National University of Modern Languages Islamabad

Department of Pakistan studies

Assignment topic
Jinnah and All India Muslim League (1906 to 1920)

Name: Azra Salman

Submitted to: Sir Azhar Abbasi
Roll No: 21002
Course: BS Pakistan Studies 6th afternoon
Course Title: Jinnah’s early life and career
 Content
1. History

2. Introduction

3. Jinnah and Muslim League

4. Presidential address by Mohammad Ali jinnah to Muslim League

5. Aim of All India Muslim League

6. Events 1906 to 1920

a) Simla Deputation 1906

b) Establishment of All India Muslim League
c) Minto-Morley Reforms
d) The Lucknow Pact
e) Khilafat movement,
f) First World War
g) Kanpur Mosque Incident
h) The Massacre of Jallianwala Bagh

7. Conclusion
1. History:

The All-India Muslim League. Founded in December 1906, it began as an elite party, limiting its
membership to 400 for the whole subcontinent and charging very high registration and annual
fees. It passed through several phases in its history, articulating Muslim demands at the all-India
and provincial levels. Except for short intervals of dormancy, the processes of its membership
enrolment and party elections from the grassroots to the central level were amazingly regular and
quite remarkable. The climax of its activities used to be all-India annual and special sessions.
Muslims would attend these sessions from the remotest corner of the subcontinent. During its
final phase, Quaid-i-Azam M.A. Jinnah transformed it into a mass party, which had active
branches in all the provinces of British India. Despite limited resources in funding and
propaganda, the party successfully mobilized the Muslim masses of every school of thought in
support of its demand for Pakistan. Its lasting contribution is the formation of Pakistan, achieved
within a decade of commencing this phase of its historic struggle. Based on the Muslim League
and other contemporary primary sources, the author gives a comprehensive account of this
remarkable phenomenon of a Muslim political party.

2. Introduction:

The party arose out of a literary movement begun at The Aligarh Muslim University and was
formed in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh) many years after the death of Syed Ahmad Khan who was
central figure for the formation of the University. It remained an elitist organization until 1937
when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses and the league then became a popular
organization.

Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literature. It
is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans derive their inspiration from different sources of
history. They have different epics, different heroes and different episodes. To yoke together two
such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority must
lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the
government of such a state.

3. Jinnah and the Muslim League:

Jinnah and the Muslim League led the struggle for the partition of British India into separate
Hindu and Muslim states, and after the formation of Pakistan in 1947 the league became
Pakistan‘s dominant political party. In that year it was renamed the All Pakistan Muslim League.
But the league functioned less effectively as a modern political party in Pakistan.

Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort, hoping that Indians
would be rewarded with political freedoms.

Jinnah had initially avoided joining the All India Muslim League, founded in 1906, regarding it
as too communal. Eventually, he joined the league in 1913 and became the president at the 1916
session in Lucknow. Jinnah was the architect of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress
and the League, bringing them together on most issues regarding self-government and presenting
a united front to the British. Jinnah also played an important role in the founding of the All India
Home Rule League in 1916. Along with political leaders Annie Besant and Tilak, Jinnah
demanded ― home rule‖ for India—the status of a self-governing dominion in the Empire similar
to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He headed the League‘s Bombay Presidency chapter. In
1918, Jinnah married his second wife Rattanbai Petit (―Ruttie‖), twenty-four years his junior, and
the fashionable young daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit of an elite Parsi family
of Mumbai. Unexpectedly there was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai‘s family
and Parsi society, as well as orthodox Muslim leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally
converted to Islam, adopting (though never using) the name ―Maryam‖—resulting in a
permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided in Bombay, and
frequently travelled across India and Europe. She bore Jinnah his only child, daughter Dina, in
year 1919.

4. Presidential address by Mohammad Ali jinnah to the Muslim League:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
This session of the All-India Muslim League. Is one of the most critical that have taken place
during its existence for the last more than thirty years.

