The Muslim League

(R) is the reason for (A)

Explanation — British gave preferential treatment to certain groups over others, creating jealousy and resentment. This was a part of divide and rule policy that was used to weaken the national movement.

(R) is the reason for (A)

Explanation — The British and the communal historians ignored the notion of a composite culture in India and tried to create a rift between the two communities. They failed to interpret that the diversity was primarily class-wise and region-wise and not religion-wise.

(A) is true but (R) is false

Explanation — The British encouraged the formation of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (M.A.O) Defence Association in 1893.

(R) is the reason for (A)

Explanation — The political activities of the Muslim League were indeed directed not so much against the British as against the Congress. This was because the Muslim League and its leaders felt that the Congress was not adequately representing the interests of the Muslim community.

(R) contradicts (A)

Explanation — Lucknow pact was seen as a beacon of hope for Hindu-Muslim unity at that time. However, separate electorate also established communalism as an unavoidable part of Indian politics.

Aligarh

He regarded them to be one Quam (nation).

Nawab Salimullah

Agha Khan

To promote hostility between Indian Muslims and other communities

Its political activities were directed against the British.

Britain's hostility to Turkey

Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant

'a system of self-government under the aegis of the British Crown.'

Acknowledgement of separate political interests of Hindus and Muslims

(i) only

(a) The person shown in the picture is Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan. His views regarding Hindu-Muslim unity were as follows:

1. He regarded Hindus and Muslims to be one Quam (nation).
2. He founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh which had both Hindu and Muslim patrons.
3. However, under the influence of the British Principal of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, in the 1880s, he gave up his earlier views and declared that the political interests of Hindus and Muslims were different.
4. When the Indian National Congress was founded, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan opposed it.
5. He founded the United Indian Patriotic Association in 1888 mainly with a view to oppose the Congress.
6. In this effort, he was supported by Mr. Beck, the British Principal of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College (Aligarh). Beck's idea was that Anglo-Muslim unity was possible, but Hindu-Muslim unity was impossible.
7. It was said that Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan believed that since the Hindus formed the majority of the Indian population, they would dominate the Muslims in case of a withdrawal of the British rule.
8. He felt that the continuance of British rule was a "guarantee for the welfare and progress of the community."
9. Therefore, he declared that if the educated Muslims support the British, the latter would reward them with government jobs and other special favours.

(b) Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh which had both Hindu and Muslim patrons.

1. Sir Sayyid Ahmad believed that since the Hindus formed the majority of the Indian population, they would dominate the Muslims in case of a withdrawal of the British rule.
2. He felt if he supported British, they would secure their rights and be rewarded with government jobs and other special favors.
3. Theodore Beck was invited by Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan to serve as the Principal of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh.
4. He identified with the Indian Muslims and made a systematic effort to alienate them from the Hindus.
5. His objective was to protect the political rights of the Muslims and to strengthen the British rule in India.
6. His idea was that Anglo Muslim unity was possible, but Hindu-Muslim unity was impossible.
7. This paved the way for the formation of the Muslim League.

(c) The impact of the Muslim League on the National Movement is as follows:

League's Role in the Beginning —

1. Initially Muslim League sought greater representation of Muslims in all services.
2. As regards representation in Assemblies, it wanted more seats than its numerical representation warranted.
3. Its political activities were directed not so much against the foreign rulers as against the Congress.
4. Its leaders, belonging to the upper class, had little in common with the Muslim masses and they did not fight for the removal of their grievances.

Government Support to the League —

1. The Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 provided separate electorates for Muslim whereby seats were reserved for the Muslims from where Muslims could vote for the Muslim candidates.
2. The provision for separate electorate in the Morley-Minto Reforms was intentionally incorporated to please the Muslim League and create a rift between the Muslim League and the Congress.

The Phase of Rapprochement — From 1910 to 1913, new forces emerged in Muslim League politics and some of its leaders realised that rapprochement with the Congress was desirable. Several factors were responsible for this change in attitude:

1. Britain's hostility to Turkey in the Turko-Italian War (1911-12) and the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and the annulment of the Partition of Bengal in 1911 made a large section of Muslim leaders critical of British policies
2. The younger section of emerging Muslim leaders disliked the loyalist politics of the Aligarh group and the leadership of big Nawabs and Zamindars. Some young scholars, influenced by the Deoband school of Muslim studies were inspired by nationalist sentiments.

Congress and the League —

1. When the British Government acted against the Turkish interests and supported the cause of the Balkan countries, the Indian Muslims stood up and launched the Khilafat Movement against the British.
2. The Congress cooperated with them and the Khilafat issue was included as one of the demands of the Non-cooperation Movement.
3. As a result, a pact which is known as the Lucknow Pact was signed. The Lucknow Pact refers to the joint scheme of political reforms agreed to by both the Congress and the Muslim League in 1916 regarding the structure of government in India and the relationship between the Hindus and the Muslims.

