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Establishment of the All-India Muslim League

The Muslim League emerged, in part, as a response to the Swadeshi movement of 1905 which saw the Indian National Congress objecting to the partition of Bengal into two separate provinces within British India. West Bengal which would be a majority Muslim province and East Bengal a majority Hindu province. For many Muslims, the move was seen in a positive light as it meant greater political agency in a region where Hindus had greater socio-economic status and power.

The long-term reasons for the Muslim League’s emergence was the decline of the once dominant Persian and Urdu centric political system and culture of north India. The issue of minority representation became more acute as Britain implemented constitutional reforms that gave Indians more of a role within the colonial state.

The Muslim League was founded by the Aga Khan, who was the spiritual leader and figurehead of the Nizari Ismaili Shia sect of Islam, which had significant following in India. The other founder was Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk who started his career as a politician in the princely state of Hyderabad. Muslim League membership were largely made up of the traditional Muslim elite of North India.

The emergence of the Muslim League was seen as a positive development to the British colonialists. The Indian National Congress had made the case that it represented all of Indian society. The Muslim League demonstrated that it did not represent organised Muslim opinion. Britain would go on to play the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress off one another in order to maintain its dominant position throughout the period.

The Muslim League set out three ideals which somewhat reflected the early Indian National Congress position. Whilst the Congress backed the Swadeshi Movement and showed sympathy with the notion of Swaraj (self-rule) before 1906, the Muslim League expressed unequivocal loyalty to the British Empire. It sought the protection and advancement of Muslim political rights and interests in the context of political reforms granting Indians greater representation. It was also committed to diminishing communal tensions between Muslims and other communities.

The Muslim League was formed at the All Indian Muhammadan Educational Conference in Dhaka. The delegates of the event were the elite of Indian Muslim society, and it included princes, English-educated lawyers, and landowners. Again, much like the INC, the Muslim League was representative of the Indian Muslim elite but not the masses.

Image: British Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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