1.

Urdu Hindi Controversy

2. Indian National Congress
3. Division of Bengal
4. All India Muslim League
5. Lucknow Pact 1915
6. Khalifa Movement

●Urdu Hindi Controversy

Origin of Urdu Language:
The Urdu language has a diverse historical nomenclature. The name of Urdu was
Hindi or Hindavi in the beginning. In some areas it was locally named Gujari and
Dehlvi elsewhere. Some of them named it Khari Boli and others Rekhta. The name
Dakhni or Dakini was favored by some too. It was commonly referred to as
Hindustani. Some people in Europe named it Indostan, also some named it Moors,
which is a Muslims' language.
Some even say that the language Urdu has truly begin its life as Zaban- e -
D e l h i ,   Z a b a n - e - H i n d o s t a n , Zaban -e- Urdu, Urdu - e- Mu ‘a l l a .
But With the passage of time, Urdu -e-Mu'allah, was
shortened to Zaban-e-Urdu and later it became only
Urdu. As there were lots of people from different
regions and ethnicities living in Hindustan, they tend
to opt not all but some of each other traits, language
was also one of these traits. They tend to share a part
of their language. Urdu has some content of Arabic
and Persian, but was written differently from Arabic
and Persian. Urdu and Hindi are almost same but the
difference in them is that Urdu has Persian- script
while Hindi has Devanagari- script. The word 'Urdu'
(originally Turkish) literally means camp, or the royal
camp. Some even defined literal meaning of Urdu as
"an army, a camp, a market”.

Background:
During 12th Century, Mughal Empire who came to India set their court’s official
language Persian. In their court, no language other than Persian was allowed to be
spoken and sung. The Mughals, like other Hindus living in the west of the Indian
subcontinent, named India “Hind” or “Hindustan” after the river Indus that flows
into Pakistan today (earlier known as Sind Baluchistan). The language spoken in
'Hind' was called by them Hindi or Hindustani. The dispute emerged when only
this 'Hindi' or 'Hindustani' was perceived, as one community believed this to be
Devanagari scripted and other groups claimed that this language was Persian and
followed the Persian form of writing. This is where the whole Hindi and Urdu
debate has been anchored.
In 1800, East India Company started calling Hindi/Urdu as Hindustani and had to
learn it for communication with local people.
In 1822, Syed Ahmed Berailvi published translation of Holy Quran in Urdu. It
was not appreciated by many religious circles and elite of UP/Bihar and Urdu
speakers of northern India.
In 1836, British dropped Persian as official languages and introduced local
languages along with English in various ports of South Asia. It was called
Hindustani in UP/Bahar etc. Persian scholars of northern India resented the move
as anti-Persian and kept Persian as language of elite.
In 1867, some Hindus in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during the British
Raj in India began to demand that Hindi should be made an official language in
place of Urdu. Babu Shiva Prasad of Banaras was one of the early proponents of
the Nagari script. In a Memorandum on court characters written in 1868, he
accused the early Muslim rulers of India for forcing them to learn Persian.
The reason for opposing Urdu was that the language was written in Persian script,
which was similar to the Arabic script, and Arabic was the language of the Quran,
the Holy Book of the Muslims. The movement expanded rapidly and spread
through the Hindu community in the northwest provinces of India within a few
months. The headquarters of this movement were in Allahabad.

