Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:38:10.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Congress—Raj Conflict and the Rise of the Muslim League in the Ministry Period, 1937–39

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Sunil Chander
Sunil Chander
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Government of India Act of 1935 was a constitutional device meant to extend the Raj's political alliances in Indian society. The Congress Party, on the other hand, construed the Act as a new challenge to the demand for independence. The authorities discovered that the Congress ministers’ primary loyalties lay with the imperatives of the party and not with the constitutional arrangement. Concern on this account was heightened by the resurgence of ground-level Congress activism. The Congress strengthened and expanded its volunteer organization while it governed the provinces. If the formal party institutions were weakened by corruption and factionalism during the ministry period, its grass-roots cadres were revitalized and mobilized opinion against compromises with the Raj, strengthening the ministers’ hands in any major clashes with the authorities. The latter were disturbed by links between the Congress ministers and party activity hostile to the Raj, even though a certain convergence of Congress and British interests kept the experiment of provincial autonomy going. The official response to this situation consisted, at one level, of making expedient concessions.But the authorities explored an alternative possibility as well. The Muslim League, which emerged as a mass party after 1937, was not exactly an ally, but it offered the most powerful resistance to the possibility of total mobilization under the Congress.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 303 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 For a detailed discussion of the relationships between the Congress ministries and the British executive, as well as of the Congress party's activist cadres in the ministry period: Chander, S., ‘The Congress Ministries and the British Authorities in the Working of Provincial Autonomy, 1936–39: Aspects of Conflict between the Congress and the Raj’ (Oxford Univ. M.Litt. thesis), pp. 1–83.Google Scholar

2 Page, D., Prelude to Partition (Delhi, 1982), pp. ix–xiii, 11–21.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., pp. ix–xiii, 11–21.

4 The use of the word ‘communal’ in India departs from its normal English usage and has a tragic meaning instead: the hatred by someone of a community following a religion different from their own.

5 Pandey, G., The Ascendancy of the Congress in the Uttar Pradesh, 1926–34 (Delhi, 1978), pp. 115–53.Google Scholar

6 Pandey, , Congress in Uttar Pradesh, pp. 33–7.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., pp. 36–7; Page, , Prelude to Partition, pp. 21–9.Google Scholar

8 Ibid.; Pandey, , Congress in Uttar Pradesh, pp. 36–7, 115–16.Google Scholar

9 Literally, ‘like the dust (of the earth)’.

10 Mohammad, Shan, Khaksar Movement in India (Delhi, 1973) pp. 18–25.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., p. 4.

12 Ibid., p. 5.

13 Ibid., pp. 5–6.

14 Ibid., pp. 4–6, 8–10.

15 Ibid., pp. 2, 10–17, 44; Chander, , ‘The Congress Ministries …’, Appendix III, p. 166.Google Scholar

16 Mohammad, Shan, Khaksar Movement, pp. 26–30.Google Scholar

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 Ibid.; IOLR, Mss Eur D670/3, Cunningham's Diary, 24 to 28 Feb. 1938.

20 IOLR, Mss Eur F125, Linlithgow Coll., Cunningham, to Laithwaite, , 9 May 1939Google Scholar; ibid., FRs, 9 and 23 June, 25 July 1939.

21 Ibid., FR, 9 May 1939; Gupta, A. K., NWFP Legislature and Freedom Struggle (Delhi, 1976), pp. 14–18, 21, 24–33, 52–3Google Scholar; Tendulkar, D. G., Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bombay, 1967), pp. 59–60, 63, 66–9, 220, 239.Google Scholar

22 IOLR, L/P & J/8/678, Note on the Ahrars, 25 July 1940.Google Scholar

23 IOLR, Mss Eur F125/74, FR, 9 May 1939.Google Scholar

24 IOLR, L/P&J/8/678, Report on the Volunteer Movement, 11 March 1940.Google Scholar

25 The ritual anniversary of Hussain's martyrdom at Karbela during the month of Muharram.

26 Muhammad, Shan, Khaksar Movement, pp. 31–4.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., pp. 40–2.

28 Ibid.; IOLR, Mss Eur 115/2B, Haig Coll., Donaldson, to Laithwaite, , 28 Aug. 1939Google Scholar; Haig, to Linlithgow, , 6 and 25 Sept., 8 Oct. 1939Google Scholar; IOLR, L/P & J/8/678, Note on Volunteer Movement, IV, Dec. 1939.

29 Ibid., Note on Volunteer Movement, I, Oct. 1938.

30 IOLR, L/P & J/8/678, Note on Volunteer Movement, June 1939.

31 Ibid., Note on Volunteer Movement, Dec. 1939; Bihar Chief Secretary's Report, Aug. 1939.

32 Ibid., Note, Oct. 1938; Maharashtra State Archives (MSA) Home Dept. (HD), 1017/40, Note on Volunteer Movement, 1940; also IOLR op. cit., Viceroy to Home Member, Govt. of India, 3 April 1940; Note on Volunteer Movement, V, Aug. 1940.