The policy and the programme that you are called upon to formulate and lay down involves the
fate and the future of the Musalmans of India and the country at large. On 12 th April 1936, the
Muslim League at its session, the first time in its history, undertook the policy and programme of
mass contact. The League considered the prevailing conditions and surveyed the situation, as we
had to face the forthcoming elections on the eve of the inauguration of the new Provincial
Constitution embodied in the Government of India Act, 1935, and had no alternative but to enter
the field and contest the elections to the Provincial Legislatures. It was also felt that there was no
alternative but to utilise the Provincial Constitution for what it was worth, although it was far
from being satisfactory. I may here reproduce the resolution that was passed on the 12 th April,
1936:

5. Aim of All India Muslim League:

The All India Muslim League, organized in 1906, aimed to give Muslims a voice so as to
counter what was then perceived as the growing influence of the Hindus under British
rule. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, earlier a prominent Muslim member of the Congress,
assumed leadership of the league following his break with Congress leader Mohandas K.
Gandhi. A firm believer in the Anglo-Saxon rule of law and a close associate of Iqbal,
Jinnah questioned the security of the Muslim minority in an India dominated by
essentially Hindu authority. Declaring Islam was endangered by a revived Hindu
assertiveness, Jinnah and the league posited a ―two-nation theory‖ that argued Indian
Muslims were entitled to—and therefore required—a separate, self-governing state in a
reconstituted subcontinent.
6. Events 1906 to 1920

Simla Deputation 1906

Muslims had watched the reaction of Hindus towards Partition of Bengal with great
dismay. They saw a massive wave of organized protest which they fear would result in the
partition being reversed. The Muslims knew that they were not able to provide such a level
of protest to maintain the partition. So the Muslims organized the Simla deputation to the
viceroy for the maintenance of partition of Bengal. Further, the Indian national congress
was dominated by Hindus, Muslims feared that the Hindu agitation would lead to the Hindi
becoming the national language, or even the Muslims forcibly converted to Hinduism. So
to get their rights Muslims organized the Simla deputation. The new liberal Govt. was
elected in Britain in 1905; liberals stated that they would increase local participation in the
Govt. of India through elections. Muslims feared that they would soon be dominated by
Hindus in the local Govt. So they organized the Simla deputation to see the viceroy and to
inform him about their reservations and demands, So that they might be included in the
coming reforms.

Importance of Simla Deputation

The acceptance of Simla Deputation by the British was an extremely important movement in the
history of Pakistan. The acceptance by the British showed that the attempts by Sir. Syed and
others to restore relations between the British and Muslims had been successful. Now the British
were prepared to work with the Muslims and even to make to concessions to them. It also
showed that the Muslim community had tried to ensure that it developed a secure place in the
constitution by its own methods. The Hindu-Muslim rivalry which existed in day to day life now
existed in the constitution as well. The deputation showed that the Muslims had now come round
to the idea that they were a separate community from Hindus which should be treated in a
different way from Hindus. This was a short step from breaking away from Congress to establish
a Muslim party which would protect and present Muslims rights and reservations to the Govt. of
India. The historians described this as a first step down the long road that leads to the Formation
of Pakistan.
Establishment of All India Muslim League

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.

Three factors had kept Muslims away from the Congress, Sir Syed‘s advice to the Muslims to
give it a wide berth, Hindu agitation against the partition of Bengal and the Hindu religious
revivalism‘s hostility towards the Muslims. The Muslims remained loyal to Sir Syed‘s advice but
events were quickly changing the Indian scene and politics were being thrust on all sections of
the population.

But the main motivating factor was that the Muslims‘ intellectual class wanted representation;
the masses needed a platform on which to unite. It was the dissemination of western thought by
John Locke, Milton and Thomas Paine, etc. at the M. A. O. College that initiated the emergence
of Muslim nationalism.

The headquarters of the All India Muslim League was established in Lucknow, and Sir Aga
Khan was elected as its first president. Also elected were six vice-presidents, a secretary and two
joint secretaries for a term of three years. The initial membership was 400, with members hailing
proportionately from all provinces. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jouhar wrote the constitution of the
League, known as the ―Green Book‖. Branches were also setup in other provinces. Syed Ameer
Ali established a branch of the League in London in 1908, supporting the same objectives.