Notable Figures in the movement:

The anti-Urdu process continued when in 1871 the Lt. Governor of Bengal G.
Campbell banned Urdu in the province at all levels, courts, administration and
even schools. This boosted up Hindus in other regions like NWFP, Punjab, Behar,
U.P, Sindh, and Oudh etc. to counter Urdu there. Meetings were held of the Hindus
in which thousands of them signed memorials supporting the cause of elimination
of Urdu. In 1882 during the visit of Hunter Commission, a commission formed by
the English government to analyze the spread of modern English education in
India, Hindu organizations again tried to attack Urdu. They held meetings with its
chairman, Dr. Hunter and tried to force him to admit Urdu as the foreign language
and to promulgate Hindi, the native language, for educational purposes. But in this
mission, they remained unsuccessful due to the constant efforts of Sir Syed and his
comrades.
The circumstances became even more hard for the Muslims and their language
when Anthony Mac Donell became the governor of UP in 1900. He was a pro-
Hindu and thus anti-Muslim. So, after becoming the governor he dismissed Urdu
as the official language of UP, which was in fact considered to be the home of
Urdu language.  He issued orders and declared Hindi the official language of the
province. 

Mohsin-ul-Mulk who was the secretary of Aligarh College then, took action
against Mac Donell’s act. He called for a popular gathering of the supporters of
Urdu at Aligarh and openly condemned governor’s work. He also founded Urdu
Defense Association and it was decided that the association would take actions
against the doings of the governor. After UP got rid of Mac Donell, he founded
another association called Anjuman-e-Tarraqi-e-Urdu to counter all future
attempts of the Hindus and the English against Urdu.

 The Urdu-Hindi controversy had a great effect on the life of Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan. Before this event he had been a great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity and
was of the opinion that the "two nations are like two eyes of the beautiful bride,
India". But this movement completely altered his point of view. He put forward the
Two-Nation Theory, predicting that the differences between the two groups
would increase with the passage of time and the two communities would not join
together in anything wholeheartedly. Sir Syed was the first person who used the
words ͞” My Nation͟” for Muslims and the words ͞Two Nation͟ in the subcontinent.
His main idea was the protection and the safeguard of rights of Muslims in the sub-
continent. His Scientific Society Gazette presented articles on the importance of
Urdu.

Similarly, some Muslim newspapers like Noor-ul-Absar and Banaras Gazette also

took the responsibility to safeguard their language.

Conclusion
For many different implements any language in the world may be used. While
language is not really empty vessels - it generates a lot of baggage in the form of
cultural literary, history, heritage, concept, historical consciousness, and so on, it is
still inevitable that their speakers and authors make the most contradictory usage.
This love and passion for Urdu by the Muslims of India inclined the founders of
Pakistan to adopt it as the national language of the new born country. They
believed that it was a sign of the Muslim unity, the representation of Muslims as an
independent nation, among millions of people of India.
●Indian National Congress
Background:
The birth of the Indian National Congress was not a sudden event or a historical
accident but rather the incremental effort of many educated Indians from Bengal
and other areas, who were highly dissatisfied and dismayed at the exploitative
existence of alien British rule. A variety of organizations were founded prior to the
birth of the National Congress. However, most of them had short term goals and
their involvement was restricted to their respective areas. In 1866, Dadabhai Naroji
founded East Indian Association in London, in order to recruit British public
opinion's attention to the resilience of the Indians. It tried strenuously to form a
substantial public view against the British Government's unfair policies. It
was against the Arms Act and Vernacular Press Act of Lord Lytton. A series of
peasant demonstrations were held calling for a lower rate of revenue. Thus, The
Indian Association organized all-India National Conferences twice in 1883 and
1885, with the aim of bringing members from all over India to a single forum.
However, only the establishment of the Indian National Congress as a national
platform could organize and express the Indian public opinion.

Formation of Indian National Congress:

The retired I.C.S. officer, Allan Octavian Hume, played an important part in the
Indian Congress formation. He wrote an open letter to students of the university of
Calcutta calling at least Fifty of them to be prepared for the motherland's sake. Mr.
Hume met the then Governor-General of India, Lord Dufferin, and agreed to create
an alliance that could act on the British opposition. The British Government could
contact this association to evaluate the public opinion of the Indian people on
different matters of national interest. In addition, this entire platform in India will
function as a 'safety valve' for escaping great powers created in India due to the
British rule.

