Dr.

Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University

Lucknow,U.P.- 226012

History - Project

Semester – 2

TOPIC – The Incidents of Antagonism and Unity between

Hindus and Muslims during the struggle for freedom

SUBMITTED BY- SUBMITTED TO-

Mohd Yousuf Dr. Vandana Singh
Enrolment no.- 210101088 Associate Prof. (History)
B.A. LL.B.(Hons.) 2nd semester RMLNLU, Lucknow
Section - A

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TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................4

HINDU-MUSLIMS IN COLONIAL INDIA ....................................................................................................6

INCIDENTS OF HINDU MUSLIM UNITY ...................................................................................................8

1. FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE .....................................................................................................8

2. THE LUCKNOW PACT, 1916 ...........................................................................................................9

3. SWADESHI MOVEMENT ................................................................................................................9

4. KHILAFAT MOVEMENT ................................................................................................................10

INCIDENTS OF HINDU MUSLIM DIVISION .............................................................................................11

1. HINDI URDU CONTROVERSY .......................................................................................................11

2. THE FORMATION MUSLIM LEAGUE ............................................................................................12

3. THOUGHTS OF SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN .....................................................................................13

4. SEPARATE ELECTORATES FOR MUSLIMS .....................................................................................14

CONSEQUENCE .....................................................................................................................................15

PARTITION OF INDIA .........................................................................................................................15

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................16

BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................................17

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this project; however, it would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere
thanks to all of them.

I am highly indebted Dr. Vandana Singh for her guidance and constant supervision as well as
for providing necessary information regarding the project and for her support in completing
the project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards family for their kind co-operation and
encouragement which helped me in completion of this project. My thanks and appreciation
also go to my friends in developing the project and people who have willingly helped me out
with their abilities.

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INTRODUCTION

India is a country known was its diversity, diversity in religion, race, language etc. People of
different races, religions and ethnicities migrated from their native homelands to the Indian
Subcontinent, owing to this resources and prosperity. These migrants and their generations
made Indian Subcontinent their homeland and made a great impact in the evolution of the
Indian culture and society, by taking up certain native practices and providing their own.
India is a country that teaches the lesson of Unity in diversity and more importantly respects
each other faith, culture, and religion. Recently, long-awaited Supreme court judgment in
Ayodhya land dispute was delivered and both the community remained calm and showcased
the mind-blowing image of unity and brotherhood. There are many instances where you will
see amazing examples of unity and solidarity between these two communities Hindu-
Muslim.1

Hinduism and Islam are two major religions of India. Relations of Hindus and Muslims in
India are unique themselves as ties and tensions bind them together. Both the religions have a
lot of followers and have a very long and complex history. Both of these religions have
immensely influenced the Indian culture. While the confluence of these two different
religions has contributed a lot in shaping the present-day India, however there have been
many incidents of conflict between the two communities.

All along the years when the fight for an independent India was at its peak, a number of
Congress personalities, led by an already well-known leader - a brilliant man who hailed
from the historically famous United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh, UP) - Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, carried a dream: once India was freed from the British rule, a modern state would be
built, a state that would see that its caste and communal ancestral traditions were forgotten. A
secular state that would bring people together. A new Socialist order would be built. New
Temples - i.e., heavy industries–would appear which would bring the new India into
modernity. Some of these dreams would take shape indeed. However, the tragedies of the

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Partition and the violence which swept Northern India from 1946 to 1948 came as a shock
and destroyed many illusions.2

In this project we will analyse few incidents of unity and conflict between the two
communities during the freedom struggle and how they have shaped our freedom movement
against the Britishers and the further important incidents before the independence.

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HINDU-MUSLIMS IN COLONIAL INDIA

The nature of medieval Hindu-Muslim relations is an issue of great relevance in

contemporary India. Prior to the 200 years of colonial subjection to the British that ended in
1947, large portions of the Indian subcontinent were under Muslim political control.

