SIMLA DEPUTATION AND FORMATION OF ALL INDIA

MUSLIM LEAGUE
During the 19th century, Muslim political activism came to be centered on Agha Khan
University. The university and its associated Aligarh movement began to push for Muslim social
and educational reform. Its leader, Syed Ahmed Khan, strengthened the Muslim community in
northern India by drawing them to his pro-British writings and gatherings. However, his death in
1898 led to the university becoming dormant. However, in the 1900s, the university became
heavily involved in politics again, starting with the Hindi-Urdu controversy. The beginning of
the 20th century gave rise to the impetus for a Muslim political organization to advocate for
Muslims throughout India, much as the Indian National congruous did for India as a whole.
In 1905, Lord Curzon, then Viceroy, reorganized the Bengal Presidency through the partition of
Bengal, splitting the region into East and West Bengal. The partition enraged Hindus, but
Muslims, who had become a majority in the newly-formed East Bengal, found themselves
opposed to the Hindus. The Muslims of East Bengal, led by Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury, found
an increased power and voice to be used to push for better employment opportunities, education,
and political representation. The British found in this Muslim opposition a bulwark against
Hindu dominance and nationalism and supported the Muslims.

In late 1905, the government of Britain came under the Liberals following the 1906 United
Kingdom general election. This coincided with the appointment of Lord Minto, who was more
sympathetic to Indian desires for autonomy than his predecessor Lord Curzon, to the position of
Vice-Roy following the resignation of Curzon. John Morley, a Liberal MP, was
appointed Secretary of State for India in the Liberal government of the UK. Morley made a
speech in the UK Parliament in July 1906 hinting at an increase of representation of native
Indians in Legislative councils for both moderate members of the Indian National Congress as
well as Muslims.
Hearing Morley's speech, Muhammad Ismail Khan, a member of the legislative council of
the United provinces, as well as other notable people within politics, wrote to Mohsin ul Mulk,
successor of Syed Ahmad Khan, suggesting an effort to increase Muslim representation in local
councils. Mohsin-ul-Mulk formed a committee to possibly meet the new Viceroy and asked the
Principal of Aligarh Muslim University, W.A.J. Archibold, who was in Simla at the time, to pass
the committee's request for a meeting on to the Viceroy. The Viceroy agreed, and Syed Hussain
Bilgrami drafted the deputation's address with help from Mohsin-ul-Mulk. The address was
signed by more than 1182 people and was sent to the Viceroy on 6 September, a month before
the deputation itself.
Historian Peter Hardy argues that the deputation knew that Lord Minto would be somewhat
receptive to their requests, or at least that he would not be openly hostile towards them. He
argues that this influenced the demands they made towards him.
DEPUTATION
The committee, led by Agha
Khan, went to Simla to meet with Lord
Minto on October 1. The address which
had been sent beforehand contained the
desires of the deputation – that
Muslims, based on their population
within India "numerical strength",
should have a proportionate share of the
vote and separate electorates, supported
by the idea that having been the rulers
of India during the period of
the Mughal Empire, Muslims had a
higher amount of "political
importance".
Any kind of representation, direct or indirect, and in all other ways affecting their status and
influence, should be commensurate not merely with the numerical strength but also with their
political importance.
They also argued that:
“Muslims are a distinct community with additional interests which are not shared by other
communities and these have not been adequately represented.”
Additionally, the deputation did not criticize British rule and only praised it. The deputation also
presented the idea that they were satisfied with how things currently were, and that a change was
not necessary.
Minto found himself agreeing with the deputation and consenting to many of their demands. He
stated that his beliefs aligned with the deputation's members, saying that:
any electoral representation in India would be doomed to mischievous failure which aimed at
granting a personal enfranchisement regardless of the beliefs and traditions of the communities
composing the population of this continent
The Simla Deputation managed to convince Lord Minto to create better representation for
Muslims within Indian politics – the Indian Council Act 1909, known as the Morley-Minto or
Minto-Morley Reforms, which created non-official Indian majorities in provincial councils, put
many of the main demands of the deputation such as separate electorates and separate provincial
council seats for Muslims into law.