33 Ibid., Note, Oct. 1938; Note, June 1939; Note, Dec. 1939; Note, March 1940; Zetland to Linlithgow, 24 Jan. 1939; MSA HD, 1017/40, Note, 1940.

34 Ibid., Note, Dec. 1938; Notes, Oct, 1938, June, Dec. 1939.

35 They also claimed that the Congress was turning anti-Hindu to appease the Muslims (Pandey, , Congress in UP, pp. 115–27Google Scholar; IOLR, L/P & J/8/478, Note, Dec. 1939).

36 IOLR, L/P & J/8/678, Bihar Chief Secretary's Report, Aug. 1939; Note, Dec. 1939.

37 Ibid., Brabourne, to Zetland, , 11 Aug. 1838Google Scholar; Maxwell's Minutes, 17 April 1940; See Moore, R. J., Escape from Empire, The Attlee Government and the Indian Problem (Oxford, 1983), pp. 239–40Google Scholar for the role of the volunteers and cadres of various parties in the mass ‘communal’ violence of 1947.

38 Pandey, , Congress in UP, pp. 115–27Google Scholar; Page, , Prelude to Partition, pp. 79–93, 126–40Google Scholar; Rizvi, S. A. G., Linlithgow and India. A Study of British Policy and the Political Impasse in India (London, 1978), pp. 98–100.Google Scholar

39 IOLR, L/P & J/8/645, Wylie, to Linlithgow, 24 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Sullivan, to Laithwaite, , 7 Jan. 1940.Google Scholar

40 Pandey, D., ‘Congress-Muslim League Relations 1937–39’, Modern Asian Studies 12, 4 (1978), pp. 629–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; IOLR, Mss Eur F115/17B, Haig, to Linlithgow, , 24 May 8 Nov. 1937.Google Scholar

41 Chander, , ‘The Congress Ministries’, pp. 23–83.Google Scholar

42 Singh, A. I., ‘The Origins of the Partition of India, 1936–47’ (Oxford Univ. D. Phil, thesis, 1981), pp. 43–58Google Scholar; Rizvi, , Linlithgow and India, pp. 97–102Google Scholar; IOLR, Mss Eur F125/46, Hallett, to Linlithgow, , 8 May 1939Google Scholar; F125/45, Hallett, to Brabourne, , 14 Oct. 1938Google Scholar; F97/61, Brabourne, to Zetland, , 19 Aug. 1938Google Scholar; E251/2, Bihar Report, 21 Oct. 1938; Hallett, to Linlithgow, , 6 Jan. 1939Google Scholar; Linlithgow, to Hallett, 14 April 1939Google Scholar; E251/1, Panna Lal to Thorne, 20 June 1938; Hallett, to Brabourne, , 6 Sep. 1938Google Scholar; L/P & J/8/645, Stewart, to Linlithgow, , 21 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Wylie, to Linlithgow, , 24 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Lumley, to Linlithgow, , 14 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Haig, to Linlithgow, , 6 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Dawson's Minute, 14 Feb. 1940; Precis of Governors’ Replies.

43 Chander, , ‘The Congress Ministries’, pp. 1–4.Google Scholar

44 Ibid.; For an account of the working of constitutional arrangements before 1935, especially their implications for Muslim politics, see Page, , Prelude to Partition, pp. 3–29.Google Scholar

45 IOLR, Mss Eur F97/65A, Lumley, to Brabourne, , 15 Aug. 1938Google Scholar; Brabourne, to Lumley, , 20 Aug. 1938, 22 Oct. 1938Google Scholar; Lumley, to Brabourne, , 26 Oct. 1938.Google Scholar

46 Singh, , ‘The Origins’, pp. 3–4, 8–13.Google Scholar

47 IOLR, Mss Eur F115/3B, Linlithgow, to Haig, , 23 Jan. 1939.Google Scholar

48 See also, IOLR, Mss Eur F125/142, Quarterly Report, 3.

49 IOLR, L/P & J/8/678, Craik, to Linlithgow, , 2 March 1939.Google Scholar

50 IOLR, Mss Eur F115/2A, Haig, to Linlithgow, , 25 Feb., 10 April 1939Google Scholar; F115/2B, Haig, to Linlithgow, , 8 Oct. 1939Google Scholar; F/115/6, Haig, to Linlithgow, , 10 May 1939Google Scholar; Moon, P., Divide and Quit (London, 1961), pp. 15–16.Google Scholar Subsequently, officials were to trace the origin of Pakistan to this failure.

51 See also, IOLR, Mss Eur F115/17B, Haig, to Linlithgow, , 24 Oct. 1937Google Scholar; F115/3A, Linlithgow, to Haig, , 28 Oct. 1937Google Scholar; F97/61, Zetland, to Brabourne, , 2 Sept. 1938Google Scholar; F125/ 142, Quarterly Reports, 3, 5; F125/154, Churchill, to Linlithgow, , 3 Nov. 1937.Google Scholar

52 Singh, , ‘The Origins’, pp. 22–5, 27–32.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., pp. 22–5, 27–32, 38–43.

