Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Lucknow Pact
- congress meeting in December 1916 in Lucknow
- a historic agreement was reached between Hindu
congress and All-India Muslim League
- It covered political
objectives and precise
details of future electives,
once India was
self-governing
- It was further enhanced by the
re-integration of the radical left
wing.
- On the Muslim side, there was resentment
against the British over:
- The 1911 reversal of the partition of Bengal which had
originally been of benefit to Muslim politicians
- The declaration of war against
Turkey, home of the Ottoman
Sultan, the head of the
international Muslim community
- 1915, Congress and Muslim League held
concurrent sessions in Bombay declared
self-government as their political
objective.
- On the congress side,
President A.C. Mazumdar
reflected on:
- "Nearly 10 years of painful separation and wandering through the wilderness of
misunderstanding and the mazes of unpleasant controversies... There are
occasional differences even in the best regulated families"
- During 1916, two committees
worked together to prepare details
of a scheme of how
self-government would work
- Concurrent
sessions held, again
in Lucknow and the
scheme was
accepted by the two
political groups.
- It wasn't in their power to bring it about though.
- Heart of scheme was set of proportions of seats in the
provincial legislative councils reserved for Muslims
- Congress agreed to weighting
the representation above the
proportion of the actual
population in many provinces
- Further communal
agreements included:
- No Muslim would contest a seat outside of the reserved quota.
- No bill or clause would proceed if 75% of affected community opposed it.
- The central Legislative Council would increase
to 150 members of whom 80% would be
elected and 1/3 of them were Muslim in the
proportions set out for the provinces
- Provincial councillors would serve for 5 years
- Councils would have powers over revenue
collection, loans and expenditure
- Indians would form at least 1/2 the
members of the Executive Council
- The judiciary would be independent of the executive, the
government of India independent of the secretary of state,
and the India Council in Britain would be abolished
- Defence, foreign affairs and diplomacy would remain British responsibilities
- Muslim League leader Jinnah stated that "cooperation in the cause of
motherland should be our guiding principal". To the British, it did seem
that the nationalist movement was reuniting and gaining strength