It was the British that “constructed” modern Hindu and Muslim identities through
mechanisms like the first scientific census of 1871. And it was the British that used a “divide-
and-rule” policy to drive apart religious communities, thereby promoting violence between
them.

The Nationalist movement was the crucible in which relations between Hindus and Muslims
in British India took shape. It defined the period in which the concept of a monolithic
"Muslim community" solidified and in which "Hindu" and "Muslim" interests were
supposedly set in contrary positions. Any attempt to comment on the relationship between
Hindus and Muslims in modern India has to take into account the history of communal
relations in this period as the nationalist agitation against the British gathered force.3

Throughout the freedom struggle, there were many instances of Hindu-Muslim unity and
animosity. The revolt in 1857 was one occasion when the Hindu and Muslim sepoys came
together to fight against the British. Cynics refuse to see it as any unity of minds insisting that
the two had revolted for separate reasons - Hindus on the suspicion that the cartridges of the
Enfield rifles, which required the sepoys to use their teeth to rip open, were greased with cow
fat, while Muslims believed that pig fat was used for the same. Hindu sepoys swore by the
waters of sacred Ganges while Muslim sepoys chose the holy Quran.

This exuberance remained short-lived. The rise of Muslim politics from Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan to Mohammad Ali Jinnah had buried the hope for unity. Henceforth, Hindu-Muslim
unity became a political obsession, with the objective of preventing the partition of the
country. Gandhi was in the forefront pleading with the Muslims to remember that 'many
Hindus and Mahomedans own the same ancestors and the same blood runs through their
veins'. Nehru passionately told the students of Aligarh Muslim University in 1948, "You are

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Muslim and I am a Hindu. But that does not take us away from that cultural inheritance that
is yours as well as mine."4

Many leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai wanted Hindus and Muslims to come together, but were
unsure given "the injunctions of the Koran and Hadis". Rai had hoped that the "learned mind
and wise head" of the Muslims would find a solution. Some, like Ambedkar, were however
dismissive of the idea.

Many such incidents of unity and disunity have been seen during the independence struggle,
which are responsible for shaping the present-day Indian subcontinent.

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INCIDENTS OF HINDU MUSLIM UNITY

A new religiopolitical concept came into existence during the freedom struggle, it was known
as the Hindu-Muslim Unity. This concept was upheld by the major leaders of the freedom
struggle, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Abul Kalam Azad etc. The
thought behind propagating this concept was to unite Indians to achieve the ultimate goal of
Independence.

1. FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Revolt of 1857 was characterised by Hindu-Muslim unity. The Sepoys and the common
people of both the major communities i.e., Hindus and the Muslim, fought together against
the British., during India’s first war of independence which began on May 10, 1857. This
extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the Britishers and made them realise that if their rule
was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the two largest
religious communities, were divided along communal lines. Urgent steps were taken to create
enmity between these two groups.5

One crucial truth, about this struggle, is that it was jointly led by leaders like Nana Sahib,
Bahadur Shah Zafar, Maulvi Ahmed Shah, Tantya Tope, Khan Bahadur Khan, Rani
Laxmibai, Hazrat Mahal, Azimullah Khan and Ferozshah — a galaxy of revolutionaries who
belonged to different religions. It was a liberation struggle in which maulvis, pandits,
granthis, zamindars, peasants, traders, lawyers, women, students and people from different
castes, creeds and regions rose in revolt against the dehumanising rule of the East India
Company.

The revolt was a great show of unity between the Hindus and the Muslims. Reflecting on this
in 2007, Manmohan Singh stated that these events "stood as a great testimony to the
traditions of Hindu–Muslim unity that held out as an example for subsequent generations".
After this war, the Britishers realized that the unity between the Hindus and the Muslims is
detrimental for their rule in India, hence they started to promote the concept of divide and
rule in India.

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2. THE LUCKNOW PACT, 1916

The Lucknow Pact of 1916 was an agreement made between the Indian National Congress
led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the All-India Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
This pact was adopted on December 29th in the Lucknow session by the Congress and on
December 31st, 1916 by the Muslim League.

