Sikhs of India
Indian National Congress
Muslim League
Muslim League, political organization of India and Pakistan, founded
1906 as the All-India Muslim League. Its original purpose was to
safeguard the political rights of Muslims in India. An early leader
in the League, Muhammad Igbal, was one of the first to propose
(1930) the creation of a separate Muslim India. By 1940, under
the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it had gained such power
that, for the first time, it demanded the establishment of a Muslim
state (Pakistan), despite the opposition of the Indian National Congress.
During World War II the Congress was banned, but the League,
which supported the British war effort, was allowed to function
and gained strength. It won nearly all of the Muslim vote in the
elections of 1946. The following year saw the division of the Indian
subcontinent and the Muslim League became the major political party of
newly formed Pakistan.
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Indian National Congress, Indian political party, founded in 1885. Its founding
members proposed economic reforms and wanted a larger role in the making of
British policy for India. By 1907, however, the Congress had split into a
moderate group led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who sought dominion status for
India, and a militant faction under Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who demanded selfrule. In 1920 the Congress began a campaign of passive resistance, led by
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, against restrictions on the press and political
activities.
Although the Congress claimed to represent all Indians, many Muslims, fearful
of the vast Hindu majority, began to withdraw from the Congress. The Congress
was divided on approaches to economic reform; the conservatives favored
cautious reform while the leftists, of which Jawaharlal Nehru was a leader, urged
socialism. The great strength of the organization was shown in the provincial
elections of 1937.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Congress voted for neutrality. When India
came under Japanese attack, the Congress demanded immediate concessions
from Great Britain toward a democratic government in return for cooperation in
the war effort. The British responded by outlawing the organization and
arresting its leaders. In the 1946 elections to the Indian constituent assembly, the
Congress lost the Muslim vote to the Muslim League; it reluctantly accepted the
partition of the Indian subcontinent and the formation of the state of Pakistan.
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The Great Calcutta Killing
The Great Calcutta Killing or the Day of Direct Action was a large-scale riot which
took place in mid-August, 1946 between Hindus and Muslims in India The result of a
proposal to partition the country into separate Muslim/Hindu states in the wake of the
departure of British rule in India, the riot resulted in the deaths of 5,000-10,000
people