The Company Grows In Power

PORTUGUESE, DUTCH AND THE BRITISH
The Portuguese had begun trading in India in the 16th Century. During 17th Century the Dutch build up their navy to be the strongest in the world. Now they were able to challenge Portuguese and set up trading posts in the subcontinent. The British East India Company had started in 1605. British traders sent ships to the subcontinent, setting up their first settlement in 1611 at Masulipatam on the Bay of Bengal. By the mid 17th century British had about 27 settlements. The most important coastal settlements were Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. The British called them ‘Presidencies’. The Company could make large profits because
Ø The Company had the monopoly of sale of Indian Goods in the Britain.
Ø Company merchants were able to ‘cut out the middlemen’. Because they bought goods directly from Indian Manufacturers and owned their own ships they did not have to pay other merchants or ship owners.
Ø The Company developed new markets for the Indian Goods in Africa and North America.

In the early years, Company settlements were defended by a small number of troops. Later the Company began to train local soldiers called ‘Sepoys’. Soon there were small armies at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras in 1717, for example, there were 360 soldiers and by 1742 they increased to 1,200. The new armies made the company much more powerful as local Rajahs and Nawab rulers asked to borrow its soldiers to fight battles. In return the company at first asked for trading agreements and later asked for land. In this way British began to take on political role. Once the company had began to rule areas-directly or indirectly-trade became less important because the company made money by collecting taxes.

British Raj 'The New Mughals'

Robert Clive’s Military successes in the subcontinent opened the path for three men who followed him, Warren Hastings, Lord CornWallis, and Lord Wellesley. It was mainly due to their efforts that British greatly expanded their power across the subcontinent.

How did British take control of Sindh and Punjab?

THROUGH SINDH TO AFGHANISTAN
The British began to fear that the Russians would advance towards the subcontinent. What if they came through Khyber Pass?Governer-General Lord Auckland(1836-1842) was sent to stop them. At that time Shah Shoja, the exiled Afghan King, was living in Punjab. Panjit Singh had spared his life for the daimond called ‘Kohi-noor’ . Now Lord Auckland decided decided to put Shah Shoja back on the throne, but for this the existing ruler, Dost Muhammad, had to go. British seized control of Karachi, Hyderabad and sukker. The Army of the Indus gathered at Firozpur. It travelled down the Sutlej and Indus River by paddle-steamer to Shikarpur and from there marched to Bolan Pass. The First Afghan War(1838-1842) was soon to begin. The British reached Kabul and at first things went well. Dost Muhammadfled-there were rumours that he had gone to ask Russians help. Shah Shoja took the throne. There were comtinually attacked, and Shah Shoja became unpopular. After two years the situation deterioted to such extent that Lord Auckland ordered British to leave Afghanistan. In January 1842, 4,000 soldiers and 12,000 other headed for the Khyber Pass. Immediately they began to die from the intense cold and attacks by tribesmen. Lord Auckland was ordered back to London where he died due to mental breakdown.Meanwhile, In Afghanistan Shah Shoja was murdered and Dost Muhammad regained the throne. The First Afghan War had cost 20,000 lives and a huge sum of money-all for Nothing.

SINDH COMES UNDER BRITISH RULE
After the disaster of the First Afghan War the British wanted to take control of Sindh and the Punjab in order to save their reputation. They occupied Karachi and in 1843 forced the Amirs to sign a treaty giving British power in Sindh. The Amirs rebelled and Sir Napier led forces and defeated them in a battle near Hyderabad. Now with the control of Sindh the British almost ruled almost all the subcontinent.

BRITISH TAKE CONTROL OF PUNJAB
Ranjit Singh died at Lahore in 1839; his four wives and several other women threw themselves into funeral fire. Members of his family took the power, including his son Dalip Singh, but had difficulty in keeping control. By 1844 British had 32,000 troops and 68 cannons lined up on the River Sutlej. The following year sikh army crossed the river breaking the Amritsar Treaty that Panjit Singh made with the British. The First Sikh War began. Three months later nearly 20,000 Sikh, Sepoys, and the European soldiers were dead- and the British captured Lahore.

