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The Illusion of Security: The Background to Muslim Separatism in the United Provinces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Lance Brennan
Affiliation:
The Flinders University of South Australia

Extract

One of the most intriguing questions in the modern history of North India is why the Muslims of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh, and referred to hereafter as U.P.; see Map 1) supported the demand for Pakistan when it was obvious that if they were successful they would have either to remain in a Hindu dominated India, or suffer the upheaval of migration. In recent years Paul Brass and Francis Robinson have debated the general question of Muslim separatism in U.P., taking positions which Brass has described, respectively, as ‘instrumentalist’ and ‘primordialist’. Brass argues that the Muslims were modernizing at a faster rate than Hindus, that they had a larger share of government jobs than their fourteen percent of the population would warrant, that Muslim politicians erected a myth of ‘the backward Muslim’ to protect this privilege, and then selected communally divisive symbols to mobilize support for their own drive to power. In short, the ‘instrumentalist’ position argues the autonomy of the ‘game of symbol selection’ on the part of the politicians, and therefore of the significance of symbol response on the part of those who supported the Muslim League and its demand for Pakistan. Robinson, on the other hand, first disagrees that the backwardness of the Muslims was a myth, especially relative to the role they perceived they had played in U.P. society for many centuries, and secondly, he seeks to demonstrate that the religious and cultural assumptions of the Muslim political leaders shaped and directed their actions.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

1 Brass and Robinson agree, however, on a number of points, viz: that the colonial government encouraged the Muslims to organize as Muslims; that Hindu revivalism was a limiting factor for both Hindu and Muslim elites; that pre-existing communal and educational institutions facilitated effective political mobilization when ethnic appeals were made; and that there were insufficient objective differences between Hindus and Muslims to bring about a separatist movement. Brass, Paul R., Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 118–19Google Scholar; Brass, P. R., ‘A Reply to Francis Robinson,’ Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, vol. XV (1977), pp. 231–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brass, P. R., ‘Elite Groups, Symbol Manipulation and Ethnic Identity among the Muslims of South Asia’, in Taylor, D. and Yapp, M. (eds), Political Identity in South Asia (London, 1979), pp. 4167Google Scholar; Robinson, Francis, ‘Nation Formation: the Brass Thesis and Muslim Separatism’, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, vol. XV (1977), pp. 215–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Robinson, F., ‘Islam and Muslim Separatism’, in Taylor, and Yapp, (eds), Political Identity, pp. 79107.Google Scholar

2 See Robinson, F., Separatism among Indian Muslims (Cambridge, 1975), Chs 5–7Google Scholar; the Madhe Sahaba problem arose when Sunnis, from about 1906, began to chant the praises of the first three Caliphs during the Muhurram procession. This innovation offended the Shias. Anti Tabarra Association, Exposition of the Madhe Sahaba-Tabarra Question (Lucknow, 1939).Google Scholar

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22 Neale, Walter C., ‘Land is to Rule’, in Frykenberg, Robert E. (ed.), Land Control and Social Structure (Madison, 1969), p. 9Google Scholar; for the constraints on landowners in the management of their estates, see Musgrave, P. J., ‘Landlords and Lords of the Land: Estate Management and Social Control in Uttar Pradesh 1860–1920’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 6 (1972), pp. 257–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 The exceptions were the northern Doab, Agra, Bundelkland, Garhwal, and Jhansi. For the impact of the loss of patronage on one group of Muslims, see Heber, Reginald, Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India (London, John Murray, 1844), vol. 2, p. 234.Google Scholar

24 Brennan, L., Land Policy and Social Change in North India: Rohilkhand 1800–1911. Research Monograph, No. 1, Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies (University of Western Australia, 1978), p. 25.Google Scholar

25 See, for example, the case of Kanpur, 1801–50, in Metcalf, Thomas R., Land, Landlords and the British Raj (Delhi, 1979), pp. 129–30.Google Scholar

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27 U.P.L.C., 23 February 1926, vol. XXVII, pp. 391–2. The district gazetteers published in the first decade of this century contain Muslim landholding figures. Usually these were derived from the most recent settlement report, but occasionally a calculation was made especially for the gazetteer.Google Scholar

28 See, for example, Settlement Report [hereafter S.R.] Bulandshahr, 1891, p. 16.Google Scholar

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33 See Ali, Syed Ameer, Mahomedan Law, vol. II, 3rd edn (Calcutta, 1908), pp. 6175Google Scholar; and Saksena, Kashi Prasad, Muslim Law as administered in British India (Allahabad, 1937), PP. 899901.Google Scholar

