The growth of Muslim communalism throughout the Colonial period.

1. Submitted by,
Juliya Saji
AB19HIS039

2. Communalism is basically an ideology on which communal politics is
based. Communalism believes that the people of different religions
have different interests in political and economic matters.
Communalism or communal ideology consists of three basic elements
or stages, one following the other:

3. Communal Nationalism - First, it is the belief that people who follow
the same religion have common secular interests, that is, common
political, economic, social and cultural interests.
Liberal Communalism - The second element of communal ideology
rests on the notion that in multi-religious society like India, the secular
interests, that is the social, cultural, economic and political interests, of
the followers of one religion are dissimilar and divergent from the
interests of the followers of another.
Extreme Communalism - The third stage of communalism is reached
when the interests of the followers of different religions or of different
communities are seen to be mutually incompatible, antagonistic and
hostile.

4.  Communalism emerged around the end of 19th century and posed greatest
threat to the unity of Indian people and national movement.
 The strongest arm of the communal triangle was the British rulers. They were
neither the true friends of the Muslims nor the foes of the Hindus; they were
the true friends of British Imperialism and acted on the tested and tried maxim
of divide of Imperia.

5. Reason for the growth of Communalism In India
1.The British established their authority in India
after dethroning the Mughal emperor.
This made Muslims to turn against the British . They were
reluctant to accept the Western education during the initial
phase . They wanted to overthrow the British rule and to
bring the Muslim rule back . Hence, they started the Wahabi
movement was led by Syed Ahmed Barelvi. The movement
was active since 1830s but in the wake of 1857 revolt, it
turned into armed resistance, a Jihad against the British.
Subsequently, the British termed Wahabis as traitors and
rebels and carried out extensive military operations against
the Wahabis. The movement was fully suppressed after
1870.

6. 2.The British followed the policy of divide and rule.
 Muslims were generally looked upon with suspicion initially, especially
after the Wahabi and 1857 revolts, and were subjected to discrimination
by the Government.
 During the revolt of 1857, which is described as the first war for
independence, Hindus and Muslims fought side by side united in their
purpose of defeating a common enemy.
 The British noticed this unity and realized that their survival rested on
being able to keep the people divided, for they had managed to establish
their rule because politically India had been a divided country at the time
of their entry.
 This realization led to the famous British ‘Divide and Rule’ policy.
Religion was supposed to be one of the best factors to divide the people.
It is used as an influential mechanism to attain economic, political and
other social activities.
 And British used religion as their weapon to divide the strength which
India had as a whole.

7. Till 1870 the British oppressed the Muslims greatly for they held them responsible for the
revolt. After 1870 the British changed colors and instead started favoring the Muslim
community.
The rise of nationalism had threatened the British power in India and their efforts obviously
were directed to suppress it.
 Now an important feature of the national movement was that it took longer to spread amongst
the Muslim community.
As a result the early nationalist’s movement was made up mainly of people from the Hindu,
Parsi and Christian communities.
The British noticed the absence of the Muslims in this movement, and quickly began working
on ensuring that they did not join the movement.

8. The British began implementing policies too that promoted the activities of communal
forces, and divided the national struggle.
Now the government decided to rally them behind it through concessions, reservations
and favors, and used them against nationalist forces.
 In 1871 Lord Mayo government passed an resolution making Urdu as the medium of
instruction for Muslims in primary and secondary schools.
 The educational institutions run by Muslims were given grants.
The Government used persons like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to counter the growing
influence of the Congress. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in order to offset the disadvantages
suffered by the Muslims expressed the loyalty of Muslims to the British

9. 3.Communalism in History Writing
 Initially imperialist historians and later some chauvinist Indian
historians adopted the communal interpretation of Indian history.
 They portrayed the ancient phase as the Hindu phase and the
medieval phase as the Muslim phase.
 The conflicts of ruling classes during the medieval phase were
distorted and exaggerated as Hindu-Muslim conflicts.
 It was in the interest of the British to refuse to acknowledge the
notion of a composite culture in India.
4.Side-effects of socio-religious reform movements
 Reform movements such as Wahabi Movement among Muslims
and Suddhi among Hindus with their militant overtones made the
role of religion more vulnerable to communalism.
 Reforms, at times, were seen as a process of insulating one
community from the influence of another religious community

10. 5.The relative backwardness of the Muslims in the education , trade and
industry.
 The introduction of English education had undermined Arabic and Persian
learning which added further to the economic backwardness and exclusion of
the Muslims from service
 Muslim upper classes consisted mostly of zamindars and aristocrats. Because
the upper- class Muslims during the first 70 years of the nineteenth century
was very anti-British, conservative and hostile to modern education, the
number of educated Muslims in the country remained very small
 Consequently, modern Western thought with its emphasis on science,
democracy and nationalism did not spread among Muslim intellectuals, who
remained traditional and backward.