Indian Rebellion [1857]

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to present-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northern Madhya Pradesh, and the Delhi region. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to Company power in that region, and it was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The rebellion is also known as India's First War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the Revolt of 1857, the Uprising of 1857 and the Sepoy Mutiny.
The rebels, often considered freedom fighters by Indian nationalists, quickly captured large swathes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, including Delhi, where they installed the Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, as Emperor of Hindustan. The Company response came rapidly as well: by September 1857, with help from fresh reinforcements, Delhi had been retaken. Nevertheless, it then took the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be completely suppressed in Oudh.
Other regions of Company controlled India—Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, and the Madras Presidency—remained largely calm. In Punjab, only recently annexed by the East India Company, the Sikh princes backed the Company by providing both soldiers and support. The large princely states, Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, and Kashmir, as well as the smaller ones of Rajputana, by not joining the rebellion, served, in the Governor-General Lord Canning's words, as "breakwaters in a storm" for the Company.
In some regions, especially in Oudh, the rebellion took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence; however, although the rebel leaders, especially the Rani of Jhansi, became folk heroes in the burgeoning nationalist movement in India half a century later, they themselves "generated no coherent ideology or programme on which to build a new order." Still, the rebellion proved to be an important watershed in Indian history; it led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, and forced the British to reorganize the army, the financial system, and the administration in India. India was thereafter directly governed by the British government —originally via the India Office and a cabinet level Secretary of State for India—in the new British Raj, a system of governance that underwent several reforms prior to Indian independence in 1947

Establishment of Indian National Congress [1885]

Events like the passage of the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 and the Ilbert Bill of 1882, as well as the reduction of the age limit for the Civil Services Exams in 1876 resulted in a wave of opposition from the middle class Indians. Consequently some of them came together and formed a number of small political parties that came out in the streets for protests and rallies. The British foresaw the situation resulting in another rebellion on the pattern of the War of Independence of 1857. To avoid such a situation, the British decided to provide an outlet to the local people where they could discuss their political problems. In order to achieve this goal, Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, had a series of meetings with Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy. He also visited England and met people like John Bright, Sir James Caird, Lord Ripon and some members of the British Parliament. Hume also had the support of a large number of Englishmen in India, including Sir William Wedderbun, George Yule and Charles Bradlaugh.
On his return from Britain, Hume consulted the local Indian leaders and started working towards the establishment of an Indian political organization. He invited the convention of the Indian National Union, an organization he had already formed in 1884, to Bombay in December 1885. Seventy delegates, most of whom were lawyers, educationalists and journalists, attended the convention in which the Indian National Congress was established. This first session of Congress was presided over by Womesh Chandra Banerjee and he was also elected as the first president of the organization.
To begin with, Congress acted as a 'Kings Party'. Its early aims and objectives were:
1. To seek the cooperation of all the Indians in its efforts.
2. Eradicate the concepts of race, creed and provincial prejudices and try to form national unity.
3. Discuss and solve the social problems of the country.
4. To request the government, give more share to the locals in administrative affairs.
As time went by, the Congress changed its stance and apparently became the biggest opposition to the British government.
Muslims primarily opposed the creation of Congress and refused to participate in its activities. Out of the 70 delegates who attended the opening session of the Congress, only two were Muslims. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who was invited to attend the Bombay session, refused the offer. He also urged the Muslims to abstain from the Congress activities and predicted that the party would eventually become a Hindu party and would only look after the interests of the Hindus. Syed Ameer Ali, another important Muslim figure of the era, also refused to join Indian National Congress.