54 On this aspect of official thinking see, for example, IOLR, L/P and J/8/506B, Dawson's, Minute, 20 Dec. 1939Google Scholar; Rizvi, , Linlithgow, pp. 114, 145–7, 230, 238–9.Google Scholar

55 For a wider analysis of the build-up to the elections, see Chander, , ‘The Congress Ministries’, pp. 1–22; also pp. 86–7.Google Scholar

56 Mitra, N. N. (ed.), Indian Annual Register, ii (Calcutta, 1936), pp. 170–2, 187–8, 200, 209–13.Google Scholar

57 Ibid.; Gupta, , North West Frontier Province, pp. 65–9.Google Scholar

58 Ibid., p. 69.

59 Gupta, , NWFP, pp. 71–2, 76–8Google Scholar; IOLR, Mss Eur D670/3, Cunningham Coll., Diary Entries, 12, 13, 15, 16, 29, 31 March 1937.

60 Gupta, , NWFP, pp. 71–2, 76–8.Google Scholar

61 Ibid., 73–8; IOLR, D670/3, Diary Entries, 20, 31 Aug., 3 Sept. 1937.

62 Ibid., 24 Feb. 1938; D670/14, Governor's FR, 24 Jan. 1938; Gupta, , NWFP, p. 78.Google Scholar

63 Gupta, , NWFP, pp. 78–80Google Scholar; D670/3, Diary Entry, 24 Feb. 1938; D670/14, FR, 24 Jan. 1938.

64 Ibid., 9 Feb. 1938.

65 Ibid.; IOLR, D670, FRs of 23 Feb., 10 March 1938.

66 Ibid., FRs, 8, 24 June 1938; D670/3, Diary Entry, 24 Feb. 1938.

67 Ibid., FR, 23 Aug. 1938.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid., 23 Feb. 1938.

70 IOLR, 670/3, Diary Entry, 24 Feb. 1938.

71 Ibid., Diary Entry, 28 Feb. 1938; D670/14, FRs, 23 Feb., 10 March 1938.

72 Ibid., and FR, 10 April 1939; Mss Eur F125/72, Linlithgow, to Cunningham, , 31 Jan. 1938Google Scholar; Caroe, O., The Pathans, 550 BC to AD 1957 (London, 1958), pp. 431–5.Google Scholar

73 IOLR, D670/14, FR, 8 Aug. 1938.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid., FRs, 3 Sept., 9 Feb. 1938; Tendulkar, D. G., Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Faith is a Cause (New Delhi, 1967), p. 227.Google Scholar

76 IOLR, Mss Eur D696/3, Parsons Coll., Acheson's Memorandum on the Frontier Problem, Oct. 1938.

77 Ibid., Parsons' Memorandum, Oct. 1938.

78 Ibid., also Acheson's Memo.

79 Ibid.; Spain, J. W., ‘Political Problems of a Borderland’, in Embree, A. T. (ed.), Pakistan's Western Borderlands (Delhi, 1977), pp. 18–21Google Scholar; Tendulkar, , Abdul Ghaffar Khan, pp. 63, 73–4, 85–6, 92, 101–2, 104, 219Google Scholar; IOLR, Mss Eur F97/61, Brabourne Coll., Brabourne, to Zetland, , 26 Aug. 1936.Google Scholar

80 IOLR, Mss Eur D923, Lydall Coll., North Waziristan Weekly Summaries by Political Agent, Weeks Ending, 16, 23 March; 6, 14 April, 9, 30 Aug. 1938; 13 Dec. 1939.

81 Ibid.; D670/3, Diary Entry, 5 Aug. 1938.

82 IOLR, D670/14, FRs, 8 Aug., 3 Sept. 1938.

83 Ibid., FR, 3 Sept. 1938; D670/3, Diary Entry, 5 Aug. 1938. Some British officials, too, appear to have remained inactive over the intelligence of the Bannu raid when it was imminent. Instances of such cynical action were few, but their consequences were quite serious when they happened. Most importantly perhaps, ‘communal’ parties received a shot in the arm. See D670/3, Diary Entries, 21 Feb., 10 May 1939; D670/14, FR, 3 Sept. 1938.

84 IOLR, F125/73, Brabourne, to Cunningham, , 30 Aug. 1938.Google Scholar

85 Gupta, , NWFP, pp. 87, 97–9Google Scholar; IOLR, F125/74, FR, 9 Feb. 1939.

86 Ibid., FR, 23 Feb. 1939.

87 Ibid., FRs, 8 Aug. 1938, 9 Feb., 20 April 1939.

88 Ibid., FR, 9 May 1939.

89 Ibid., FR, 26 May 1938; F125/74, 9 May, 23 June, 25 July 1939.

90 Ibid.

91 IOLR, F253/2, Laithwaite, to Brown, , 16 May 1939Google Scholar; F125/74, FR, 9 May 1939; Governor, to Viceroy, , 10 May 1939Google Scholar; D670/3, Diary Entries, 12, 16 Dec 1939; F97/61, Brabourne, to Zetland, , 19 Aug. 1938Google Scholar; F125/73, Cunningham, to Linlithgow, , 7 Oct. 1938.Google Scholar