Following were the 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 it‘s own purposes.
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.

Minto-Morley Reforms

In 1906, Lord Morley, the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs, announced in the British
parliament that his government wanted to introduce new reforms for India, in which the locals
were to be given more powers in legislative affairs. With this, a series of correspondences started
between him and Lord Minto, the then Governor General of India. A committee was appointed
by the Government of India to propose a scheme of reforms. The committee submitted its report,
and after the approval of Lord Minto and Lord Morley, the Act of 1909 was passed by the British
parliament. The Act of 1909 is commonly known as the Minto-Morley Reforms.

The following were the main features of the Act of 1909:

 The number of the members of the Legislative Council at the Center was increased from
16 to 60.
 The number of the members of the Provincial Legislatives was also increased. It was fixed
as 50 in the provinces of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, and for the rest of the provinces it
was 30.
 The member of the Legislative Councils, both at the Center and in the provinces, were to
be of four categories i.e. ex-officio members (Governor General and the members of their
Executive Councils), nominated official members (those nominated by the Governor
General and were government officials), nominated non-official members (nominated by
the Governor General but were not government officials) and elected members (elected by
different categories of Indian people).
 Right of separate electorate was given to the Muslims.
 At the Center, official members were to form the majority but in provinces non-official
members would be in majority.
 The members of the Legislative Councils were permitted to discuss the budgets, suggest
the amendments and even to vote on them; excluding those items that were included as
non-vote items. They were also entitled to ask supplementary questions during the
legislative proceedings.
 The Secretary of State for India was empowered to increase the number of the Executive
Councils of Madras and Bombay from two to four.
 Two Indians were nominated to the Council of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs.
 The Governor General was empowered to nominate one Indian member to his Executive
Council.

The Luck now Pact

When All India Muslim League came into existence, it was a moderate organization with its
basic aim to establish friendly relations with the Crown. However, due to the decision of the
British Government to annul the partition of Bengal, the Muslim leadership decided to change its
stance. In 1913, a new group of Muslim leaders entered the folds of the Muslim League with the
aim of bridging the gulf between the Muslims and the Hindus. The most prominent amongst
them was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was already a member of Indian National Congress. The
Muslim League changed its major objective and decided to join hands with the Congress in order
to put pressure on the British government. Lord Chelmsford‘s invitation for suggestions from the
Indian politicians for the post World War I reforms further helped in the development of the
situation.

As a result of the hard work of Mr. Jinnah, both the Muslim League and the Congress met for
their annual sessions at Bombay in December 1915. The principal leaders of the two political
parties assembled at one place for the first time in the history of these organizations. The
speeches made from the platform of the two groups were similar in tone and theme. Within a few
months of the Bombay moot, 19 Muslim and Hindu elected members of the Imperial Legislative
Council addressed a memorandum to the Viceroy on the subject of reforms in October 1916.
Their suggestions did not become news in the British circle, but were discussed, amended and
accepted at a subsequent meeting of the Congress and Muslim League leaders at Calcutta in
November 1916. This meeting settled the details of an agreement about the composition of the
legislatures and the quantum of representation to be allowed to the two communities. The
agreement was confirmed by the annual sessions of the Congress and the League in their annual
session held at Lucknow on December 29 and December 31, 1916 respectively. Sarojini Naidu
gave Jinnah, the chief architect of the Lucknow Pact, the title of ―the Ambassador of Hindu-
Muslim Unity‖.

The main clauses of the Lucknow Pact were:

 There shall be self-government in India.

 Muslims should be given one-third representation in the central government.
 There should be separate electorates for all the communities until a community demanded
for joint electorates.
 System of weightage should be adopted.
 The number of the members of Central Legislative Council should be increased to 150.
 At the provincial level, four-fifth of the members of the Legislative Councils should be
elected and one-fifth should be nominated.
 The strength of Provincial legislative should not be less than 125 in the major provinces
and from 50 to 75 in the minor provinces.
 All members, except those nominated, were to be elected directly on the basis of adult
franchise.
 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.
 Term of the Legislative Council should be five years.
 Members of Legislative Council should themselves elect their president.
 Half of the members of Imperial Legislative Council should be Indians.
  Indian Council must be abolished.
 The salaries of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs should be paid by the British
Government and not from Indian funds.
 Out of two Under Secretaries, one should be Indian.
 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.