Simla Deputation [1906]

When Lord Minto was appointed as the Viceroy on India in 1905, new reforms were indicated in which the elected principle would be extended. The anti-partition agitation had convinced the Muslims of the futility of expecting any fair-play from the Hindu majority. Therefore, to safeguard their interests, the Muslim leaders drew up a plan for separate electorates for their community, and presented it to the Viceroy Lord Minto at Simla, on October 1, 1906. Mr. Bilgrami wrote the text of the plan. The Simla Deputation consisted of 70 representatives, representing all opinions of the Muslim community, and headed by Sir Aga Khan who read the address. The long address said, among other things, that the position of the Muslim community should not be estimated by its numerical strength alone, but in terms of its political importance and services rendered to the Empire. He also pointed out that the representative institutions of the West were inappropriate for India and that their application was raising difficult problems. He stressed the need of utmost care while introducing or extending the electoral system in whatever sphere, be it municipal or provincial. He stated that the Muslims should be represented as a community.
The Viceroy in his reply to the Simla Deputation address reassured the Muslims that their political rights and interests as a community would be safeguarded by any administrative reorganization under him.
The acceptance of the Deputation's demands proved to be a turning point in the history of the Sub-continent. For the first time, the Hindu-Muslim conflict was raised to the constitutional plane. The Muslims made it clear that they had no confidence in the Hindu majority and that they were not prepared to put their future in the hands of an assembly elected on the assumed basis of a homogenous Indian nation. It is in this sense that the beginning of separate electorate may be seen as the beginning of the realization of the Two-Nation Theory, its final and inevitable consequence being the partition of British India in 1947.
The Simla Deputation was successful because the Muslims were strongly urged to protect their separate identity, whereas the British responded to their demands, as Lord Minto was anxious to pull them out of their political discontent.
Separate electorates were given statutory recognition in the Indian Councils Act of 1909. Muslims were accorded not only the right to elect their representatives by separate electorates, but also the right to vote in general constituencies. In addition, they were also given weightage in representation.

Establishment of All India Muslim League [1906]

Muslims could not rely on Indian National Congress as it was seen as an organization which could only advance Hindu views and ignored Muslim rights. The Congress was demanding that India should be treated as a cultural whole and Hindi should be made the official language, so it was felt that there should be a separate party as a counter party of Congress especially for Muslims.
Muslims were unorganised and dis-united, so Muslim Leaders felt the need to organise and unite the Muslims in the form of a Muslims League to strenthen their position to face the strong opposition from the Hindus against Muslims rights.

The Lucknow Pact [1916]

Lucknow Pact refers to an agreement between Indian National Congress and Muslim League. In 1916, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, a member of the Muslim League negotiated with the Indian National Congress to reach an agreement to pressure the British Government to have a more liberal approach to India and give Indians more authority to run their country. This was a considerable change of policy for the Muslim League, as it was established that to preserve Muslim interests in India, they needed to support British rule in India. After the unpopular partition of Bengal, the Muslim League was confused about its stand and it was at this time that Jinnah approached the League. Jinnah was the mastermind and architect of the pact.
The main clauses of the Lucknow Pact were:
1. There shall be self-government in India.
2. Muslims should be given one-third representation in the central government.
3. There should be separate electorates for all the communities until a community demanded for joint electorates.
4. System of weightage should be adopted.
5. The number of the members of Central Legislative Council should be increased to 150.
6. At the provincial level, four-fifth of the members of the Legislative Councils should be elected and one-fifth should be nominated.
7. The strength of Provincial legislative should not be less than 125 in the major provinces and from 50 to 75 in the minor provinces.
8. All members, except those nominated, were to be elected directly on the basis of adult franchise.
9. No bill concerning a community should be passed if the bill is opposed by three-fourth of the members of that community in the Legislative Council.
10. Term of the Legislative Council should be five years.
11. Members of Legislative Council should themselves elect their president.
12. Half of the members of Imperial Legislative Council should be Indians.
13. Indian Council must be abolished.
14. The salaries of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs should be paid by the British Government and not from Indian funds.
15. Out of two Under Secretaries, one should be Indian.
16. The Executive should be separated from the Judiciary.
Although this Hindu Muslim Unity was not able to live for more than eight years, and collapsed after the development of differences between the two communities after the Khilafat Movement, yet it was an important event in the history of the Muslims of South Asia. It was the first time when Congress recognized the Muslim League as the political party representing the Muslims of the region. As Congress agreed to separate electorates, it in fact agreed to consider the Muslims as a separate nation. They thus accepted the concept of the Two-Nation Theory.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre alternatively known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh in the northern Indian city of Amritsar where, on April 13, 1919, 90 British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted about 10 minutes. Official British Raj sources placed the fatalities at 379, and with 1100 wounded.