34 Evidence of K. B. Saiyid Ain-ud-din (U.P.P.C.S.). K. B. Saiyid Abu Muhammed (U.P.P.C.S.) also argued that the inheritance laws broke small estates into small ‘bits which are not worth keeping’. On the other hand, Hindus were more likely to maintain estates under one management. Report of the U.P. Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee, vol. III (Allahabad, 1930), pp. 167–70.Google Scholar

35 Naiyar-i-Azam (Moradabad), 23 January 1888, V.N.R., 1888, p. 77; Memorial to Lord Curzon from the Mahomedan subjects of the Queen-Empress of India, 1899’, Calcutta Law Journal, vol. 2, 1905, p. 185nGoogle Scholar; C. M. King (Officiating Magistrate, Bareilly) to Chief Secty to Govt, U.P., 1 June 1911, Govt of India, Legislative Dept, A Proceedings, April 1913, no. 332, National Archives of India [N.A.I.], New Delhi.

36 See Robinson, , Separatism, pp. 133–74Google Scholar; Robinson, , ‘Municipal Government’, passim.Google Scholar

37 See Pandey, Gyanendra, The Ascendancy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, 1926–34 (Delhi, 1978), pp. 114–53.Google Scholar

38 Minault, and Lelyveld, , ‘The Campaign for a Muslim University’, pp. 187–9.Google Scholar

39 Khan, Shafa'at Ahmad, What are the Rights of the Muslim Minority in India? (Allahabad, 1928), pp. 70–1, 80–1Google Scholar; that Muslim literacy was improving faster than Hindu literacy (+40% compared with +30.7% between 1921 and 1931) also suggests the urgency of the drive for Muslim education, Brass, , Language, Religion and Politics, p. 149Google Scholar; makhtabs and Islamia schools were expected to follow the government curriculum if they were to be ‘recognized’ and therefore eligible for grants from the local boards. Although the development of the Islamia schools was a marked step forward in Muslim education, it is clear that they suffered from a number of problems. This suggests that the Muslim children being educated in them may not have been receiving an education as good as those attending the schools run by local governments. See Report of the Committee appointed to Inquire into and Report on the State of Primary Education of Boys of the Muslim Community and of Educationally Backward Communities in the U.P. [1925–26] (Allahabad, 1940), esp. Appendix G, pp. 33–5.Google Scholar See also U.P.L.C., 16 December 1925, vol. XXVI, p. 29.Google Scholar

40 Beaglehole, T. H., ‘From Rulers to Servants: the ICS and the British Demission of Power in India’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 11 (1977), pp. 238–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Potter, David C., ‘Manpower Shortage and the End of Colonialism: The Case of the Indian Civil Service’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 7 (1973), pp. 4774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41 For the system of communal proportions that developed in U.P. during the 1920s, see ‘Note’ by Sloan, T., 10 December 1928, in Indian Statutory Commission, Selections from Memoranda and Oral Evidence by Non-Officials, pt I (London, 1930), pp. 346–7.Google Scholar Muslims also held about half the positions of Deputy Superintendent, Circle Inspector and Sub-Inspector in the police force. U.P.L.C., 19 December 1925, vol. XXVI, p. 507.Google Scholar

42 Indian Statutory Commission, III, Provincial Reports, pp. 241.Google Scholar

43 Aligarh S.R. 1943, p. 5Google Scholar; Bara Banki Muslims also lost considerably, but this is not apparent in the map because their holdings were so large, Bara Banki S.R., 1930, p. 2Google Scholar; the other districts with losses of 20 +% were Cawnpore and Dehra Dun. In the former this represented some 1.5% and in the latter about 0.4%, of the total area. For Cawnpore, see Assessment Report [hereafter A.R.] Tahsil Derapur, 1943, pp. 23Google Scholar; A.R. Tahsil Bilhaur, 1943 P. 4Google Scholar; Rent Rate Report [hereafter R.R.] Tahsil Cawnpore, 1942, in U.P. Gazette, 25 07 1942, pt VIII, p. 1240.Google Scholar For Dehra Dun (the valley region), see S.R. Tahsil Dehra, 1941, p. 2.Google Scholar

44 For an insightful view of the situation during the Depression see Jawaharlal Nehru, On the Rent and Revenue Situation in U.P., 18 April 1931, All India Congress Committee Papers [hereafter A.I.C.C. Papers], file 4/1931 (pt 1), N.M.L.; wholesale prices dropped more sharply than the rents of ordinary tenants. See Pandey, , Ascendancy of the Congress, p. 160.Google Scholar Even allowing for a sharp reduction in collections there would have been no great shortfall in the absentee landlord's real income. See Neale, , Economic Change, p. 238; and Z.A.C., I, p. 349.Google Scholar

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46 By 1925 some eight major estates had been settled under the Agra Estates Act of 1920. Six of these were Hindu and two were Muslim. U.P.L.C., 19 August 1925, vol. XXV, p. 12.Google Scholar

47 See, for examples, Mahomed Yusoof (pleader, High Court, Calcutta), to Viceroy, 7 June 1906, Govt of India, Home (Judicial) Dept, A Proceedings, July 1907, no. 82, N.A.I.; and note by Aziz Mirza (Hon. Secty, All India Muslim League) 7 March 1911, file 33, Muslim League Papers, Archives of the Freedom Movement, University of Karachi.