Khilafat movement,

Pan-Islamic force in India that arose in 1919 in an effort to salvage the Ottoman caliph as a
symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India during the British raj. The movement
was initially bolstered by Gandhi‘s noncooperation movement but fell apart after the abolition of
the caliphate in 1924.

Fears of Muslim disunity were aroused by the decline of the Ottoman Empire—the preeminent
Islamic power whose sultan, as caliph, was seen by pan-Islamists as the leader of the worldwide
Muslim community. The caliphate was endangered first by Italian attacks (1911) and the Balkan
Wars (1912–13) and later by the empire‘s defeat in World War I (1914–18). Fears of the loss of
the caliphate were intensified by the Treaty of Sèvres (August 1920), which dismembered the
empire, not only detaching all non-Turkish regions from the empire but also giving parts of the
Turkish homeland to Greece and other non-Muslim powers.

A campaign in defense of the caliphate was launched, led in India by the brothers Shaukat and
Muḥammad ʿAlī and by Abul Kalam Azad. The leaders joined forces with Mahatma
Gandhi‘s noncooperation movement for Indian freedom, promising nonviolence in return for his
support of the Khilafat movement. In 1920 the latter movement was marred by the ḥijrat (Urdu:
―exodus‖; recalling Muhammad‘s Hijrah from Mecca) from India to Afghanistan of about
18,000 Muslim peasants, who felt that India was an apostate land. It was also tarnished by the
Muslim Malabar rebellion in south India in 1921, the excesses of which deeply stirred Hindu
India. Gandhi‘s suspension of his movement and his arrest in March 1922 weakened the Khilafat
movement still further. It was further undermined when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk drove the
Greeks from western Asia Minor in 1922 and deposed the Turkish sultan Mehmed VI in the
same year. The movement finally collapsed when Atatürk abolished the caliphate altogether in
1924.

In World War I, the British claimed that they stood for the protection of democracy around the
world. Thus the Indians, who fought for them in this war, demanded that democracy should also
be introduced in their country. In his famous August Declaration presented before the House of
Commons on August 20 1917, Montague, the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs said that in
order to satisfy the local demands, his government was interested in giving more representation
to the natives in India. New reforms would be introduced in the country to meet this objective.
He came to India and stayed here for six months. During this period he held meetings with
different government and non-government people. Finally, in cooperation with the Governor
General Lord Chelmsford, Montague presented a report on the constitutional reforms for India in
1918. The report was discussed and approved by the British Parliament and then became the Act
of 1919. This Act is commonly known as Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.

The following were the main features of the Act of 1919:

 The Council of the Secretary of State was to comprise of eight to twelve people. Three of
them should be Indian, and at least half of them should have spent at least ten years in
India.
 The Secretary of State was supposed to follow the advice of his council.
 Part of the expenses of the office of the Secretary of State was to be met by the British
Government.
The Secretary of State was not allowed to interfere in administrative matters of the
provinces concerning the ‗Transferred Subjects‘ and also in the matters on which
Governor General and his Legislative were in agreement.
 The Governor General had the power to nominate as many members to his Executive
Council as he wanted.
 Members appointed to the Executive Council were to have served in India for at least 10
years.
 The Central Legislature was to consist of two houses i.e. the Council of the State (Upper
House) and the Legislative Assembly (Lower House).
 Council of the State was to consist of 60 members out of which 33 were to be elected and
27 nominated by the Governor General.
 The Legislative Assembly was to consist of 144 members out of which 103 were to be
elected and 41 to be nominated by the Governor General.
 The franchise was limited.
 The tenure of the Upper House was five and of the Lower House was three years.
 Both the houses had equal legislative powers. In case of a tie, the Governor General was
to call a joint meeting where the matter was to be decided by majority vote.
 The Executive Council was not responsible to the Legislature and the Governor General
had the right to refuse its advice.
Provincial Legislatures were supposed to be unicameral.
 Seventy percent members of the Provincial Legislative Councils were to be elected and
thirty percent were to be nominated.
 The Governors were given ‗Instrument of Instructions‘ which guided them in carrying out
their administrative affairs.
 The System of Diarchy was introduced in the provinces.
 Besides Muslims, other minorities including Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Christians and
Europeans were also given the right of separate electorate.
 New reforms were to be introduced after ten years.
The Montague-Chelmsford reforms were not accepted by most quarters in India as they fell far
short of the Indian natives‘ expectations.