Khilafat Movement [1919-1924]

The Khilafat movement was a political campaign launched mainly by Muslims in South Asia to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I. The position of Caliph after the Armistice of Mudros of October 1918 with the military occupation of Istanbul and Treaty of Versailles (1919) fell into a disambiguation along with the Ottoman Empire's existence. The movement gained force after the Treaty of Sèvres (August 1920) which solidified the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. In some regions the Khilafat movement cause was perceived as Islamic fundamentalism based on a pan-Islamic agenda.

Hijrat Movement was one of the reasons for the failure of Khilafat Movement. Muslims migrated towards Afghanistan in search of a safer Muslim country as India was declared as Darul-Harb. Muslims were not welcomed by the Afghan government and had to return to India due to which most of them died as they were travelling on foot, and those who survived had to face a lot of difficulties because they had nothing for their livelihood and shelter. As a result Khilafat movement could not moral support.
Arrest of major Muslim leaders was another reason for the failure of Khilafat movement. Muslims could not get proper guidance in the absence of leading leaders. They did not know whom they should follow and as result people got confused and the movement could not get right direction.
Another incident which took part in the failure of the Khilafat Movement was the Chauri Chaura incident. In 1922, a mob of protesting people surrounded a check post and burned it due to which 22 policemen were burned alive. Due to which Gandhi left his support for the movement as he made it very clear in the beginning that if the movement would turn into violence he would leave his support. As a result the pressure upon British decreased as a majority section was Hindus and the Muslims could not pressurize British in a short period of time.
Kemal Ataturk’s Secularization of Turkey was another reason for the failure of the movement. As soon as he took over the government he declared it as Secular Country which automatically finished the cause of the movement so it was useless to continue it so it ended automatically.

Simon Commission [1927]

Indians rejected the Commission as no Indian was included in the commission who could present their demands and suggestions, so they rejected it.
Muslim League rejected it because even not a single point of Delhi Proposals was included in the Commission, so they didn’t have the protection of their rights in the future so they rejected to boycott it.
Congress rejected it because it wanted full independence in India and wanted British to take certain steps regarding this but when no surety was given they rejected it.

Delhi Muslim Proposals [1927]

Considering separate electorates to be the main hindrance in improving Hindu-Muslim relations, Quaid-i-Azam proposed that if the Hindus agreed to provide certain safeguards, the Muslims would give up this demand. Consequently, the proposals were formally approved at a conference held by the Muslims in 1927 at Delhi, and are now called "The Delhi-Muslim Proposals". Following are the safeguards that were proposed:
1. The formation of a separate province of Sindh.
2. Introduction of reforms in the North West Frontier Province and in Baluchistan on the same footing as in other provinces.
Unless and until the above proposals were implemented, the Muslims would never surrender the right of their representation through separate electorates. Muslims would be willing to abandon separate electorates in favor of joint electorates with the reservation of seats fixed in proportion to the population of different communities, if the above two proposals were implemented to the full satisfaction of Muslims and also if the following proposals were accepted.
4. Hindu minorities in Sindh, Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province be accorded the same concessions in the form of reservation of seats over and above the proportion of their population as Muslims would get in Hindu majority provinces.
5. Muslim representation in the Central Legislature would not be less than one-third.
6. In addition to provisions like religious freedom, there was to be a further guarantee in the constitution that on communal matters no bill or resolution would be considered or passed if three-fourth of the members of the community concerned were opposed to it.
These proposals were to be accepted or rejected in toto. So, in effect, the Muslims agreed to give up the separate electorates in form of the reservation of seats. Unfortunately, the Congress first accepted but later rejected the proposals.

