FOR LLB PART-II (5 Year Fre

160

QUESTION # 28
Discuss the policies of Congress Ministrie
Muslims of India.
(1937-1939) against (2020 -A
Discuss Congress
Ministries
(1937-1939
(1937-193e
Policies against
Muslims of India.
(2019-A)
Write a critical
note on the
working oof
Congress Ministries 1937-39.
(2018-A
Examine the nature
of Congress rule in the
Provinces under the Government of India

Act, 1935. What was its impact on the

Muslim Politics?P

THE CONGRESS MINISTRIES/ DARK

PERIOD FOR MUSLIM 1937-39

1. INTRODUCTION
The Government of India Act of 1935 was practicaly
implemented in 1937. The provincial elections were held in the winter
of 1936-37. There were two major political parties in the Sub
continent at that time, the Congress and the Muslim League. Both
parties did their best to persuade the masses before these elecions
and put before them their manifesto.
2. THE POLITICAL MANIFESTO OF MUSLIM LEAGUE&
CONGRESS:
The political manifestos of both parties were almost identica
although there were two major differences. Congress stood tor jo
electorate and the League for separate electorates;
wanted Hindi as official language with Deva
Congi
while the League wanted Urdu with Persian Nagri script of wu
script.
3. ELECTION RESULTS:
Congress captured
all the provinçes taken
704 out of 1585 seats in lower houses of

together, and in five (Madras, uhned

Uniteo

Provinces, Bihar, the Central Provinces, and Orissa) it wasDniad

urned

with clear
majority. It obtained 19 out of 50
18 out of 175, in Sindh 7 seats in NWFP, u Yet
out of 60, in
failed to secure even 40 Bengal 51 out or Out outo
the 1,771 total seats in percent of the total number seas
of
the 11
provinces.
SERIES PAKISTAN STUDIES
161
Aaheed-uz-Zaman
wa
Round Tabl ble Conference
writes
that the
"Mr Gandhi's assertion at
Congress represented the
aound9 5 per cent cent of the population of India had and spoke
Confirmed by the election results by no means been
THE LEAGUE'S FAILURE
in the words of R. Symonds, "In 1937
it
raanisation
ciass organisation which had made little effort was stil a middie-
to obtain a mass
folilowing
The League fared particularly poorly in Punjab. Sindh and
In Punjab, the Nationalist Unionist
NWFP
Party swept were
ts. The overall results of the League's achievement
the Muslim
that t
won 106 out of total 491 Muslim seats
5. THE HINDU MINISTRIES:
The final results of the elections
known in February
were
937. Since the governors were unable to give the required
undertaking as demanded by Congress, the Congress refused to
accept office. The non-Congress majority provinces (Punjab, Sindh
Bencal and Assam) started functioning as autonomous provinces
and ministries went into office on April 1. With the deadiock ended
Congress entered its official career in July 1937.
Congress had clear majorities in five provinces namely
Madras, the United Provinces, Bihar, the Central provinces and
OTissa. In other two provinces - Bombay and NWFP it was aiso
abie to form Ministries with the help of small minority groups.
(4) Government of India Act, 1935 Implementation
The Government of India Act 1935 was fully not
was introduced in the
promulgated but the only provincial part
criticized it but agreed to
Ountry. Muslim League and the Congress
contest provincial elections.
Formation of Provincial Governments:
in 6 provincesS.
Congress formed governments
in July 1937, formed a coalition
and Congress
V P , Khudai Khidmatgar provinces, the Muslim League
ment. In the Muslim majority Muslim League desired to be in
Could not form the governments. The c o n s e n t e d to a
conditional
conditional

