continuous criticism from Indians on the administration and legislative structure of

British in India. There was no representation of Indians in the legislative council of

Viceroy and central administration. According to Indian critics the absence of Indians
is a major cause of rejection of British and one of the major elements for the war of
1857. Leading from the front in criticism was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He wrote Asbab-
e-Baghawat-e-Hind (Causes of Indian Revolt, later translated in English) in 1858. Since
this book came out, British started to discuss inclusion of Indians in governmental setup.
These reforms for the first time brought Indians into legislature. It said that
Indians would be allowed to sit in the council of Viceroy on the basis of selection by
British. Although this inclusion was not on democratic basis but it opened a window of
opportunity for Indians to take part in law making. The function of Indian member was
just to tell British about the feelings of Indians when asked. He did not have any power
to make any change or to stop any law.
The first Indians to become members of Imperial Legislative Council were, Raja
Sir Deo Narayan Singh of Benaras (Jan 1862-1866) Narendra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala
(Jan 1862-1864) Dinkar Rao (Jan 1862-1864). Dr. M. Moiz Khan
Assistant Professor
Dept. of History, University of Karachi
Hindi-Urdu controversy 1867: 0322-2391591, moiz200@yahoo.com

This event occurred when British decided to replace Urdu which is written in
Persian script with Hindi written in Deo-Nagri script, in lower courts. Muslims all over
India started to agitate against the step taken by the Government. On the other hand
Hindus were celebrating on the replacement of the Language.
This event also sparked disturbance in many localities across India. Muslims
were surprised by the reaction shown by the Hindus, because till then both Hindus and
Muslims stood with each other against British. Hindus had started to lean towards British,
while Muslims were facing hardships at the hands of British.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan took notice of the event and observed it. He then started
to think about the two nation theory, that Muslims and Hindus are two different nations
which have totally different history, culture, religion and language etc. Although they
have lived together with each other for more than eight centuries but still they have not
learnt to tolerate each other. After some interval of time in history both communities
found themselves face to face against each other over some issue.

Formation of “All Indian National Congress” 1885:

It was formed by a retired British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume in 1885. The
main purpose of this party was to provide Indians a platform to voi ce their grievances and
demands to the British Government. It welcomed people of all castes and color. British
wanted to avoid any other confrontation like the War of Independence 1857 in future.
The first meeting of the Congress was held in Bombay when Lord Dufferin was viceroy.
It was attended by 72 delegates. Womesh Chandra Banerjee was elected as the first
president of Congress. By 1907 the Congress party got split into two sections first under
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (the extremist) and the second under Gopal Krishna Ghokle (the
18