Fourteen Points of M. A. Jinnah [1929]

Fourteen Points were as follow:
1. The form of the future constitution should be federal with the residuary powers vested in the provinces.
2. A uniform measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.
3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.
4. In the Central Legislative, Muslim representation shall not be less than one-third.
5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present, provided it shall be open to any community at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favor of a joint electorate.
6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in the Punjab, Bengal and the North West Frontier Province.
7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.
8. No bill or any resolution or any part thereof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected body if three-fourth of the members of any community in that particular body oppose such a bill resolution or part thereof on the ground that it would be injurious to the interests of that community or in the alternative, such other method is devised as may be found feasible and practicable to deal with such cases.
9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay presidency.
10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan on the same footing as in the other provinces.
11. Provision should be made in the constitution giving Muslims an adequate share, along with the other Indians, in all the services of the state and in local self-governing bodies having due regard to the requirements of efficiency.
12. The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion, personal laws and Muslim charitable institution and for their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the state and by local self-governing bodies.
13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one-third Muslim ministers.
14. No change shall be made in the constitution by the Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the State's contribution of the Indian Federation.
Jinnah’s 14 points set out demands of any future negotiations either with Congress or with British Government. As British stated that Indians were responsible to present their own report for future constitutional solutions.

These points also formed the basis of Muslims demands for a separate nation state- Pakistan. It also convinced British that the hindus and muslims were two separate nations.
These points were in response to Nehru Report, as it was a biased report which was set-up for the protections of hindu rights. This report also reflected the hidden aim of hindus to be dominant in Indian politics.

Round Table Conferences [1930-33]

First Round Table was attended by Muslim League, Heads of Princely States and British. Congress did not participate in it because of its Non-Cooperational Movement. Congress wanted British to accept certain demands and then they would participate in the conference. Federal System for India was approved by the participants. They agreed for representative government for India at provicial level. There was a dead-lock at the Provitial level and the minorities and the sub-committee could nut reach an agreeable conclusion.
Second Round Table Conference was attended by all the parties but failed for the reason that Gandhi did not agree upon the minority issue but there were certain success like Sindh and N.W.F.P were given the status of a province.
Third Round Table Conference was a total failure as congress and jinnah did not attend. Only Muslim representatives were there. Nothing was decided in the conference because of the absence of the major leading political parties. It failed automatically without any progress.

Government of India Act 1935

The Government of India Act 1935 was important as some provintial autonomy was granted which meant that every provintial government could devise and carry out its program with responsibility to their own legislature. This was the first time that the provintial government had control over all the departments of the country except when governers choose to intervene.
One of the drawbacks of the constitution was that the real power was still in the hands of the governers who could appoint and dismiss. Another drawback was the decision towards External Relations and the defence remained still in the hands of British.
Provisions were included for the formation of Federal Government at Centre which meant that the princely states could decide to participate in the government politically. Additional right of voting was given to the people.

The main features of the Act of 1935 were:

