.Without that the routine official chores in the vast country of their tutelage would not getdone. But education also started opening up the minds of the educated. As young peoplebegan going abroad for higher education they noticed how the governments there alsoinvolved the people in formulating policies and running the country. Why shouldn't theIndians too share power with the rulers, they began to wonder. Since the Hindus were ingreater number and they had a larger section of big merchants, lawyers and other affluentpeople among them who could afford the best education for their children with in thecountry and abroad, the stir of the educated first occurred in their folds.

The Muslim leaders too had learnt a lesson from the 1857 debacle and their effort wasthat all sections of the population should join together to rescue the country from Britishimperialism. They laid such stress on Hindu - Muslim unity that reading of it comes as asurprise even today. I will give just one example, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (regarded bysome of our political theorists as the father of the two nation concept) spoke as follows inan address in Gurdaspur on January 27, 1884.We (that is, Hindus and Muslims) should try to become one heart and soul and act inunison. In old historical books and traditions you must have read and heard - and we seeit even now - that all the people inhabiting a country are designated as one nation. Thedifferent tribes of Afghanistan are together termed a nation. The miscellaneous hordespeople Iran are distinguished by the term Persian: though they abound in variety of though and religion, they are still known as members of a nation …… Remember that thewords "Hindu" and "Mohammadan" are only means of religious distinction, otherwise allpersons whether Hindu or Mohammadan, or even the Christians who reside in thiscountry, all in this particular respect belong to one and the same nation. (Syed HassanMehmood- A nation is born, page 339).In the same year, speaking to the India Association in Lahore, Sir Syed repeated thetheme:In the word 'Nation' I include both Hindu and Mohammadan because that is the onlymeaning I can attach to it.Also"These are the different grounds on which I call both these races which inhabit India byone word, i.e. 'Hindu' - meaning to say that they are the inhabitants of Hindustan".Thus Sir Syed's argument is whoever is a citizen of India, regardless of his faith, shouldbe called a Hindu.The point is, because the British were at the time favouring the Hindus, granting themconcessions and opportunities of social and economics advancement, and enabling themto progress in education, and the Muslim were being discriminated against, the latter sawsalvation only in Hindu - Muslim co operation. That was only how they could ridthemselves of the aliens.The Englishman also knew this. He could see that if Hindus and Muslims did join againsthim it would be impossible to face them. That is why when he first set about introducingreforms and wished to give powers to the Hindus in the local bodies and municipalcommittees, he adopted the system of separate electorates. The first installment of reforms, called Morely - Minto papers, came in 1909 and provided that Muslims willonly vote for Muslims and Hindus for Hindus. Thus was laid the foundation stone of religious belief being made a factor of democratic institutions. That was the Englishman'sfirst blow against the concept that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan wished to spread throughout the