HIS-103

Lecture- 6

Lahore Resolution - 1940

 Introduction
• In 1940, Mohammed Ali Jinnah called a general session of the
All India Muslim League in Lahore to discuss the situation that
had arisen due to the outbreak of the Second World War and
the Government of India joining the war without taking the
opinion of the Indian leaders, and also to analyze the reasons
that led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general
election of 1937 in the Muslim majority provinces
• A.K. Fazlul Huq led the Bengal Muslim League contingent
and reached Lahore on 22 March.

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 Introduction

• Jinnah, in his speech, criticized the Congress and the traditionalist

Muslims, and supported the Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the
demand for separate Muslim homeland.
• His arguments caught the imagination of the Muslim masses.
• A resolution was drafted and placed before the AIML for discussion and
amendments
• On 24 March 1940, it was adopted by the All-India Muslim League 
• It was written and prepared by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan
• Presented by A. K. Fazlul Huq

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 Lahore Resolution
• The Lahore Resolution  was a political resolution, or statement
formally adopted by the AIML at its general session on 24
March 1940, held at Lahore.
• This resolution asked for greater Muslim autonomy of Muslim
majority states such as Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, NWFP
within British India.

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 Lahore Resolution
• The Resolution stated:
“It is the considered view of this session of the All India
Muslim League that no Constitutional Plan would be workable
in this country or acceptable to the Muslims, unless it is
designed on the following basic principle, namely that
geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions
which should be so constituted, with such territorial
readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the
Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North Western
and Eastern Zones of India would be grouped to constitute
‘Independent States’ in which the constituent units shall be
autonomous and sovereign.”

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 Background

• Until the mid-1930s, the Muslim leaders were trying to ensure

maximum political safeguards for Muslims within the
framework of federation of India
• They got some safeguards through a system of separate
electorate on communal basis in the 1935 Government of India
Act
• Indian National Congress formed government in six out of
eight provinces
• During Congress rule from 1937–39, it was clearly hinted at
what lay ahead for the Muslim majority provinces once it came
to dominate the center

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 Background

• At this stage Muslim League’s resentment was directed against

the Congress ministries and their alleged attacks on Muslim
culture
• The heightened activity of Hindu Mahasabha, the hoisting of
Congress tricolour, the singing of Bande Mataram, the Vidya
Mandir scheme in the Central Provinces and the Wardha
scheme of education, all were interpreted as proof of
‘Congress atrocities’
• The Congress was clearly incapable of representing Muslim
interests

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 Background
• By 1938-39, the idea of separation was strongly gaining
ground
• The Sindh Provincial Muslim League Conference held its
first session in Karachi in October 1938, adopted a
resolution which recommended to the All India Muslim
League to devise a scheme of constitution under which
Muslims may attain full independence
• A. K. Fazlul Haque was quite convinced in favour of
separation

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 Aims and Objectives

• The Muslim majority areas of India should be merged so

that the Indian Muslims may have an area where they
could establish their independent state
• The Muslims, who are in minority in the independent units
and areas, should be consulted with and their interests
should be provided with the protection in the constitution
• Since the present constitution does not provide protection
to the Muslims’ interests, it is not acceptable to the Indian
Muslims at all

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 Aims and Objectives
• The Muslims of India cannot accept the amendments
proposed by the British government in the present
constitution so long the entire constitutional plan is not
revised from the scratch
• Prior to implementation of the amended constitution, the
Muslim leaders should be invited to extend their view
about the amendments and this constitution should not be
implemented before the consent of the Muslims

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 Controversies

• The name Pakistan was not used in the resolution and the
official name of the resolution was Lahore Resolution.
• It was the Hindu newspapers who ironically coined the
name Pakistan Resolution though it is more known as
Pakistan Resolution.
• The word “states” and not “state” was mentioned in the
Resolution.
• It means that the authors of the Resolution were foreseeing
two separate states in the north-western and eastern zones
of India.

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 Controversies
• But if one has a good look at the developments that followed, one
would come to the conclusion that either the word “states” was
included as a mistake or the League leadership soon had a second
thought to their idea.
• A Resolution passed at the 1941 Madras session of the League stated,
“Everyone should clearly understand that we are striving for one
independent and sovereign Muslim State.”
• In all the speeches that Jinnah delivered, he also used the word “an
independent homeland” or “an independent Muslim state”.
• On 15 April 1941, it was incorporated as a creed in the constitution of
the AIML in its Madras session.
• It continued to be the League’s creed until its dissolution after the
independence of Pakistan in 1947

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 Muslims of Bengal

• The Muslims of Bengal, who were searching for an

identity throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, finally
found it in the Lahore Resolution.
• It gave them a sense of nationhood.
• Henceforth the dominant theme in Muslim politics was not
complaint against Hindu injustice, but a demand for
separate political existence.

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 Nationalist Muslims

• The All India Azad Muslim Conference gathered in Delhi

in April 1940 to voice its support for an independent and
united India, in response to the Lahore Resolution.
• Its members included several Islamic organizations in
India, as well as 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates.

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 Reaction of the Hindus

The Hindu reaction was quick and bitter

They called the “one state” demand “anti-national”
They characterized it as vivisection
They denounced it as imperialist – inspired to obstruct India’s
march to freedom

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 Reaction of the British

• The British were equally hostile to the Muslim demand

• They had long considered themselves as the architects of
the unity of India and of an Indian nation

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 Conclusion

• Lahore Resolution is one of the important events that

changed the course of Indian history and left deep marks
on the world history
• With the passage of this Resolution, the Muslims of the
sub-continent changed their demand from “Separate
Electorates” to a “Separate State”  
• This Resolution rejected the idea of a United India and the
creation of an independent Muslim state was set as their
ultimate goal

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