ENG 515A Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Sardar, Ulama, Zamindar
PAMSA seminar – Week 12
Thursday, 9th November, 2017
• Wikipedia: In 1937 the All India Muslim League was a weak party with very little political
strength.[2] It had lost the 1936 general elections in India, quite badly.[3] It needed more
support from powerful Muslims to make it strong. The party wanted to help Muslims in India
get their rights. So, in October 1937, M.A. Jinnah, the main leader of the Muslim League
party, invited some very powerful Muslims to a conference in Lucknow city.[4] One of the
most powerful Muslim leaders was Sardar Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, KBE (1892-
1942), Premier of the Punjab province and head of the Punjab Unionist Party.[5] He was also
invited by Jinnah to this big conference.
• In return, unionist leaders like sikandar hayat will support muslim league at all india
leel, hih ill stregthe the usli league’s had i ters of egotiatios ith the
political center.
• So you can see sindh, east Bengal, punjab etc, is all provincial politics.
• This agreement with sikandar, etc, Jinnah is trying to restructure and strengthen the
muslim league after losing elections.
• Another party in punjab – jaat ul ehraat. Did’t hae uh tratio i puja. Did’t
have a lot of street power.
• So the period of 9’s, first e ere lookig at it i the otext of all-india, congress
etc. But within the Indian muslim politics also, it was a very contested arena. Multiple
forces with their own interpretation of what the muslim interest was and how best it
could be served. But Jinnah was able to make significant inroads there to cobble
together an alliance and bring a diverse array of players under the banner of muslim
league. All of this takig plae i 9’s, ad ore so i 9’s.
• Muslim league loses elections in 1936, congress wins votes from both muslims and
hindus, which makes congress get a little arrogant and more dismissive of muslim
representation?
• In the wake of 1939, Jinnah comes roaring back, exploits disaffections of muslims over
some symbolic moves that the congress ministry adopts. He and muslim league
capitalize on these differences.
• Relative ratio of soldiers in Indian army – muslims and hindus? Indian muslims ratio of
overall population was significant but not huge, but their ratio in the military was larger
than their relative weight in the population.
• Even the ulema was not squarely behind the muslim league.
• Book – muslims against muslim league.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Thursday, 9th november, 2017: wikipedia: in 1937 the all india muslim league was a weak party with very little political strength. [2] it had lost the 1936 general elections in india, quite badly. [3] it needed more support from powerful muslims to make it strong. The party wanted to help muslims in india get their rights. Jinnah, the main leader of the muslim league party, invited some very powerful muslims to a conference in lucknow city. [4] one of the most powerful muslim leaders was sardar sir sikandar hayat khan, kbe (1892- 1942), premier of the punjab province and head of the punjab unionist party. [5] he was also invited by jinnah to this big conference. Did(cid:374)"t have a lot of street power: so the period of (cid:1005)9(cid:1007)(cid:1004)"s, first (cid:449)e (cid:449)ere looki(cid:374)g at it i(cid:374) the (cid:272)o(cid:374)text of all-india, congress etc. But within the indian muslim politics also, it was a very contested arena.