First World War

The First World War lasted over four years from 1914 to the end of 1918. Germany and its allies
Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, were called the ‗Central Powers‘ while the Entente
Governments — France, Russia, Britain were termed as ‗Allies‘.

During the war Turkey sided with Germany. In Turkey at that time there was rule of Ottoman
Empire that still owned Khilafat which the Muslims of the Subcontinent highly honored and
cherished. They feared that if Germany was defeated, Turkey would also suffer a lot. But Great
Britain fighting against the ‗Central Powers‘ continued to reassure the world at large and the
Indian Muslims in particular that they would not cause any harm to the Ottoman Empire and
would not deprive Turkey of its capital city, Asia Minor or the fertile lands of Greece.

The First World War brought with it far-reaching economic and social change as the European
colonial powers utilized their possessions for the raw materials and manpower necessary to wage
war. The war had an impact on the price of goods and foodstuffs, which rose faster than incomes.
Further hardship resulted from the increase of taxation on the peasantry. Inevitably the First
World War was prone to create turmoil in India‘s political and constitutional position too. The
most important thing the British Government required in her hour of travail was to ensure the
loyalty of the Indians throughout the War. Thus the Secretary of State Montagu proclaimed that
the Government of India was willing to encourage Indian ambitions of self-rule and therefore
increase eventually Indian participation in the administration of the country. So when it was
declared that India was also at war with Germany, legislative Councils readily voted for
emergency powers to the executive and gave full financial backing to War expenditure.
Approximately one-and-a-half million Indian troops volunteered to serve overseas and fought to
defend the interests of British capitalists. But after the war ended, the British sought to introduce
draconian legislation to contain the activity of people presumed to be political extremists. Punjab
disturbances of 1919, including the notorious massacre by General Dyer of nearly 400 unarmed
Indians at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar evidently marked the emergence of a nation-wide
movement against the British rule.

A significant impact was that the Congress and the Muslim League drew closer. The main reason
was that at the end of the First World War Germany and its allies were defeated and the British
Government entered into negotiations with other colonial powers to divide the Ottoman Empire.
The Indian Muslims got furious, as they felt cheated by the violation of repeated pledges by the
British Government. Furthermore, the Indians‘ full-fledged cooperation with the British
Government was not rewarded in the form of political concessions or self-rule for India but an
unexpected change in her attitude that was too strict and aggressive to be endured. So under the
immediate stress of anti-British emotions, the basic differences between the Hindus and the
Muslims were momentarily forgotten and it seemed that political exigency had overcome deep-
rooted instincts and suspicions. During the years 1913-1924 the Hindus and Muslims remained
united and started in unison the ‗Khilafat Movement‘ against the British Government. Especially
Gandhi threw his overall influence and pressure on the side of the ‗Khilafat Movement‘ and
carried most of the Congressmen with him. The Muslims welcomed this unexpected help as it
reinforced the ‗Khilafat Movement‘ and brightened the chances of its success.

In the aftermath of First World War the political, cultural, and social order of the world was
drastically changed in many places, even outside the areas directly involved in the war. New
countries were formed and old ones were altered.

International organizations were established, and many new and old ideas took a firm hold in
people‘s minds. In 1919, the British had to give added responsibility to Indian officials, and in
1935, India was given a federal form of government and a measure of self-rule.

Kanpur Mosque Incident

In 1913 the heavy toll of life taken by indiscriminate firing on a Muslim mob protesting against
the demolition of a portion of the Kanpur Mosque stirred and prompted the first signs of
widespread serious criticism of British rule amongst Muslims of the Subcontinent.

