1937 Elections/Lahore Resolution 1940

1937 Elections/Lahore Resolution 1940

1. 1937 elections

   • Congress landslide victory
     • Now effectively the governing party of India
   • Congress felt so powerful that they refused to cooperate with the viceroy unless he promised to not overrule decisions made by provincial govts
     • Linlithgow reluctantly agrees - no option
   • Congress refused to include any Muslim politicians in Provincial govts
     • Described as "one of the gravest miscalculations by the Congress leadership in its long history" - Ayesha Jalal
   • Muslim results
     • there were 482 Muslim reserved seats in the 1937 elections
       • Muslim league only claimed 109 of them
     • held 15% of all seats in legislatures
       • Muslim population make up 22% - poor result

2. Lahore Resolution 1940

   • Overview
     • Sets out Muslim demands for an independent state
       • ML were demanding areas of Muslim majority to be separated off as independent states
         • These states would be autonomous and sovereign
   • Ambiguity
     • Much confusion over exact demands
     • Fazlul Huq, a muslim leader, thought that independent states meant two equal separations, one in the east - Bengal, one in the west - Pakistan
     • Jinnah let it be known privately that he only intended 2 wings to one state
       • Jinnah also open to idea that independent muslim states could be part of an All-India superstate
       • Jinnah did not announce this until 6 years after
         • Has caused historians to question his true objectives
   • Hostage Theory
     • Lahore resolution came under much scrutiny based on the idea that minority rights were not protected
       • Jinnah responded with his idea of hostage theory
         • He argued that because there would be minorities in both the Hindu and the Muslim state, the majorities would be forced to protect the rights of the minorities
           • to prevent their minorites being attacked in the other state