1937 Elections/Lahore Resolution 1940

1937 elections
1. Congress landslide victory
  1. Now effectively the governing party of India
2. Congress felt so powerful that they refused to cooperate with the viceroy unless he promised to not overrule decisions made by provincial govts
  1. Linlithgow reluctantly agrees - no option
3. Congress refused to include any Muslim politicians in Provincial govts
  1. Described as "one of the gravest miscalculations by the Congress leadership in its long history" - Ayesha Jalal
4. Muslim results
  1. there were 482 Muslim reserved seats in the 1937 elections
    1. Muslim league only claimed 109 of them
  2. held 15% of all seats in legislatures
    1. Muslim population make up 22% - poor result
Lahore Resolution 1940
1. Overview
  1. Sets out Muslim demands for an independent state
    1. ML were demanding areas of Muslim majority to be separated off as independent states
      1. These states would be autonomous and sovereign
2. Ambiguity
  1. Much confusion over exact demands
  2. Fazlul Huq, a muslim leader, thought that independent states meant two equal separations, one in the east - Bengal, one in the west - Pakistan
  3. Jinnah let it be known privately that he only intended 2 wings to one state
    1. Jinnah also open to idea that independent muslim states could be part of an All-India superstate
    2. Jinnah did not announce this until 6 years after
      1. Has caused historians to question his true objectives
3. Hostage Theory
  1. Lahore resolution came under much scrutiny based on the idea that minority rights were not protected
    1. Jinnah responded with his idea of hostage theory
      1. He argued that because there would be minorities in both the Hindu and the Muslim state, the majorities would be forced to protect the rights of the minorities
        to prevent their minorites being attacked in the other state

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1937 Elections/Lahore Resolution 1940

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	Created by jacksearle over 11 years ago