Establishment of Indian National Congress:

From 25 to 28 December 1885, after the Theosophical convention in Madras,

Hume invited eminent Indians from numerous different areas of the country.
Finally, on 28 December 1885, INC was found at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit
College in Bombay. It was deliberately designed to gain greater interest of
educated Indians by creating a forum to resolve the Indian-British dialogue.
The Founding Members of Congress were Allan Octavian Hume, Badruddin
Tyabji, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjea, Pherozeshah Mehta,
and the brothers Manomohun Ghose and Lalmohan Ghose.

The First President of Indian National Congress was Womesh Chandra

Bonnerjee.

Allan Octavian Hume was the General Secretary for the first session.

Prominent attendees of the maiden session were Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw

Wacha, William Wedderburn, Pherozeshah Mehta, etc.

For the First Session, Hume obtained permission from the then Viceroy of India
Lord Dufferin. The first session was attended by 72 delegates from all the Indian
provinces. There were 54 Hindus, 2 Muslims and the rest were Jain and Parsi
members and most of them belonged to a background of lawyers, and there
weren’t any women in this session. It was started by a retired British civil servant
Allan Octavian Hume along with Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Wacha. Nine
resolutions were passed in this first session.

The first Name suggested was “Indian National Union” by Allan Octavian Hume.
But, after the suggestion of Dadabhai Naoroji, its name was changed to ‘Indian
National Congress’. The word ‘Congress’ was taken from the American
Constitution.

The congress truly became a mass party with the Arrival of Mahatma Gandhi,
who returned from South Africa in 1915. Gandhi introduced methods like
satyagraha and civil disobedience to the independence struggle. Gandhi remained a
spiritual leader for the party and his presence drew a lot of support from both the
elite and the masses. More young leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, C Rajagopalachari, Subhash Chandra Bose, etc. made their
presence felt.

Congress had a British committee based in London, acting as a lobby group in

Britain, which was founded in 1889. Dadabhai Naoroji, when he was an MP in
London, attended this group's meetings, and was associated with their
parliamentary pressure group. In 1890, the committee began to produce India, a
free monthly journal summarizing Indian news for the British press and
politicians. India became a weekly subscribed journal, 1898-1921. Its editors
included Henry Cotton (1906-19) and Henry Polak (1919-20). It became a
welcome and useful publication for the growing number of Indian students in
Britain as well.

Involved in events:
Following are the few major events in which Indian National congress weas
involved:
 Second Round Table Conference, 1931
 Cripps Mission, 1942
 Quit India Movement, 1942
 Partition and independence of India and Pakistan, 1947

Two Major phases of Indian National Congress:

In its first twenty years, the Indian National Congress was a “moderate
organization” and limited its means to constitutional methods and dialogue. Its
demands were limited to including more Indians in the civil service and the armed
forces. It was not interested in campaigning for independence or self-rule but for
greater political autonomy within empire.

After a few years, the party became more vocal and active in demanding
substantial political reform, and eventually voiced demands for full independence
from Britain. By 1905, there was a clear rift in the party which was now divided
between old moderates and the newer group, the extremists – who were so called
because of their radical methodologies

Conclusion:
Though Indian National Congress made a very humble beginning, yet it gradually
developed into a powerful organization. With its birth, the struggle for India’s
liberation was started in an organized manner. The Indian National Congress was
the first national movement of a political kind in India with the initial aim of
getting more Indians involved in the governance of the country. Later on, its
purpose upgraded to complete independence. The Congress was now a party that
had huge mass support and was the chief political party in the Indian freedom
struggle.
Khalifah Movement
Background:
The World War I broke out in 1914. UK, USA, France, Russia and Italy went into
an alliance against German y, Austria nd Turkey. Turkey was the centre of Islamic
world in those days, and the Khalifah of Turkey was owned as Khalifah of the
whole Islamic world. The centre of Muslim world was in serious danger. Hijjaz-
eMuqqadas was in Turkish domain. In case of defeat of Turkey both sacred cities,
Makkah and Madina, could go into the possession of Christian allied forces.
Keeping all the apprehensions in view, the Indian Muslims organized a big
movement called the Khilafat Movement.