1. A Federation of India was promised for, comprising both provinces and states. The provisions of the Act establishing the federal central government were not to go into operation until a specified number of rulers of states had signed Instruments of Accession. Since, this did not happen, the central government continued to function in accordance with the 1919 Act and only the part of the 1935 Act dealing with the provincial governments went into operation.
2. The Governor General remained the head of the central administration and enjoyed wide powers concerning administration, legislation and finance.
3. No finance bill could be placed in the Central Legislature without the consent of the Governor General.
4. The Federal Legislature was to consist of two houses, the Council of State (Upper House) and the Federal Assembly (Lower House).
5. The Council of State was to consist of 260 members, out of whom 156 were to be elected from the British India and 104 to be nominated by the rulers of princely states.
6. The Federal Assembly was to consist of 375 members; out of which 250 were to be elected by the Legislative Assemblies of the British Indian provinces while 125 were to be nominated by the rulers of princely states.
7. The Central Legislature had the right to pass any bill, but the bill required the approval of the Governor General before it became Law. On the other hand Governor General had the power to frame ordinances.
8. The Indian Council was abolished. In its place, few advisers were nominated to help the Secretary of State for India.
9. The Secretary of State was not expected to interfere in matters that the Governor dealt with, with the help of Indian Ministers.
10. The provinces were given autonomy with respect to subjects delegated to them.
11. Diarchy, which had been established in the provinces by the Act of 1919, was to be established at the Center. However it came to an end in the provinces.
12. Two new provinces Sindh and Orissa were created.
13. Reforms were introduced in N. W. F. P. as were in the other provinces.
14. Separate electorates were continued as before.
15. One-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature was guaranteed.
16. Autonomous provincial governments in 11 provinces, under ministries responsible to legislatures, would be setup.
17. Burma and Aden were separated from India.
18. The Federal Court was established in the Center.
19. The Reserve Bank of India was established.

Rule of Congress Ministries [1937-1939]

Muslims started hating congress rule due to atrocities committed against Muslims. Some Muslims were killed by Hindus some organized attacks were mode on Muslims worshippers in mosques which disappointed them religiously.
Band e mataram, in which degrading remarks were used against Muslims was adopted as nation anthem, and had to be sung at the beginning of each day.
Muslims students were forced to join it due to which they got disappointed and most of them left there schools or educational institutes.
Widdia Mandar scheme or basic education scheme was imposed, under which all the students had to bow before Gandhi’s picture each day .Hindi was made official language which was one of the effort of Hindus suppress Muslim culture and their identification .

Lahore Resolution [1940]

In March 1940, the League had its first wartime meeting known as Lahore Resolution in which Jinnah demanded a single nation state-Pakistan. Jinnah realized that Hindus and Muslims were different from each other in philosophy, social customs, religion and literature, which called the Muslims to have a separate nation.
The reaction of Gandhi was Disappointing as he called it ‘baffling’ or ‘untruth’. He said that the Muslims and their ancestors had been in the past low cast Hindus before they converted to Islam and so they don’t need a separate nation. Another reason for the opposition of partition was that the creation of Pakistan would create new defensive problems for ‘Hindustan’.
In addition, British Government even at this stage wanted to keep the subcontinent united. But to Muslims partition was the solution to all their problems, and in Jinnah they had a leader not to be weakened by any kind of opposition.

Cripps Mission [1942]

Three days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941, the Congress leaders were released from prison. Now Japan joined the Axis power and quickly invaded most of the South East Asia. The Japanese invaded Burma and reached the Indian border. India was under threat. In 1942 Churchill sent a senior member of the Cabinet, Sir Stafford Cripps, to try to get and support of Congress against Japanese. Cripps was a clever choice as he knew both Nehru and Jinnah. The Cripps Mission offered India full Dominion status after the war.

Quit-India Movement

The Quit-India Movement was started in response to Cripps Mission because it didn’t give a clear cut picture of an independent India.
It was started because Congress wanted to take full advantage of the situation as Japan intended to attack India during the World War II and Gandhi thought it was the best time to pressurize British for its hidden plans.
Quit-India Movement was started because Congress wanted to take full and immediate independence just to rule as the dominant power over all the minorities, especially Muslims that is why Jinnah termed it ‘BLACKMAIL’ and stopped the Muslims for the participation in it.

Simla Conference [1945]

In the summer of 1945 the Second World War was coming to an end, with the surrender of Japanese the subcontinent was no longer under threat of invasion. The Viceroy Lord Wavell held talks at Simla in a last attempt to bring the congress and Muslim League together. The Simla Conference, as it known, failed however. Only after two weeks later Churchill’s government was voted out of power in Britain and a Labour(Socialist) government came in. The Labour Party had for along time thought that the British rule in India had become more trouble than it was worth. In addition, the British needed to concentrate on rebuilding their country, which had been seriously weakened by the war.

