Question
Discuss those developments of the 1937-47 period that led to the creation of Pakistan.
Solution
From the late-1930s, the Muslim League began viewing the Muslims as a separate-nation from the Hindus.
(i)This notion might have developed due to the history of tension between some Hindu and Muslim groups in the 1920s and 1930s. The provincial elections of 1937 also might have convinced the League the Muslims were a minority and they would always have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure. Meanwhile, the Congress rejected the League’s desire to form a joint Congress-League government in the United Provinces in 1937. This annoyed the League.
(i)This notion might have developed due to the history of tension between some Hindu and Muslim groups in the 1920s and 1930s. The provincial elections of 1937 also might have convinced the League the Muslims were a minority and they would always have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure. Meanwhile, the Congress rejected the League’s desire to form a joint Congress-League government in the United Provinces in 1937. This annoyed the League.
(ii)In 1940, the League finally moved a resolution demanding ‘Independent States’ for Muslims in the north-western and eastern areas of the country. The resolution did not mention partition or Pakistan.
(iii)In 1945, the British opened negotiations between the Congress, the League and themselves for the independence of India. The talks could not succeed because the League saw itself as the sole spokesperson of India’s Muslims. The Congress proved this claim baseless because several Muslims still supported it.
(iv)In the provincial electrons in 1946 the League got grand success in the seats reserved for Muslims. Hence it persisted its demand for Pakistan. In March 1946, the Cabinet Mission came to Delhi to examine this demand and to suggest a suitable political framework for a free India.
(v)This Mission suggested that India should remain united and constitute itself as a loose confederation with some autonomy for Muslim-majority areas. Neither the Congress nor the Muslim League agreed to it. The failure of the Cabinet Mission made partition inevitable. Ultimately in 1947 partition took place with the creation of a new country, named Pakistan.
