This lesson deals with the three competing strands of nationalism in British India – Indian nationalism, Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism. It traces how religion entered nationalist politics, how the British used the policy of Divide and Rule and separate electorates, the rise of the All India Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha, and the events – from the Day of Deliverance (1939) to Direct Action Day (1946) – that ended in the partition of the country into India and Pakistan.
1. Background – Muslims after 1857
- Before the British Raj, the Mughals and their agents ruled large parts of the country. The official and court language was Persian.
- The 1857 rebellion was the last gasp of the earlier ruling class. After its brutal suppression, the Muslims lost their land, jobs and other opportunities and were reduced to penury.
- With the rise of Indian nationalism among the educated Hindu upper castes, the British saw in the Muslim middle class a force to keep the Congress in check.