Partition of the Country on Communal Lines —

1. In 1930 the idea of two nation states was born and in the 1940 session of the League at Lahore, Jinnah put forward his two-nation theory.
2. Thus, despite a severe opposition from Gandhiji, the country drifted towards the partition.
3. The communal riots broke out in the country and in 1947, a separate country, Pakistan, came into existence.

(a) The persons in the given picture are M.A. Jinnah and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
They signed the Lucknow Pact in 1916.
The agreement was signed post the start of the First World War (1914-1919).

(b) Three factors that led to the signing of the Lucknow Pact in 1916 were-

1. National Events — The important national events that changed the attitude of the Muslim League were:
   1. Annulment of Bengal Partition.
   2. Nationalist Muslims like Abul Kalam Azad and the Ali Brothers - Maulana Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, mobilized support for self-government.
   3. Tilak’s release in 1914 and arrests of Muslim leaders under the 'Seditious Meetings Act' brought Congress and the League closer.
2. Changes in the Objectives of the Muslim League — There were important changes in Muslim League’s Objectives:
   1. In 1913, the League amended its constitution to support self-government under British rule.
   2. Shared political goals led to cooperation with Congress.
   3. Annie Besant and Tilak played key roles in uniting the two groups.
3. Congress Unity — A compromise was reached between the two factions of the Congress:
   1. Annie Besant helped reunite Early and Assertive Nationalists.
   2. Tilak rejoined Congress in 1916, facilitating Congress-League collaboration.

(c) Two significant outcomes of this agreement were:

1. Hindu-Muslim Unity — The joint scheme symbolised Hindu-Muslim unity. Both the communities agreed to compromise in some areas for the common good. As a result of this pact, the Hindus and the Muslims worked together from 1916 to 1922.
2. Unity Within the Congress — The Lucknow Session and the signing of the Lucknow Pact brought about unity between the Assertive Nationalists and the Early Nationalists. As a result, the Congress was strengthened.

The British established their supremacy in India after dethroning the Mughal rulers. Therefore, the Muslims became bitter enemies of the British. They participated in the Wahabi Movement and also took part in the uprising of 1857. This made the British view them with suspicion. The British government consciously discriminated against the Muslims, holding them responsible for the uprising of 1857.

After the 1870s, the British government changed its attitude and followed the policy of appeasing the Muslims in order to undermine the National Movement. They sowed the seeds of dissension between the Hindus and the Muslims and encouraged separatist and communal tendencies.

In the United Provinces, Urdu was the court language and all the petitions to the offices and courts were submitted in Urdu. Some sections of the society protested against this practice. On April 8, 1900, the Government instructed that all petitions were to be submitted in Hindi, in Devanagari script, and the court summons and official announcements to be issued in Hindi as well as in Urdu. The Muslims resented this. The controversy continued for months and relations between the communities became worse.

The communal and separatist trend of thinking grew among the Muslims to some extent because of their relative backwardness in education, trade and industry.

1. The upper class Muslims were conservative and hostile to modern education. Because of this, the number of Muslims educated in western system of education remained small.
2. The British government in India had consciously discriminated against the Muslims after 1858, holding them responsible for the uprising of 1857. They were discriminated in the recruitment to civil and military services.
3. The Muslim community was not much involved in the growth of any organised industry. Here too they lagged behind.
4. Some members of the Muslim community did not keep up with the modern trends in social and cultural spheres. Many Hindus, on the other hand, adopted the Western system of education. Since modern education was essential for entry into government service, the Muslims had the disadvantage in this respect.

In these circumstances, it was quite easy for the British officials to incite the Muslims against the Hindus.

The Viceroy, Lord Minto received the deputation led by Agha Khan and expressed his sympathy with their aspirations. He assured them that their political rights and interests as a community would be safeguarded.

The British welcomed the formation of the Muslim League. They supported the League to provide an opposition to the Congress. They won initially the support of the Muslims by asserting that the Muslim interests were different from those of the Hindus. Thus, the policies of the Muslim League to some extent weakened nationalist sentiments.

Separate electorates means the system of election to legislatures which divides voters on the basis of religion, caste or occupation. The Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 provided separate electorates for Muslim whereby seats were reserved for the Muslims from where Muslims could vote for the Muslim candidates.

The joint scheme of political reforms agreed to by both the Congress and the Muslim League in 1916 is known as the Lucknow Pact.