Leaders of the Movement:

Maulana Muhammad All Jauhar, Maulana Shaukat All, Maulana Zafat All Khan,
Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Ansari, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Syed Salman Nadvi and
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were the nain leaders. Gandhi, Moti Lal Nehru and
Madan Mohan halvia also joined this movement as a result of the Lacknow Pact.

Objectives of the Movement:

The movement was a multi-purpose one. It organized and assembled the Muslims
of the sub-continent on one platform. The Muslims, for the time being, kept all
India Muslim League aside and came under the banner of Khilafat Committee.
Following were the objectives of the Movement. To keep the institution of Khilafat
institution and Khalifah to carry out the business of government usual. Restoration
of Turkey’s grace as it possessed before and during World War-1 and no change to
occur in the boundaries of Turkey. The sanctity of Makkah and Madina should be
maintained and non-Muslim forces should not be allowed to enter in these two
sacred cities.

Activities of Movement:
Khilafat Movement took following steps to make their demands known to the
entire world:

Delegations: Delegations were sent to U.K. and other European countries to

convey the feelings of the Muslims to the governments.
Medical Aid: Doctors, nurses arid medicines were dispatched to Turkey for the
treatment of wounded Turkish soldiers.
Financial Aid: A large amount of money, gold and silver was collected in the
general meetings to give financial aid to Turkey.
Processions:
Large processions were arranged, protest meetings were held and strikes were
observed in all big and small cities in the sot-continent. The Muslim volunteers
presented themselves to the police for arrests. All leaders were sent behind the bars
but the momentum of movement could not be diminished.

Role of Press:
The role of Muslim journalism was tremendous. Zarnindar of Zafar AU Khan, al-
Hilal of Azad and Comrade and Hamdard of Jaunar played vital roles in the
movement. They inculcated a sense of sacrifice among the Muslims.

Role of Gandhi:
Gandhi got a golden chance to exploit the Muslim power for his own purposes. He
supported the Khilafat Movement and participated in the meetings of the Muslims.
Indian National Congress also expressed solidarity with Khilafat Movement. It was
again as per Gandhian policies, Indian National Congress itself tried to bring the
British government to its knees before his own movements like, Civil
Disobedience Movement, Non-Co-operation Movement and Swedeshi Movement.
By supporting the Khilafat Movement he secured cooperation of the emotional
Muslims for his own purpose. Gandhi advised Muslims to Surrender the titles
awarded by the government.

Resign from the government jobs:

Come on the streets against the government by getting the educational activities
Present themselves for arrests Refrain from paying the taxes Refuse to receive
financial grants from the governments Migrate to Iran, Afghanistan and other
Muslim countries The Muslims leaders could not comprehend the conspiracy of
Gandhi and followed his guidelines. it affected the economy, education and social
conditions of the Muslims very badly. Millions of Muslim families migrated to
Afghanistan after selling their properties to the Hindu Afghan government refused
entry to them, on their return poverty, helplessness, shortage of food and
humiliation troubled them. Now they fully realized the real face of Gandhi, but it
was of little use as they were already ruined.

The End of Movement:

In 1924 Mustafa Kamal Pasha became a force. He signed a pact with the Allied
forces at Laus. The sovereign position of Turkey survived. The Hijaz-eMuqqadas
was handed over the Sharif Hussain of Makkah and the control of Turkey on the
Middle east, North Africa and Eastern Europe was lost. However, all the objectives
of the Khilafat Movement were achieved.