government in the U.P. but'the Congress

Support
Dissolve AIML Parliamentary Board group
as a separate
AIML embers not to function
Congressthe
allegiance to
uVL members to express
 FOR LLE PART-II (5 Year!
162
auCve-mentioned terms wera
Definitely the League
existence of the ivisim
iuslim League
Theretore
subvert the
issue.
was possible on this
agreement
QUAID'S REACTION:
6.
seek compromise Even
"Mr. Jinnah was still ready to
the Congress ministries came into power, he expressed hi te
the two parties was not irreconcilable eand
that the conflict b/w
readiness to cooperate
with CongresS in working forfor i0
unity a
independence"
7. PARLIAMENTARY SUBCOMMITTEE
A parliamentary subcommittee was established by Conare
consisting of three leaders, Sardar vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana At
Kalam Azad and Badu Rajendra Prasad The committee wa
entrusted with the task of supervising the formation of Ministries n
several provinces. The test case was that of the United Provincen
which was placed under the charge of Maulana Azad. The Musims
constituted 16% population and got 66 seats in the elections, 26 ou
of which had been won by Muslim League The Congress, which had
a clear majority over all other groups, was able to form a ministy
without regard to the League. Nevertheless, the League members
expected a share in the Ministry. The Congress leaders categoricay
rejected to consider a coalition Ministry with League in the province
8. MUSLIM MASS CONTACT MOVEMENT:
P. J. Nehru announced in March 1937 that the Congress
would soon start a Muslim mass contact movement. T was
s
attempt to weaken and demoralize the League and to discreo
not
leadership. The problem, in Nehru's opinion, was economicand
communal." His suggestion wa[ "to leave top fringe, hich
continually talking of percentage of seats in the legislatures a chale
jobs and reach the masses."
The aim was to decrease the importance of tne Musi
League for the Muslims."
9. LUCKNOW SESSION OF LEAGUE (OCT.1937
Quaid appealed Muslims to e
rally around the Leaguined
significant moment of the session was that Unionist Part i n e dthe
League. An agreement to that effect known as the Sikan S i k a n d a

Pact (1937) was concluded Jinna"

e n c e , O V e r

Within 2 or 3 months after

the Lucknow Confer
the
o ft h e m

170 new branches of the

in the United Provinces andLeague had been established,
40 in the Punjab."
 N SERIE PAKISTAN STUDIES 163
0POLICIES
10. OF THE CONGRESS GOVERNMENTS
First all Congress governments in the
provinces launched anti-
hrslitm drive basically to exclude the Muslim
lim organizations from the government makingLeague and other
process With the
nstallation of Congress
ministries the Hindus came out to
impose
Hindu nationalism on the Muslims. Following were the attitude and
nolicies of the Congress ministries towards Muslims
Bande Matram
in order to strengthen
the Hindu nationalism, Bande Matram
was adopted as a national anthem and was to be recited before the
start of official business every day.
(0) Wardha and Widdia Mander Schemes
The Wardha Scheme was the outcome of Gandhi's
philosophy. It preached the Hindu nationalism and principles of non-
Vioience it aimed to develop a high respect among the young minds
about the Hindu heroes and religious leaders.
Under this scheme the students were asked to pay respect
arnd homage to Gandhi's picture every day in their assembies in the
schools The students were asked to bow before Gandhi's picture
and sing hymns in his praise.
()
(1) Hoisting of Three-Coloured Flag
The Congress after taking over the government in the
rOVinces, immediately ordered the hoisting of three-coloured flag
wn the British Union Jack to prove that there were only wo powers
in india which were the British and the Congress
(V) Hindu-Muslim Riots
The Hindu-Muslim riots were usual during the Congress rue
ganized attempts were made on the honour, property and livesof
Usims by indulging in the communal and religious feuds The
he4 were free to assault the innocent Muslims in any area The
rh houses and property were set on fire and their women and
bducted Muslim massacre and plundering ofthes localities
were the sCenes
of the day
Muslim Mass Contact Campalgn
The Congress started a Mushm mass contact campaign
The 6jective of this campaign was to
crush the popularity of
the M It was Nehru s
Musim
League amongst the Muslins
the only
1agination to
eprese destroy the image df Muslim League as
The campaign began by
épresentative
directy party of the Muslims with a view to win them
ver to ntacting the Muslim masses
the
Congress
 FOR LL.B PART II (B Yn