48 Govt Resolution on the Revenue Administration of the U.P. [hereafter U.P.R.A.], 192030 (Allahabad, 1931), pp. 89, 17Google Scholar; Knox, K. W., Settlement Commissioner, U.P.L.C., 11 July 1930, vol. XLVIII, p. 178Google Scholar; S.R. Etah, 1944, p. 2; A.R. Kaimgunj, Farrukhabad district, p. 8; interview with Dr Moin ul Haq (Secretary of the Pakistan Historical Society), Karachi, 28 January 1979.Google Scholar

49 U.P.R.A., 1929–30, pp. 89, 17.Google Scholar

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51 When Hindu trusts are mentioned in reports they usually refer to trusts for temples and charitable institutions. For example, see Mainpuri S.R., 1944, p. 2.Google Scholar

52 The percentage is calculated by dividing the figure estimated for waqf-al-ul-aulad in 1947 by the Muslim share of the land revenue given in 1926. This may slightly decrease the percentage because in most districts Muslims would have lost land in the intervening years.

53 In 1899 a N.W.P. zamindar and M.L.C., Nawab Faiyaz Ali Khan, congratulated the Oudh taluqdars on their good fortune in securing ‘the preservation of old and hereditary estates’, and hoped that ‘the precedent thus set in their case … may … mean that the days of our own salvation from the ruinous effects of alienation and even division of our own estates are not far off’, U.P.L.C., 2 April 1899, vol. I, p. 35.Google Scholar

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56 For the political history of the period up to the Khilafat movement, see Robinson, , Separatism, passim, and ‘Municipal Government’, pp. 89121.Google Scholar For the basis for Muslim views of their position under the 1935 Govt. of India Act, see the ‘Instrument of Instructions to the Governor of Madras issued under the Government of India Act, 1935, 8 March 1937’, in SirGwyer, Maurice and Appadorai, A., Speeches and Documents on Ihe Indian Constitution, 1921–47, vol. I (Bombay, 1957), p. 379.Google Scholar The ‘Instructions’ to the Governor of the U.P. followed a similar wording in enjoining the Governor to appoint to his ministry ‘in consultation with the person who in his judgement is most likely to command a stable majority in the Legislature, those persons (including so far as practicable members of important minority communities) who will best be in a position collectively to command the confidence of the Legislature’. Subsequent paragraphs contained instructions about safeguarding the legitimate interests of minorities, including an injunction to be guided by previously ‘accepted policy’ in relation to the due proportion of appointments in the services.

57 Nehru to Rajendra Prasad, 21 July 1937, R. Prasad file, Nehru Papers, N.M.L.

58 Nehru to Pant, 30 March 1937, file E/1/36, A.I.C.C. papers; Pant to Nehru, 2 April 1937, Pant file, Nehru Papers.

59 The League's first choice as candidate had asked for more than the party could afford in the way of electoral expenses, but there seems to have been no last minute efforts to procure a replacement for a seat which had been won by a League candidate in the general election. Khaliquzzaman, Choudhry, Pathway to Pakistan (Lahore, 1961), pp. 154–8.Google Scholar

60 S. N. A. Jafri (Deputy Director, Dept. Public Information, Govt. of India), Note regarding the Muslim parties in India, 7 December 1934, in Govt. of India, Home Dept., Political Branch, file 150/34, N.A.I.; Hasan, Mushirul, Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1916–28 (New Delhi, 1979), pp. 287301Google Scholar; Khaliquzzaman, , Pathway, p. 98.Google Scholar It is difficult to agree with Mehrotra's view that the Congress had not asked a high price for the inclusion of Muslim League members in the ministry. The two points he identifies as the main conditions, the cessation of League activities in the legislature as a separate group, and the dissolution of the League's Parliamentary Board, would have prevented the relationship between the parties from being that of a ‘coalition’. The League could not have existed as an effective political force in the U.P. under these conditions. Mehrotra, S. R., ‘The Congress and the Partition of India’, in Philips, C. H. and Wainwright, M. D. (eds), The Partition of India (London, 1970), pp. 198–9.Google Scholar

61 Khaliquzzaman, , Pathway, pp. 157–8; Pant to Nehru, 20 July 1937, Pant file, Nehru Papers.Google Scholar

62 Mehrotra, ‘Congress and Partition’, p. 197.

63 Leader, 31 July 1937, p. 9.Google Scholar For a discussion of the ‘husk’ culture see Low, D. A. (ed.), Soundings in Modern South Asian History (Canberra, 1968), pp. 511.Google Scholar

64 Sir Harry Haig (Gov. U.P.) to Lord Linlithgow (Viceroy), 16 and 23 October 1937, in Haig Papers, MSS Eur F 115/12, India Office Records, London.

