Question

What did the Muslim League resolution of 1940 ask for?

Answer 1

• The Muslim League had moved a resolution in 1940, demanding an independent state for Muslims in Eastern areas of country and for Muslims in the North-Western areas of the country.
• The resolution of 1940 had no mention of Pakistan or partition.
• The Muslim League started at the Muslims through the prism of a separate “nation” from the Hindus from the late 1930s.
• The history of tensions between Muslims and Hindus in the 1930s and 1920s may have influenced the development of this idea.
• The Muslim league was apprehensive that Muslims would play a role of minority in the democratic structure, this was reinforced after the provincial elections of 1937.
• Muslim League even had the fear that they would not get any representation.
• The proposal of forming a joint Congress League in the United Provinces in 1937 was rejected by the Congress which annoyed the Muslim League.
• The Muslim league was able to widen its social support due to the failure of the Congress to mobilise the Muslim masses in the 1930s.
• When the Congress leaders were in jail, the Muslim league tried to enlarge its support base in the 1940s.