question_answer 10)

 Discuss those developments of the 1937-47 period that led to the creation of Pakistan.                                 

Answer:

 From the late 1930s, the Muslim League began viewing the Muslims as a separate nation from the Hindus. In developing this notion it may have been influenced by the history of tension between some Hindu and Muslim groups in the 1920s and 1930s. More importantly, the provincial elections of 1937 seemed to have convinced the League that Muslims were a minority, and they would always have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure. It feared that Muslims .may even go unrepresented. The Congress's rejection of the League's desires to form a joint Congress-League government in the United Provinces in 1937 also, annoyed the League. The Congress's failure to mobilise the Muslim measses in the 1930s allowed the League to widen its social support. It sought to enlarge its support in the early 1940s when most Congress leaders were in Jail. At the end of the war in 1945, the British opened negotiations between the Congress, the League and themselves for the independence of India. The talks failed because the League saw itself as the sole spokesperson of India's Muslims. The Congress could not accept this claim since a large number of Muslims still supported it.  Elections of the provinces were again held in 1946. The Congress did well in the General constituencies, but the Leagues' success in the seats reserved for Muslims was spectacular. It persisted with its demand for Pakistan. In March 1946, the British cabinet sent a three-member mission to Delhi to examine this demand and to suggest a suitable political framework for a free India. This mission suggested that India should remain united and constitute itself as a loose confederation with some autonomy for Muslim-majority areas. But it could not get the Congress and the Muslim League to agree to specific details of the proposal. Partition now became more or less inevitable. After the failure of the cabinet mission, the Muslims League decided on mass agitation for winning its Pakistan demand. It announced 16 August, 1946 as Direct Action Day. On this day riots broke out in Calcutta, lasting several days and resulting in the death of thousands of people. By March 1947 violence spread to different parts of northern India. Many hundred thousand people were killed and numerous women had to face untold brutalities during the Partition. Partition also meant that India changed, many of its cities changed, and a new country Pakistan was born.