Within the politically active Muslims themselves, the Simla Deputation led to the creation of
the All-India Muslim League in December 1906. The Muslim political leaders had previously,
while drafting the address to Lord Minto in September, used the opportunity before the next All
India Muhammadan Educational Conference later in the year to draft a constitution and set up
the foundation of what was to become the Muslim League.
The Simla Deputation is referred to by some as a landmark within Muslim history in India, as it
was the first time Muslims had raised their demands against Hindus on a constitutional level
towards the British. Scholarly consensus used to be that the Simla Deputation was something
engineered by the British as a way to turn Muslims and Hindus against each other; however, the
research of Wasti attempted to show that the deputation had its origins within the Muslim
political leaders, and that the British had nothing to do with the address to Lord Minto and the
organizing of the deputation.
KHUTBA ALLAHABAD
In 1930 Iqbal delivered the Presidential Address the Allahabad Address, before address Iqbal
also delivered landmark lectures on Islam in 1928 and 1929 in Aligarh, Hyderabad and Madras.
Because Iqbal's address eye-plot was based on Islam. Iqbal's views on Islam and introversion
with the modern conditions and modern situation helps him to generate the Allahabad Address.
In 1932, Iqbal also presided over All India Conference that was held at Lahore and during that
conference, he repeated some of the ideas and some of the thoughts which he had presented in
his Address at 1930.
Main Idea
In his address, Iqbal called for the
creation of "a Muslim India within
India", especially in North-western
India. Iqbal demanded the right of
self-government for the Muslims. as
he said:
India is a continent of human groups
belonging to different races, speaking
different languages, and profession
different and personality, I would like
to see all these provences
“the Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state”. Self-government
within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-
West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-
West India.
Within his address, Iqbal also touched on his fear that Islam may have a similar fate as
Christianity. "To Islam, matter is spirit realising itself in space and time" whereas Europe had
"accepted the separation of Church and State and disliked the fact that their leaders were
"indirectly forcing the world to accept it as unquestionable dogma I do not know what will be the
final fate of the national idea in the world of Islam. Whether Islam will assimilate and transform
it as it has before assimilated and transformed many ideas expressive of a different spirit, or
allow a radical transformation of its own structure by the force of this idea, is hard to predict.
Professor Wensinck of Leiden (Holland) wrote to me the other day: "It seems to me that Islam is
entering upon a crisis through which Christianity has been passing for more than a century. The
great difficulty is how to save the foundations of religion when many antiquated notions have to
be given up."
Iqbal spoke of:
The unity of an Indian nation, therefore, must be sought not in the negation, but in the mutual
harmony and cooperation, of the many. True statesmanship cannot ignore facts, however
unpleasant they may be and it is on the discovery of Indian unity in this direction that the fate of
India as well as of Asia really depends If an effective principle of cooperation is discovered in
India it will bring peace and mutual goodwill to this ancient land which has suffered so long And
it will at the same time solve the entire political problem of Asia.
In regards to the army, Iqbal stated:
Punjab with 56 percent Muslim population supplies 54 percent of the total combatant troops to
the Indian Army, and if the 19,000 Gurkhas recruited from the independent State of Nepal are
excluded, the Punjab contingent amounts to 62 percent of the whole Indian Army. This
percentage does not take into account nearly 6,000 combatants supplied to the Indian Army by
the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. From this, you can easily calculate the
possibilities of North-West Indian Muslims in regards to the defense of India against foreign
aggression. Thus, processing full opportunity of development within the body politic of India,
the North-West Indian Muslims will prove the best defenders of India against a foreign invasion.
Iqbal also addresses how it was "painful to observe" the failed attempts to "discover such a
principle of internal harmony". However, he still felt "hopeful". He expressed great concerns that
the British politicians were "cleverly exploiting Hindu-Muslim differences regarding the ultimate
form of Central Government" through Princes of the Princely States. He was also critical of the
Simon Report that it did great "injustice to Muslims" to not be given a statutory majority for
Punjab and Bengal. Furthermore, he demanded Sindh to be united with Baluchistan and turned
into a separate province as it did not have anything in common with Bombay Presidency.
Comparing the European democracy to Indian democracy, he justified the Muslim demand for a
"Muslim India within India"

The principle of European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognizing the fact of
communal groups. The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is,
therefore, perfectly justified. The resolution of the All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi is, to
my mind, wholly inspired by this noble ideal of a harmonious whole which, instead of stifling
the respective individualities of its component wholes, affords them chances of fully working out
the possibilities that may be latent in them. And I have no doubt that this House will
emphatically endorse the Muslim demands embodied in this resolution.
Commenting on the Hindu fears of religious rule in the Muslim autonomous states, Iqbal said:
Muslim demand is not actuated by the kind of motive he imputes to us; it is actuated by a
genuine desire for free development which is practically impossible under the type of unitary
government contemplated by the nationalist Hindu politicians with a view to secure permanent
command dominance in the whole of India. Nor should the Hindus fear that the creation of
autonomous Muslim states will mean the introduction of a kind of religious rule in such states. I
have already indicated to you the meaning of the word religion, as applied to Islam. The truth is
that Islam is not a Church I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim State in
the best interests of India and Islam. For India, it means security and peace resulting from an
internal balance of power; for Islam, an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian
Imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilize its law, its education, its culture, and to bring them
into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times.
In his concluding remarks, Iqbal said:
India demands complete organization and unity of will and purpose in the Muslim community,
both in your own interest as a community and in the interest of India as a whole We have a duty
toward India where we are destined to live and die. We have a duty towards Asia, especially
Muslim Asia. And since 70 million of Muslims in single country constitute a far more valuable
asset to Islam than all the countries of Muslim Asia put together, we must look at the Indian
problem not only from the Muslim point of view but also from the standpoint of the Indian
Muslim as such.