Abdul Wahid (24100285)

Anum Fatima
SS 102
22nd November 2021

Did all Muslims of India vote for Muslim League because they wanted an Islamic state?
Explain your answer.
Answer: Muslim league was established in 1906, and due to the distinctive behavior of the
Indian national congress towards the Muslim minority of the sub-continent, the Muslim league
was considered and claimed the only political party of Muslims. Muslim league’s motto was a
separate and independent state for Muslims. This depicts the idea that the league’s motto was an
Islamic state If we talk about the speeches of the leaders of the Muslim league such as Quaid-e-
Azam, Allama Iqbal, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan, and Sardar Abdur-Rabnishtar, they had
mentioned the idea of a separate state in the name of Islam. One of the famous slogans at the
time of the Pakistan movement before 1946 was,
“Pakistan ka matlab kya
La Ilaha Illalah…”
This shows the importance of the Islamic state in terms of getting freedom. But here the question
arises, why Muslim league hadn’t been successful in the elections of 1937? Although they were
asking for the support of Muslims for an Islamic state. The answer lies in the dark face of the
picture, Muslims voted for the Muslim League in the elections of 1946 not only because they
wanted an Islamic state, but they were influenced by the different strategies followed by the
league such as gaining the support of the Sufis, pirs and murshids. League got the support of
canal colonies and most of the areas of Punjab and Bengal. League also played their cards with
the help of the baradari system and gave the party’s tickets to the landlords who were the
authoritarians of their areas. At that time, the literacy rate of the sub-continent was 12% but in
villages and backward areas, it was almost zero (0.2%). Since people weren’t educated and that’s
why they were influenced by the Sufis, pirs, and Landlords of their area. To subsidize the
peasant societies, the league’s propagandists did many immediate efforts, such as solving their
economic and social problems. By these tactics, the Muslim league gained the abutment of the
people. The majority of the Muslims voted for the Muslim League because they have seen what
the Indian national congress could do under the nose of British people, seen after the elections of
1937 (coalition states and congress ministries were created). They deprived the Muslims of the
right to get an education. The culture and language of Muslims were at stake at that time because
they were promoting their Hindi language and their own culture. At that time, it was obvious that
the British were about to leave the sub-continent and because the power and authority were in the
hands of the Indian national congress. It was assumed that Hindus were getting influenced and
more authoritarian. At that time famous slogans were “Ham lay ky Rhein gy azadi” and “Sab sy
pehly Pakistan”. These two catchphrases show the need for a separate state (Here the separate
state doesn’t mean an Islamic state) because of the congress ministries of 1937. We can say that
to get freedom from the British and as well as from the Indian national congress, Muslims voted
for the league.
The very important card played by the league was the exploitation of the congress and
especially unionist party during the political campaign (because at that time, Muslims were
aware that Congress is not going to assist any nation other than Hindus so keeping in mind that
elections were held on separate electoral approach, Congress was out of the competition, but the
league had to face Unionist party). The members of the Muslim league started propaganda
against the Unionist party. One of the founding members of the Unionist party was Khizer Hayat
khan who was secular and believed in secularism, Propagandists started saying that giving your
vote to the unionist party is the same as giving the vote to congress. Although both leaders,
Khizer Hayat khan, and Quaid-e-Azam were believed in secularism (which can be proved from
their many addresses as well as approaches) but they used Islam as a religion to gain the support
of Muslims. As we saw many speeches in which both leaders talked about Islam. The use of
religion for the sake of personal gains could never be ended. Even now, Islam is for by even
Muslim authoritarians for private goals. Propagandists of the league started to blame the Unionist
party for the arousal of prices of goods.
Muslim league won the elections of 1937 of the central legislative assembly as they
secured all the 30 Muslim constituencies, but they were failed to secure any other seat. In the
provincial legislatures, they succeeded undoubtfully in Punjab and Bengal. These results show
that all the Muslims supported the Muslim League in the elections of 1946. According to the
study, above 90% of the Muslims of the sub-continent voted for the league. If they wanted an
Islamic state, then there should be expected that these all the Muslims will move to the Islamic
State of Pakistan when it would be founded. But out of those Muslims who voted in the favor of
league only around 50% migrated after the creation of Pakistan. This explains the reason behind
the voting in favor of the league.
In short, It is not doubt that majority of the Muslims vote for the Muslim league not
because they wanted to create an Islamic state where Islamic legislation will be implemented,
instead, the Muslim league got their support unwillingly by different means such as piri-mureedi,
Sufis, baradari system, giving the political party’s tickets to the influenced and landlord of local
regions, gained the peasant support by working on their interests and immediate welfare tasks for
them, deteriorating the image of the unionist party in front of passionate Muslims.