12. MUSLIM RESPONSE

of the theocra
eocraticin
12 aware

monitoringAinaton
were well
The
Muslirms a clos on
They arranged of
elr policies
peoplep u b l i c i z e d theli policles and raised
and
the issu the
rais
the Hindu
They
government on these ed
matters required
keen
The
Muslims
mobilization
of
Hindu atrocities probe ly
facts of the
olect the
orignal
The Pirpur Report
() Musim League appoind.
of
On March 28, 1938, the Council ted a
ed an
the presidentship of
committee under Raja Syed15
Muhammad Mehdi of Pirpur that presented its report on, NovemmberSyay
eghtmember
1938 It tried to dig out the cruelties of the Congress ministries in se
provinces The report took up the Congress support to the rival Mur
intimidation and threats to
the pro-Muslim Leaque r
organizatons, ople
March 1939
(1) The Sharif Report,
The ML deputed Mr. Sharif with members to investigate the
rule of the Hindus. This report maini
njustices under the dictatorial
colilected the facts, concentrating on ill treatment of the government
with the Muslims in Bihar.
(HR) The Fazl-ul- Haq Report: (December 1939)
AK Fazl-ul-Haq published a pamphlet entitled Muslim
Sufenings Under the Rule of Congress and made many alarming
velations e g forbidding of Azan, attacks in mosques, noisy
processions of the Hindu scoundrels, forbidding of the cow-slaughter
etc This pamphlet responded the indictments by the Congress on the
Muslims
Ali the
reports described the Congress government as an atet
to reate Hindu Raj that wanted to
overwhelm the Muslim culture di
their identty It was a
rigorous threat to the Muslims' interesis.
(IV) Muslim League Activism
The Muslim leaders shed
sharp criticism
a on the Congre
policies They protested against the reduction of statusu of Urdu
du and
and
other Muslim
related issues. They created realization, amon stt the
the
Musims, of what can happen a urged
ed for
fof
under the Congress rule nd
serious hinking about the aetitujona Constitutional

aangements. future political and and

They unearthed the

urged the need of unity among the ongress
real objectives of the Congre
League Muslims under the ban MUS
o fM u s i m

13. END OF
THE CONGRESS
The Second World War RULE 1 e c l a r e dW
waar

against began in 1939. Britai

help andGermany. The government dealed
a r t i e sfor

appealed to
d is

assistance in to all pol

allp convene
this hour of need. Congress
need. Cong
 PAKISTAN STUDIES
N SERIES 165
meeting to consider Government's appeal and put the following
conditions for assistance in war
The British Government should explain the objective of the war
i)
The Government should announce that the elected legislature
i) would draft the constitution of India.
The members of the Viceroy's Executive Council should be
those only who enjoy the support of the Central Assembly

14. HINDUS' ATROCITIES AGAINST THE MUSLIMS:

Wardha Scheme: it was prepared by a committee headed by
) a Congressed Muslim, Dr. Zakir Husain, but it was inspired,
guided and supervised by Mr. Gandhi himself.
Vidya Mandirs (Temples of Learning): the two main
of ahimsa
objectives of the scheme were to inculcate the spirit
insistence of
(non-violence) and territorial nationalism. The
their
ahimsa is only meant to root out from the Muslim youths
martial spirit and tradition.
Trunga (Tri-colour): flag was adopted as a National Flag
adopted as a national anthem.
Bande Mataram was

banned.
V) Cow Slaughter was officially
Economic deterioration:
VI)
VIl) Extermination of Urdu:
VI) Communal riots
CONGRESS:
15. QUAID'S ATTACK ON
the Mussalmans to be a mere
The Congress wanted
more foot pages
of the Congress
understudy of the Congress, and brought under
the heels when
eaders, to be used, governed of the Congress.
The Congress has
tney had served the purpose
settlement in the right royal
killed every hope of Hindu Muslim
ow
fashion of fascism."
after their exit Mr. Jinnah a skilful
"soon intention of
aheed-uz-Zaman writes, with the
opponent, in the
tactician and a hard hitting
Cian the Muslims to unite
appealed to
ahduzing the event, on December
22.
90servance ofa 'Deliverance Day'
16. CONCLUSION: the Congress
1938 termed
Lothianin April Barton writing
in the
ne Marquees of William
rule". Sir Congress rule
as
Tule as tide of Hindu
Nalationala "Tising also termed the
Reviev
rieKeview" in June 1939
the
ne Hinduism".
rising tide of political