Provincial and General Elections [1945-46]

With the failure of the Simla Conference, Lord Wavell announced that the Central and Provincial Legislature elections would be held in the winter of 1945, after which a constitution-making body would be set up. He also announced that after the elections, the Viceroy would set an Executive Council that would have the support of the main Indian political parties. Both the Muslim League and the Congress opposed the proposal.

Quaid-i-Azam declared that Muslims were not ready to accept any settlement less than a separate homeland for them and the All India Congress Committee characterized the proposal as vague, inadequate and unsatisfactory because it had not addressed the issue of independence. Despite this, the two parties launched huge election campaigns. They knew that the elections would be crucial for the future of India, as the results were to play an important role in determining their standing. The League wanted to sweep the Muslim constituencies so as to prove that they were the sole representatives of the Muslims of Sub-continent, while Congress wanted to prove that, irrespective of religion, they represent all the Indians.

Cabinet Mission Plan [1946]

In 1946, British put forward a scheme that is known as Cabinet Mission Plan. It proposed that a ‘United India’ should be ruled by a single government. This was done because the Labour party in London believed that the main problem of the sub-continent was the Hindu Muslim conflict.

The plan of the Mission was that they decided to divide India into three groups. Group A consisted of Hindu-majority areas and the provinces of the Bombay presidencies, Madras, United provinces, Bihar, Orissa and the central provinces/ Group B consisted of Muslim majority areas of Punjab, N.W.F.P, Sindh and Baluchistan. Group C consisted of Hindu Majority area of Assam and Muslim majority areas of Bengal.

The Indian Parties Congress and Muslim League accepted the plan as they thought could rule their own areas, but in July, the League withdrew its decision. Jinnah issued a statement calling the Muslims to conduct themselves on the day of Direct Action. At many places demonstrations were peaceful but in Calcutta there was violence and 4000 people died, 10,000 became homeless which led to more violence.

June 3rd Plan [1947]

When all of Mountbatten's efforts to keep India united failed, he asked Ismay to chalk out a plan for the transfer of power and the division of the country. It was decided that none of the Indian parties would view it before the plan was finalized.
The plan was finalized in the Governor's Conference in April 1947, and was then sent to Britain in May where the British Government approved it.
The following were the main clauses of this Plan:

1. The Provincial Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal were to meet in two groups, i.e., Muslim majority districts and non-Muslim majority districts. If any of the two decided in favor of the division of the province, then the Governor General would appoint a boundary commission to demarcate the boundaries of the province on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims.

2. The Legislative Assembly of Sindh (excluding its European Members) was to decide either to join the existing Constituent Assembly or the New Constituent Assembly.

3. In order to decide the future of the North West Frontier Province, a referendum was proposed. The Electoral College for the referendum was to be the same as the Electoral College for the provincial legislative assembly in 1946.

4. Baluchistan was also to be given the option to express its opinion on the issue.

5. If Bengal decided in favor of partition, a referendum was to be held in the Sylhet District of Assam to decide whether it would continue as a part of Assam, or be merged with the new province of East Bengal.

The Birth of Pakistan [August 14, 1947]

The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on July 18, 1947. The Act created two dominions, Indian Union and Pakistan. It also provided for the complete end of British control over Indian affairs from August 15, 1947. The Muslims of the Sub-continent had finally achieved their goal to have an independent state for themselves, but only after a long and relentless struggle under the single-minded guidance of the Quaid.
The Muslims faced a gamut of problems immediately after independence. However, keeping true to their traditions, they overcame them after a while. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was appointed the first Governor General of Pakistan and Liaquat Ali Khan became its first Prime Minister. Pakistan became a dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations.