Indian Muslim Seperatism:
Moin Ansari
WHY MUSLIMS WERE ALIENATED IN PRE-INDEPENDENCE INDIA ?
One of the best sources on this subject is of course Francis Robinson.
Muslims like Hindus are not a monolithic group in India. Quaid-e-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was able to mold these diverse groups on one
platform, and no Muslim leader was able to compete with Jinnahs message
in terms of popularity or Muslim vote.
Muslims are certainly there in India, but a common ideology ? Hamza
Alavi lists seven broad classes of ideology prevalent among Muslims in
India before Partition :
1. Islamic Traditionalism : The Deobandi Ulema
2. Islamic Non-Traditionalism: Barelvi and Pir
3. Islamic Modernism: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Iqbal
4. Islamic Fundamentalism : Abul Ala Maududi of the Jamaat-i-Islami and
Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind
5. Secular Provincial Noncommunal Transactionalism :Landlord dominated
right-wing Punjab Unionist Party and various political groups in Sind,
being the ruling groups/parties
6. Secular Provincial Noncommunal Radicalism :The ruling Krishak Proja
Party of Bengal, led by A. K. Fazlul Haq
7. Secular noncommunal nationalism:The Congress Party, being the ruling
party in the Northwest Frontier Province.
In the princely states, the National Conference of Sheikh Abdullah
probably falls into category 6.
>From the point of view of an undivided India :1, 4, 5, 7 for various
reasons were for an undivided India.
>From the point of view of a secular India : 3, 5, 6, 7 were for it.
In supporting the Khilafat struggle, the Congress did make the mistake of
allying with 1 and 4, and alienating 3, Islamic Modernism. Islamic
Modernism started being closely allied with the Congress, and was later
disenchanted with it. The Congress basically neglected 5 & 6 (you may
have seen my earlier posting of Durga Das on the Unionist Sir Fazli), and
once partition seemed inevitable, abandoned 7.
Islamic Modernism served to create Pakistan, but thereafter was submerged
in 1,2 & 4 as successive non-democratic rulers of Pakistan sought to make
their rule legitimate by invoking Islam.
Now, where is the generic Muslim mind in all of this ?
In addition to the above six groups, we would like to add two other
groups that must be mentioned
8) The Indian nationalist Muslims like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Hasan
Sheed Suhrawardy
9) The modern and Sufi Muslims of Frangi Mahal of Lucknow who supported
the Muslim League
What did Hindus do to exacerbate the condition of India for the Muslims?
Both Muslims and Hindus are to blame for the creation of Pakistan. The
period prior to 1947 gave a good inkling to the Muslims of what was to
come. Kushwant Singh in an interesting article titled Maligning Indian
Muslims reprinted in the Pakistan Link in December 1994 says:
In Maharashtra, there was Tilak who made Ganapati festivals an essential
part of mass agitation and gave a boost to the Shivaji cult, making
Chattrapati into a national hero. Neither of these could. In Bengal, the
Muslims were almost treated as outcasts by Hindu national organization.
Bengals terrorist organizations, the Anusilon Samitis, restricted their
membership to Hindus and members took oath in the name of the Godess
Kali. Their patriotic Bande Mahtaram was taken from Bankin Chandra
Chatterjees novel Anand Math which had strong anti-Muslim overtones.
A sharp Hindu Muslim divide came over the attitudes of the two
communities over Lord Curzons plan to partition Bengal into Muslim
majority eastern province with its capital in Dhaka and the Hindu
majority area of West Bengal with its capital in Calcutta. Muslims
supported the partition. Hindu nationalists were bitterly opposed to it.
After a violent agitation sponsored entirely by Hindu terrorist
organizations, the partition was annulled without consent of the Muslims.
If the partition then made had been allowed to stay, it is more than
likely that the Muslims of East Bengal would not have later supported the
call for Pakistan and an independent Bangladesh would have come into
being without bloodshed.
Muslim support for the state of their own came slowly and much later. A
sense of alienation from the Indian mainstream there certainly was but it
did not crystallize into a demand for separation till World War Two.