(a) The British saw the unity between the Hindus and the Muslims as a threat to them. Thus, to check the growth of a united national feeling in India and to encourage communal and separatist tendencies in Indian politics, they decided to follow the policy of 'Divide and Rule'. They did so in the following manner:

1. In 1871, Lord Mayo's government adopted a resolution which made Urdu the medium of instruction for Muslims in primary and secondary schools and increased government aid to educational institutions run by the Muslims.
2. They tried to create hatred among the Hindus and the Muslims by portraying Muslim rulers as plunderers, and Hindu rulers as cruel kings to their Muslim subjects.
3. They tried to justify the Partition of Bengal by convincing the Muslims that Bengal was being partitioned to create a new Muslim majority province where the Hindus would not be able to subvert their interests.
4. They tried to utilise the caste structure to turn the non-brahmins and the lower castes against high castes.
5. They treated Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs as separate communities and accepted their communal leaders as authentic representatives of all their co-religionists.

They tried to spread communal hatred through the Press, posters, literature and public platform.

(b) The assertive nationalists played an important role in the national movement. But some of their actions marked a step back in respect of the growth of national unity.

1. The speeches and actions of some of the assertive nationalists annoyed some sections of Indians.
2. For example, the propagation of Shivaji and Ganapati festivals by Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh's concept of India as mother and nationalism as religion and the initiation of the Anti-Partition agitation with dips in the Ganga did not appeal to some of the Muslims.

(c) The manner in which Indian history was interpreted in those days contributed to the growth of communal thinking among the Hindus and the Muslims.

1. Some British and communal historians divided Indian history into the Hindu and the Muslim periods. The rule of Turks, Afghans and Mughals was called the Muslim rule, where the rulers were said to be the followers of Islam and their subjects, the followers of other religions. In the so-called Hindu period, Muslim rulers were dubbed as foreign invaders who had settled in India. They portrayed Rana Pratap and Shivaji as national heroes and Akbar and Aurangzeb as foreigners and infused communal feelings.
2. The British and communal historians ignored the notion of a composite culture in India and tried to create a rift between the two communities. They failed to interpret that the diversity was primarily class-wise and region-wise and not religion-wise.
3. Some communal historians highlighted the myth that Indian society and culture had reached great heights during the ancient period but was declining during the medieval period which was dominated by Mughal rulers. They did not give much importance to the contribution of the medieval period to the development of Indian economy, religion, art, literature, culture and society.
4. The communal bias was propagated through poetry, drama, novels, short stories, newspapers, etc.

Yes it is true that the British policy of Divide and Rule was responsible for creating communal rift between the Hindus and Muslims in India. The Hindus and Muslims have lived together in India for centuries. Since both the communities were exploited by the British, they fought together during the First War of Independence in 1857. Such unity between the two communities posed a danger to British imperialism. Thus, to divide the two communities in order to prolong their rule in India, they tried to sow the seeds of discord between them to check the rising tide of nationalism.
They encouraged the communal forces to wreck the National Movement from within. They dubbed the National Movement as a movement for establishing the 'Hindu Kingdom' in India and encouraged the Muslims to set up their own separate political organisation. It was the British policy of Divide and Rule' that led to the rise of communal trend and to the formation of the Muslim League in 1906.

The manner in which Indian history was interpreted in those days contributed to the growth of communal thinking among the Hindus and the Muslims.

1. Some British and communal historians divided Indian history into the Hindu and the Muslim periods. The rule of Turks, Afghans and Mughals was called the Muslim rule, where the rulers were said to be the followers of Islam and their subjects, the followers of other religions. In the so-called Hindu period, Muslim rulers were dubbed as foreign invaders who had settled in India.
2. The British and communal historians ignored the notion of a composite culture in India and tried to create a rift between the two communities. They failed to interpret that the diversity was primarily class-wise and region-wise and not religion-wise.
3. Some communal historians highlighted the myth that Indian society and culture had reached great heights during the ancient period but was declining during the medieval period which was dominated by Mughal rulers. They did not give much importance to the contribution of the medieval period to the development of Indian economy, religion, art, literature, culture and society.
4. The communal bias was propagated through poetry, drama, novels, short stories, newspapers, etc.

The demand for the partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan can be traced back to a series of events:

1. Two-Nation Theory — The Muslim League, under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, proposed the Two-Nation Theory, which asserted that Hindus and Muslims were two distinct nations and should have separate homelands.
2. Lahore Resolution (1940) — The Lahore Resolution, which later came to be known as the Pakistan Resolution, called for independent states in the Muslim-majority areas of India.
3. Mountbatten Plan (1947) — The final plan for independence, proposed by Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, included the partition of British India into two dominions, India and Pakistan.

In my opinion, improving relations between India and Pakistan would require several steps:

1. Both countries should engage in constructive diplomacy and maintain open channels of communication.
2. Efforts should be made to resolve longstanding disputes through peaceful means.
3. Encouraging cultural exchanges and people-to-people contact can foster mutual understanding and goodwill.
4. Cooperation on Common Issues such as climate change, water scarcity, and regional instability can build trust and improve relations.