Conclusion:
Though Khilafat Movement was a complete failure yet it affected the struggle a
lot. The Muslims came to know the actual mentality of the Hindus and the British.
They also understood the real way of agitation. That is why Khilafat Movement is
called a milestone in the Struggle for Independence.
All India Muslim League

Background:
After the creation of the Indian national Congress and its time as a ‘representative’
party for the people of the Indian sub-continent, there was felt a need to reassess its
claims at unbiased representation. From the very start of its existence the Congress
had shown clear its interest to safeguard the rights of Hindus, alone. Some of the
Congress leaders adopted a revolutionary policy to establish Hindu Raj in the sub-
continent under the guise of a national movement. The prediction of Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan Soon proved to be fact that, “Hindus and Muslims are two different
nations who have different ideologies.” The Muslims of India were greatly
disappointed by the anti-Muslim stance that the Congress seemed to have adopted.
The events following the partition of Bengal and Urdu-Hindu controversy
strengthened the desire of the Muslims to organize themselves politically as
separate community.

Formation of Muslim League:

All India Muslim League emerged as an early political expression of the

gradual growth of a Muslim in India. The party was inspired by the academic
and social activism of the scholar Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who was one of
the first major exponents of ‘Muslim Modernism’ in India. The Muslim
League was an important topic in the struggle for independence. The new breed of
leadership like Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was instrumental in its
metamorphosis. The birth of All India Muslim League came as an expression of
that desire.

On December 30 1906, the annual meeting of Muhammadan Educational

Conference was held at Dhaka under the chairmanship of Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk.
Almost 3,000 delegates attended the session making it the largest-ever
representative gathering of Muslim India. For the first time the conference lifted its
ban on political discussion, when Nawab Salim Ullah Khan presented a proposal
for establish a political party to safeguard the interests of the Muslims; the All-
India Muslim League. It come into being a political body which was to play a
decisive role in the destiny of the Muslim peoples of the Indian sub-continent. The
day the Muslim delegation won recognition of the demand of separate electorate;
the course of the Muslim freedom struggle was charted. It was the beginning of the
growth of Muslim national consciousness. It farmed visible institutional expression
in the form of Muslim League which after a forty (40) years struggle was to
achieve for the Muslims the culmination of their national aspiration, Muslim
League became a mass movement of the Muslims and succeeded in achieving
Pakistan in 1974.

1. Founders of the Muslims League: Nawab Saleern Ullah Khan, Maulana Zafar
All Khan, Hakeem Ajmal Khan, Nawab Waqar ul Mulk, Sir Agha Khan and
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar were the founders of the All-India Muslim
League.

2. First President of Muslim League: On 30th December, 1906 Muslim League

was established. Sir Agha Khan was the first President of the Party. Syed Ameer
Au was made the President of London Branch.

3. Head Office: The Head Office was decided in Aligarh

4. First Annual Session of Muslim League: First Annual Session of Muslim

League was established in Karachi in 1907 in which it was decided that the
membership will be given to the Muslims of the subcontinent

Reasons for the Establishment of Muslim League:

Following are the reasons for the establishment of Muslim league.

1. Indifferent Attitude of the Congress towards Muslims: All India National

Congress was a pre-dominantly Hindu body. Its interests were always at odds ends
to those of the Muslims. By 1906, Muslim leaders were convinced that they must
have their own party which may speak for the community on all important
occasions.

2. Educational and Economic Backwardness: Muslims had lagged far behind

from the Hindus in education and economic progress. Educational and economic
conditions could only be up graded by establishing a separate Muslims
organization that could represent the wishes of the Muslims.

3. Urdu-Hindi Controversy: The Urdu-Hindu controversy began with the

demand of Hindus to replace Urdu by Hindi as official language in Deva Nagari
Script. Sir Anthony Macdonal, the then Governor of UP ousted Urdu from public
offices. Congress clearly sided with Hindi and supported the movement against
Urdu and there was no other political party to support Urdu. Thus, the need of
formation of a Muslim political party was felt severely.

4. The Evolution of Minto Marley Reforms: The turning point came in the
summer of 1906 during John Morley’s budget speech, in which he hinted of
constitutional reforms. At that time Muslims did not have a political platform to
demand their share. It was reasserted that they wanted a separate political platform.