11.  The relative backwardness of the Muslims and their failure to
benefit from the socio-cultural reforms of 19th century made
them to view Hindus as competitors and aspire for political
dominance.
 In these circumstances, it was easy for the British officials
and the loyalist Muslim leaders to incite the educated
Muslims against the educated Hindus.
 Sayyid Ahmad Khan and others raised the demand for special
treatment for the Muslims in the matter of government
service.
 They declared that if the educated Muslims remained loyal to
the British, the latter would reward them with government
jobs and other special favors. Therefore, the religious
distinction between communities coincided with social and
class distinctions resulting in communal disharmony.

12.  They even formed United Indian Patriotic Association which was a
political organization founded in 1888 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan(the
founder of the Aligarh Muslim University) and Raja Shiv Prasad Singh
of Banaras. Opposed to the Indian National Congress, the group aimed
to develop close ties between the Muslim community and the British
Raj.
6. Side-effects of militant nationalism
 The early nationalists made conscious efforts to remove minority fears.
E.g. the decision of the Congress not to raise socio-religious questions
in its forums.
 In 1889, the Congress decided not to take up any issue opposed by the
Muslims.
 Some actions of the assertive nationalists were often considered as
communal

13.  For instance, Tilak's Ganapati and Shivaji festivals and anti-cow slaughter
campaigns created much suspicion.
 Aurobindo's vision of an Aryanised world, Swadeshi Movement with
elements like dips in the Ganga and revolutionary terrorism with oath-taking
before goddesses were hardly likely to enthuse Muslims into these
campaigns in a big way.
 The communal element in the Lucknow Pact (1916) and the Khilafat
agitation (1920-22) was too visible to be of insignificant consequences.
 The minority communalism met with a reaction from the majority
community.
 From the 1870s itself, many Zamindars and moneylenders began to give
expression to anti-Muslim sentiments.

14.  They went to an extent to declare that the British had liberated the land from
Muslim tyranny and saved the Hindus from oppressive rule of Muslims.
 Many organizations were set up to promote communal outlook such as the
Hindu Mahasabha (established in 1915) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS established in 1925
 In 1915 Hindu Mahasabha was formed by V.D Savarkar against the challenge
of Muslim League formed in 1906 . In 1923 , Savarkar gave the theory of
Hindutva . He gave the vision of Hindu Rashtra . In response to Savarkar's
Hindu Rashtra , Iqbal gave the concept of Muslim Ummah it implies Muslim
brotherhood

15. Partition of Bengal
 The partition of Bengal (1905) may have started as an
administrative measure, but actual motive behind this
move was to convert BengaI into areas of Hindu
majority and Muslim majority.
 As the partition was in favor of Muslims they
welcomed it, whereas the Hindu's were not in favor of
it.
 It was thus the result of the British desire to weaken
the nationalism of Bengal and consolidate a Muslim
block against it. The partition of Bengal was aimed at
creating a Muslim majority province. Nawab
Sallimullah of Dhaka

16. Formation of Muslim League
 The partition scheme and the subsequent Swadeshi
Movement were followed by the formation of the All
India Muslim League towards the end of 1906, with
official patronage.
 It consisted of a group of big Zamindars, ex-
bureaucrats and other upper class Muslims, like Aga
Khan, the Nawab of Dacca and Nawab Mosin-ul-
Mulk.
 Its motive was to thwart the young Muslims from
going over to the Congress, and thereby into the
nationalist fold.
 The Muslim League was formed as purely a loyalist
body whose only job was to look up to the government
for favor and patronage. And they were not
disappointed.
The growing communalism led
to the Muslims forming a new
political party called the
Muslim
Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, Aga Khan
III, Khwaja
Salimullah, Hakim Ajmal
Khan, Waqar-ul-Mulk

