to all parties and protected Muslim rights.

As a result on March 20, 1927 following

proposals were drafted and forwarded to Congress;
i. Sindh should be separated from Bombay and made a province.
ii. Reforms should be in traduced in N.W.F.P and Baluchistan on the same footings
as in any other province of India.
iii. Reservation of seats according to population for different communities in Punjab
and Bengal.
iv. Muslims should be given 1/3 representation in central legislature.
On the very next day Congress Working Committee passed a resolution and
welcomed the decision of Muslims to surrender separate electorates. A sub-committee of
CWC was constituted to consider various proposals presented to them 22. Later in May
from 15 th to 18 th CWC conducted its meetings and presented their own proposal regarding
minorities 23. They considered proposal presented to them from all minorities and smaller
political parties, such as Muslims, Hindu Mahasabah etc.
Congress approved and adopted three of the four demands forwarded by Muslims,
except 1/3 representation of Muslims in central legislature.

All Parties Conference and Nehru Report:

In response to this commission Congress being the largest political party of India
invited all other political parties to talk. They called All Parties Conference in 1928. Dr.
M.A. Ansari was the president of the conference. The main idea was that British have put
up a challenge in front of Indians and now the time has come to u nite and work together.
All political parties of India welcomed it. Even Muslims League under Jinnah was a part
of this unified effort.
A committee was shaped under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru (father of
Jawaharlal Nehru) on May 19, 1928 and following were the various members;
i. Motilal Nehru. (Congress) (Chairman of the committee)
ii. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. (Liberals)
iii. Sir Ali Imam. (Muslims) Dr. M. Moiz Khan
iv. Shoaib Qureshi. (Muslims) Assistant Professor
Dept. of History, University of Karachi
v. Pradhan. (Non-Brahman) 0322-2391591, moiz200@yahoo.com
vi. Subhas Chandra Bose. (Congress)
vii. Madhorao Aney. (Hindu Mahasabha)
viii. M.R. Jayakar. (Hindu Mahasabha)
xi. N. M. Joshi. (Labor)
x. Sardar Mangal Singh. (Sikhs)
xi. Jawaharlal Nehru (Congress) (Served as the secretary of the
24
committee)

22
The sub-committee consisted of, Sarojni Naidu, Moti Lal Nehru, Srinivasa and Maulana Muhammad Ali.
23
Anti-Separatist manifesto, 21
24
“The Nehru Report: An Anti-Separatist Manifesto”, (New Delhi: Michiko & Panjathan, 1975), 23.
38
 There were two Muslim members in this committee as well. When the report came
out it was not acceptable to Muslims. Only two members Shoaib Qureshi and Pradhan did
not sign the minutes. It was against the benefit of minorities. Sir Ali Imam attended only
one meeting thus signed it later when the minutes were presented to him 25.
Jinnah made a very famous statement on this occasion that, “it is the parting of the ways”,
of Hindus and Muslims. Since then Muslims and Hindus never came on terms again and
started working for their own separate agendas.

1. Immediate dominion status.

2. “Declaration of Rights”, should be adopted, insuring fullest liberty of conscience and
religion. Dr. M. Moiz Khan
3. N.W.F.P should be given full provincial status. Assistant Professor
Dept. of History, University of Karachi
4. Sind should be separated from Bombay. 0322-2391591, moiz200@yahoo.com
5. *Separate Electorates should be immediately abolished.
6. *No weightage should be allowed.
7. Reservation of seats was recommended in center and provinces where they are in
minority only, and reservation was strictly to the proportion of population.
8. Bi-cameral legislature was proposed, Senate as upper house and House of
representatives as lower house.
a. *Senate would have 200 seats. Its members would be elected from provincial
councils and representation of provinces would be proportional to its population. 26
b. “House of Representatives” of 500 should be constituted on the basis of direct
elections from all over India according to the population.
9. *Residuary powers would be given to the center. 27
NOTE: (* means these points were contradictory to the federal fo rm of government and
not acceptable to minorities.)
These constitutional recommendations were hinting towards the domination of
majority population in a country which was deeply divided on ethnic and religious lines.
It hinted towards federalism however it was as unitary as the 1919 Montague-Chelmsford
reforms were 28. These constitutional recommendations were seen as legal yoke to strangle
minorities. Anticipating it two members of the committee from minorities refused to sign
it, Shoaib Qureshi (representing Muslims) and Pradhan (representing low caste Hindus).
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was disappointed on the proceedings of APC. He proposed
three amendments to the Nehru Report on December 22, 1928 and offered to agree to all
other recommendations. However Congress refused to accommodate these
recommendations.
i. One third (1/3) seats reserved in the center for Muslims.

25
Coupland 95
26
This is a wrong method of representation of provinces in upper house. In upper house representation should
be regardless of population proportion, such as USA senate has 100 members, 2 from each 50 states.
27
Residuary powers means all those subjects not mentioned in the concurrent list. It was negation of federalism.
Smaller provinces would be neglected and over powered by central government.
28
See, Coupland, 94
39