The misadventure occurred after the Government of U.P. approved quarter of a million rupees
for the welfare work in Kanpur. The scheme included widening of A. B. Road that became a
burning issue among Hindus because of a temple that was located on the way. Since the Hindus
forced the Government not to abolish the temple, the Public Works Department amended the
master plan and decided to change the direction of the road. According to the alternative plan,
there was an eastern portion of a mosque located opposite to the temple that had to be destroyed.
When the Muslims came to know, they were exceedingly embarrassed. They demanded that no
portion of the mosque should be demolished in order to widen the road.

The British tried to convince the Muslims that the portion of the mosque that was to be
demolished was not the part of the mosque as that that was only used for ablution. The Muslims
who were not prepared to accept their plea presented a memorial to Lt. Governor U.P. in which
they categorically called for protection of the mosque in toto. Thereupon on May 6, 1913 Lt.
Governor Sir James Meston who was quite indifferent to the religious sentiments of the Muslims
after visiting the site of the mosque adamantly rejected their demand and issued orders for its
demolition. The orders were accordingly executed by the Public Works Department in the
presence of the police the very next day. The demolished portion of the mosque intensely
provoked the Muslim community of the city. On the other hand, Lt. Governor Sir James Meston
ordered the magistrate of Kanpur to handle the situation with iron hands.

On August 3, 1913 the Muslims of Kanpur gathered at Eidgah and held a meeting in which
Muslim leaders delivered emotional speeches. As soon as the meeting was over, an angry mob
carrying black flags gathered before the Mosque and began to place loose bricks in place of the
dismantled structure so as to show their resolution for reconstruction of the Mosque. Mr. Tylor,
the magistrate of Kanpur ordered the police to open fire on the armless protestors. The firing
continued for 15 minutes and about six hundred rounds of cartage were discharged. Several
Muslims were killed and injured and so many of them were captured and put behind the bars.
After this catastrophe, Sir James Meston‘s act of distributing merit certificates among the
policemen who participated in the firing further hurt the Muslim community and added fuel to
the fire.

The Muslim press throughout India criticized this brutal act of Kanpur administration. All India
Muslim League seconded the opinion of the Muslim Press and passed two resolutions on August
31 and September 19. In the resolutions AIML demanded for the appointment of a committee
comprising both officials and civilians to conduct an impartial inquiry. Furthermore, Maulana
Muhammad Ali and Syed Wazir Hasan, Secretary AIML were delegated to present the Muslim
case before the British Government at London. The delegation effectively briefed the British
about the Kanpur tragedy and also advocated for ―a suitable form of self-government for India.
Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad also held a meeting with the Lt. Governor and informed him that the
resentment of the Muslims was not regional but on national level. Maulana Muhammad Ali
especially took active part in the agitation for the restoration of the mosque and advised Muslims
of the subcontinent to express their sentiments strongly as otherwise every police sub-inspector
was likely to become a Tylor for them.

On October 13, 1913 Lord Hardinge himself visited the site of the demolished portion of the
mosque in Kanpur on the request of Syed Ali Imam. He worked out a compromise with the
Muslims and allowed them to construct a new arcade over the public road. He also ordered for
the release of the Muslim prisoners and withdraw cases against them. Many of the Englishmen
openly opposed this act of Hardinge. The Anglo Indian press criticized him and considered that it
would lead to more troubles by various Indian factions.

In short, after 1911, the annulment of the partition of Bengal, the crisis in the Balkans and the
Kanpur mosque incident of 1913 created the conditions for major phases of the discourse and
politics of the Indian Muslims.

The Massacre of Jallianwala Bagh

After the Lucknow Pact of 1916 both Hindus and Muslims started their struggle for the self-rule
for India. It was a brief period of Hindu-Muslim unity. To probe into their secret activities, the
British Government formed a committee headed by Justice Sidney Rowlatt. Rowlatt presented
his report to the Government on 30 April 1918 and as a result the Government introduced a bill
in the Imperial Legislative Council known as the ‗Rowlatt Bill‘ that gave unlimited powers to the
administration and the police. The accused had no right to appeal or employ a lawyer for his
defence. The Government was authorized to put any individual under house arrest without
assigning any reason.