17. SHIMLA DEPUTATION
The Shimla Deputation was a gathering of 35 prominent Indian Muslim
leaders led by the Aga Khan III at the Viceregal Lodge in Shimla in October
1906. The deputation aimed to convince Lord Minto, then-Viceroy of British
India, to grant Muslims greater representation in politics. The Shimla
Deputation managed to convince Lord Minto to create better representation
for Muslims within Indian politics

18. Separate-Electorates
 The declaration of separate-electorates in the legislative bodies in 1909, as a part
of the Morley-Minto reforms is a major landmark in the history of
communalism.
 Separate electorates meant grouping of constituencies, voters and elected
candidates on the basis of religion.
 In practical terms it meant introducing Muslims constituencies, Muslim voters
and Muslim candidates.
 The election campaign and politicization was thus strictly confined within the
walls of each religion.
 All this was to have disastrous consequences.
 In 1909 British introduced separate electorates for the Muslims giving statutory
recognition that Muslims are different from other communities.

19. Lucknow Pact
 Lucknow Pact (1916) was an attempt made by the Congress and Muslim
League, to arrive at a settlement.
 The Congress conceded separate electorates as a temporary arrangement, in
order to obtain Muslim League's support.
 The Lucknow Pact was seen as a beacon of hope to Hindu Muslim unity.
 the two parties agreed to allow representation to religious minorities in the
provincial legislatures.
 The Congress agreed to separate electorates for Muslims in electing
representatives to the Imperial and Provincial Legislative Councils.
 Although the Muslims were given this right in the Indian Council Act of 1909,
the Indian National Congress opposed it.

20.  The Congress also agreed to the idea of one-third seats for the Muslims in the
Councils despite the fact that the Muslim population represented less than a
third.
 Apart from that, the Congress agreed that no act affecting a community should
be passed unless three-quarters of that community's members on the council
supported it
Khilafat Issue
 The Khilafat agitation was a product of a particular political climate where
Indian nationalism and Pan-Islamism went hand in hand.
 This was first the religious political movement in India involving common
Muslims.
 The Khilafat Movement received the support of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru,
who related his Non Cooperation Movement with it.
 It witnessed Muslims’ participation in the national movement at an
unprecedented level.

21.  However, communalism started making inroads into Indian politics
and society, just after the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation
Movement
 The number of riots in the 1920s was unprecedented. In UP alone,
there were 91 outbreaksbetween 1923-27!
 The two worst riots took place in Kohat (NWFP) and Kolkata.
 In Kohat (1924) the Muslims evicted the Hindus in retaliation
against the circulation of an anti Prophet leaflet. 155 died in those
riots. In Kolkata (1926) riots carried on for over a month and saw
138 dead.

22. Jinnah's demands
 The arrival of the Simon Commission and its near
unanimous boycott by all sections of political
opinion, once again provided an opportunity for
unity.
 A section of the Muslim League, under the
leadership of Jinnah was willing to give up separate-
electorates in favor of joint-electorates, if certain
conditions were met.
 Their demands were accepted by the Congress.
 But its rejection in uncompromising terms by the
Hindu Mahasabha in the All Party Conference
(1928) complicated the matter.

23.  The Nehru Report was rejected by the Muslim League as it did not
incorporate all their demands.
 It led to the estrangement of Jinnah who called it a 'Parting of the Ways'
with the Congress.
 He went back to the separate-electorates and formulated his famous
fourteen points which became the text of the communal demands
Towards a mass base
 Soon this drifting apart was to reach a point of no return.
 This was the starting point of communalism transforming into an
irresistible mass force.
 Post 1937 election and dismal performance of Muslim League, a massive
campaign for the popularization of the League was launched by Jinnah.

24.  The Muslim League actually broke out of its elite shell and began to
acquire a mass character.
 By 1940, all the communal demands were to pale into insignificance in
front of the new demand-the demand for Pakistan, as a separate homeland
for Muslims.
Demand for Pakistan
 In 1940, at the Lahore session, Jinnah came up with the two-nation theory.
 It said that Muslims were not a minority, they were a nation.
 Hindus and Muslims, consisted of two nations, as they were different
people economically, politically, socially, culturally and historically.
 Therefore the Muslims of India should have a sovereign state for
themselves. Hence lie proposal for Pakistan as a separate homeland for
Muslims.
 This demand was finally achieved in 1947.

26. Partition of India was one of the worst humanitarian crisis: the death of more
than a million people, some 17 million displaced, and countless properties
destroyed and looted.