5. The Success of Simla Deputation: Minto offered fullest sympathy to the

Muslim demands. The success of Deputation compelled the Muslims to have a
separate political association of their own.

6. To Save Muslim Entity: The belief uttered by sir Syed Ahmed Khan that the
Muslims were somehow a separate entity. The Muslims did not believe that Hindus
and Muslims formed one nation. They were different by religion, history,
languages and civilization. It became essential for Muslims to establish a political
party of their own.

Objectives of Muslim League:

Following were the main objectives of the Muslim League:

 To inculcate among Muslims a feeling of loyalty to the government

and to disabuse their minds of misunderstandings and misconceptions
of its actions and intentions.
 To protect and advance the political rights and interests of the Muslims
of India and to represent their needs and aspirations to the government
from time to time.
 To prevent the growth of ill will between Muslims and other
nationalities without compromising to its own purposes.

Allama Iqbal and Muslim League

In 1930, Muhammad Allama Iqbal became the party’s president and, in an
address, demanded a separate Muslim state (but one which will exist within an
Indian federation). He also urged lawyer and politician, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, to
return to India (from the UK) and lead the League. Jinnah had quit politics after
being disillusioned by the rising communal tensions between India’s Hindus and
Muslims in the 1920s. He moved to the UK to practice law. Iqbal glued the
Muslim Modernism of the likes of Sir Syed and himself to the more radical
currents of Pan-Islamism of that period to formulate an expanded idea of Muslim
nationalism in India.

Jinnah and Muslim League

Jinnah had returned to India in the mid-1930s and eventually became AIML’s
president. During an address to party members in 1940, Jinnah declared that
Muslims would be politically and economically undermined in a Hindu-majority
India and thus needed to strive towards creating their own country, Pakistan. The
party, under Jinnah, spearheaded the campaign for Pakistan throughout the 1940s
and was successful in the division of the country.

Elections 1945-1946 and Muslim League:

The 1945-46 elections were called by the British to constitute a government at the
center and in the provinces. The elections were vital for the League to prove that a
majority of Indian Muslims considered it to be the main Muslim party in the
country and agreed with the party’s demand for a separate Muslim-majority state.
The League was being directly challenged by the country’s largest Indian
nationalist party, the Indian National Congress (INC); and also, by radical Islamic
parties who had labeled the League as a party of 'fake Muslims’. The League’s
manifesto for the election called for a separate Muslim-majority country but which
would also welcome India’s other minorities (Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians
and Sikhs) as equal citizens. The League also appealed to ‘scheduled class
Hindus’, claiming that they would be better off in Pakistan. Though overall the
Indian National Congress gained the most seats across India, AIML bagged 87.2%
of the Muslim votes, thus becoming the largest Muslim nationalist party in the
country.

Hindus and British Views on the establishment of Muslim League:

Many Hindu historians and several British writers have alleged that the Muslim
League was founded at official instigation. They argue that it was Lord Minto who
inspired the establishment of a Muslim organization so as to divide the Congress
and to minimize the strength of the Indian Freedom Movement. But these
statements are not supported by evidence. Contrary to this, the widely accepted
view is that the Muslim League was basically established to protect and advance
the Muslim interests and to combat the growing influence of the Indian National
Congress.

Conclusion:
All India Muslim League met with early success the; government accepted the
demand of separate electorate in 1909. In 1916 Muslim League signed a Pact with
Indian National Congress and got significant concessions for the Muslims, Muslim
League under the leadership of Agha Khan, Wiqar-ul-Mulk and Quaid-e-Azam
worked very hard. Muslim League in its annual Session at Lahore passed an
historic resolution in 1940 demanding a separate homeland for Muslims. It was in
1947 that Muslim League succeeded in getting Pakistan for Muslims after a
struggle of seven years.