During the First World War the Indians had made great sacrifices for the British and expected
that in compensation of their services the British Government would grant self-government to
them but on the contrary they got no reward but penalty in the shape of ‗Rowlatt Act‘. When the
bill was presented before the Imperial Legislative Council, all the 23 non-official members voted
against it; among these members were those who were very loyal to the Government. However,
despite the whole opposition and protest the bill was passed and was decreed as ‗Rowlatt Act‘.
As protest Quaid-i-Azam resigned from the Imperial Legislative Council.

Strikes started all over India and M. K Gandhi also launched his non-violence movement. At that
time Sir Michael O‘ Dwyer, the Governor of Punjab had a strong hatred for the Indians and even
determined to exert British dominance by all means. He was of the view that the British, which
had seized the government by force, could preserve it only with force. For that matter he banned
all public meetings, processions and protests in the province. To curb the political unrest in
Punjab the Government banned the two well-known leaders of Amritsar, Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew
and Dr Satyapal from making speeches. Later on they were arrested and sent to Dharamsala. The
news of their arrest spread like wild fire and left the whole city in panic. On 9 April 1919, a large
crowd gathered in a park demanding the release of their leaders. The police even opened fire to
disperse the crowd. On 10 April, General Dyer received orders to leave Jalundhar for Amritsar.
He reached Amritsar with 475 English and 710 Indian soldiers and two armored vehicles.

On the morning of April 13, he toured around the city and made announcements at 19 places that
all the public meetings and processions had been banned and in case these orders are defied, use
of force would not be ruled out. When General Dyer was told that a meeting was being held at
Jallianwala Bagh, he reached there instantly with 90 troops and ordered them to open fire on the
unarmed gathering. The firing continued for fifteen minutes and left 379 people dead on the spot
and more than 1200 critically injured.

General Dyer believed that the event of Jallianwala Bagh was a part of the conspiracy in which
the Indians were involved to overthrow the British Government. But the Hunter Committee had
arrived at the conclusion that the riots in Amritsar including the meeting at Jallianwala Bagh
weren‘t the part of any planned conspiracy to overthrow the British Government. After the
massacre at Jallianwala Bagh martial law was imposed in the Punjab and all the citizens of
Lahore were ordered to hand over all their vehicles, bicycles, lamps and fans to the military.
Martial law orders were pasted on the walls of the houses of prominent persons including Fazl-e-
Hussain, Pir Tajuddin and Khalifa Shujauddin. The Principal of Dyal Singh College was
punished only because someone had pasted an anti-martial law placard on the college wall.
Moreover, water and power connections were cut off at various places of Punjab especially
Lahore.

The public opinion in England was divided into two groups regarding the brutal tactics used by
General Dyer. One group considered it a timely action to teach a lesson to the Indian whereas in
view of the second group the tragedy at Amritsar had played a vital role in arousing the
nationalistic feelings among the Indians. On the whole, the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh
shattered into pieces once for all the tradition of loyalty to the British Crown. And within a
period of 27 years, it was proved that the brutal acts of General Dyer and Lt. Governor O‘ Dwyer
could not suppress the passion for independence that flared up after the above episode.
6. Conclusion:
The rise of the League was due to the national leadership of Jinnah and the organizational work
of the independently wealthy general-secretary, Liaquat Ali Khan (1895–1951), who, like
Jinnah, devoted most of his time over the next ten years to the party. The president of the AIML
was elected annually, the general-secretary for three years. Under the president was the Working
Committee of a dozen or so members chosen to represent all parts of India; then came the AIML
Council, whose members could vote on League policy; and then came the primary party
members. This organizational structure was also followed, in theory, in the provinces. However,
it was only at the national level that the party had a viable organization, and that evolved only in
the years after 1937. The League also had parliamentary parties in the legislative assemblies both
at the center, where Jinnah was the leader, and in the provinces.