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67 The Report of the Inquiry Committee appointed by the Council of the All-India Muslim League to Inquire into Muslim Grievances in Congress Provinces, 1938, pp. 73–4.Google Scholar

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70 Ibid., p. 42. The Muslim members also objected to the chairmen of local boards being elected separately from the other members (and therefore not subject to no-confidence motions), the loss of local control over primary education, and the diminution of the role of Urdu in local administration.

71 Statesman, 19 October 1938, p. 5.Google Scholar The Pant ministry had, in fact, attracted the ire of the U.P. Congress organization when in its first appointment, of the Advocate-General, a non-Congressman was selected. He appeared at the opening of the legislature, however, with a Congress flag in his lapel.

72 Hindustan Times, 13 November 1938, p. 4.

73 Khan, Shafa'at Ahmad, Representation, Appendix, pp. 6077Google Scholar; Pant Address, Appendix 1; U.P.L.C.. 21 August 1939, vol. 6, pp. 64–5.Google Scholar The increase of Muslims in the lower ranks of police officers may have been due to deliberate recruitment during the civil disobedience movement. Govt. of India, India in 1931–32 (Calcutta, 1933), p. 181Google Scholar; Gupta, Anandswarup, The Police in British India, 1861–1947 (New Delhi, 1979), pp. 468–9.Google Scholar

74 Of the 87 Muslims to enter the I.C.S. between 1922 and 1943, 29 were successful at the examinations, the remaining 58 had been unsuccessful but were nominated to the service to retain the communal balance. Potter, , ‘Manpower Shortage’, p. 56.Google Scholar

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76 Abdus Sami (President, Bijnor Muslim league) complained that a Muslim Deputy Collector, who was suspected of Muslim League inclinations, was transferred from Bijnor against his wishes when there were two Hindu Deputy Collectors with more time in the post, who had had their transfers cancelled. Abdus Sami to M. A. Jinnah, 30 October 1939, file 578, Qaid-e-Azam Papers [hereafter Q.A.P.], National Archives of Pakistan, Islamabad; for an insight into the transfer system of the post-war Congress government, see Bonarjee, N., Under Two Masters (Calcutta, 1970), p. 233.Google Scholar Bonarjee was Chief Secretary at the time.

77 Habibullah to Jinnah, 24 November 1937, file 270, Q.A.P.; cf. Pioneer, 27 August 1938, p. 1, and 28 August 1938, p. 8.

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83 On their return to power in 1946, the Congress rapidly reorganized education in the U.P. on even more rigorous lines. Hindi became compulsory. Sec. Ed. Report, 1953, Appendix III, pp. 23a–24a.

84 For an outline of a questionnaire the U.P.P.C.C. sent to local committees on agrarian questions, see Pioneer, 30 May 1936, pp. 1, 16: It raised the possibility of zamindari abolition and its political impact on the Congress.

85 Leader, 31 July 1937, p. 9.Google Scholar Even before the opening of the legislature, Congress legislators had passed resolutions, in party meetings, pressing for a committee to investigate landlord-tenant relations. Leader, 29 July 1937, p. 10.Google Scholar

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90 Hindustan Times, 12 November 1938, p. 7.Google Scholar Rafi Ahmad Kidwai exposed the League's tactics of obfuscating their land policies in a brilliant speech reported in the Leader, 12 November 1938, p. 12.Google Scholar

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96 Tomlinson, B. R., The Indian National Congress and the Raj, 1929–42 (London, 1977), p. 97.Google Scholar

97 In early 1939 the U.P. Government Publicity Department published an Urdu pamphlet which claimed to show that the Congress government had been more than generous to the Muslims in respect of jobs in the services, in imposing no new restrictions on Muslim religious observations (while it had for Hindus), and in releasing from prosecution Muslims who had attacked Ministers. This raised a considerable furore among Hindus without, it seems, impressing the Muslim elite. These concessions, even if accurately reported, remained the largesse of Congress patronage. See Leader, 21 April 1939, P. 4.Google Scholar

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