The session also marked the unification of the two factions of the Congress i.e., the radicals
and the moderates. The pact dealt with structurization of the Government of India and also to
promote unity between the two major religions of India i.e., the Hindus and the Muslims.

The Congress agreed to separate electorates for Muslims in provincial council elections and
for weightage in their favour (beyond the proportions indicated by population) in all
provinces except the Punjab and Bengal, where they gave some ground to the Hindu and Sikh
minorities. This pact paved the way for Hindu-Muslim cooperation in the Khilafat movement
and Mohandas Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement from 1920.6

Although he pact established communalism as an unavoidable part of Indian Politics and

enhanced the power and influence of the Muslim League, it established a temporary unity
between the Hindus and the Muslims which helped in the mass movements like the Khilafat
movement and the Non-cooperation movement.

3. SWADESHI MOVEMENT

The Swadeshi movement was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to
the development of Indian nationalism.

Even though the theme of Hindu-Muslim unity was a small but constant part of Swadeshi
thought, and many leaders spoke about its importance, the growing distance between the two

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communities in Bengal jarringly interrupted the story of nationalist arousal during the
Swadeshi Movement.

This movement also had an aspect of Hindu revivalism in it, although it strengthened the
Hindu mass support, it was very detrimental to the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity in the long
run.

4. KHILAFAT MOVEMENT

Khilafat movement, pan-Islamic force in India that arose in 1919 in an effort to salvage the
Ottoman caliph as a symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India during the
British raj. The movement was initially bolstered by Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement but
fell apart after the abolition of the caliphate in 1924.

The national leaders felt that the Khilafat movement was a golden opportunity to cement
Hindu-Muslim unity and to bring Muslim masses into the national movement; now different
sections of society—Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, peasants, artisans, capitalists,
tribals, women, students— could come into the national movement by fighting for their own
rights and realising that the colonial rule was opposed to them. During the movement, the
participants were supposed to work for Hindu-Muslim unity and for removal of
untouchability, all the time remaining non-violent7.

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INCIDENTS OF HINDU MUSLIM DIVISION

Hindu-Muslim culture in evolved through centuries, there were many setbacks and positives
throughout the years. During the colonial era, the Hindus and Muslims got a separate distinct
identity. The Britishers thought the unity between the Hindus and the Muslims is thereat to
their rule in India, hence they started the policy of Divide and Rule, which was a great
setback for the relations between the Hindus and the Muslims. The Unity between the Indians
worked in favor of the independence movement while the anonymity between the two
communities worked against the interests of the people of India. There were certain important
incidents during the colonial period that were detrimental to the Hindu Muslim unity that
have been discussed below.

1. HINDI URDU CONTROVERSY

In 1837, the British East India company replaced Persian with local vernacular in various
provinces as the official language of government offices and of the lower courts. However, in
the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, Urdu in Urdu script was chosen as the
replacement for Persian, rather than Hindi in the Devanagari script. The most immediate
reason for the controversy is believed to be the contradictory language policy in North India
in the 1860s. Although the then government encouraged both Hindi and Urdu as a medium of
education in school, it discouraged Hindi or Nagari script for official purposes. This policy
gave rise to conflict between students educated in Hindi or Urdu for the competition of
government jobs, which eventually took on a communal form.

If we simplify things, Urdu-Hindu controversy began with the demand of Hindus to replace
Urdu by Hindi as official language in Devanagari Script. Congress sided with Hindi and
supported the movement against Urdu and there was no other political party to support Urdu.
Thus, the need of formation of a Muslim political party was felt severely. This sowed seeds
for the formation of a Muslim political party and ultimately to the partition of India.

The Hindi-Urdu controversy, although a language dispute, led a disharmony between the two
religions.

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2. THE FORMATION MUSLIM LEAGUE

The Muslim League was founded in 1906 as an alternative political group to the Indian
National Congress. It was created with the aim of representing the interests of Indian
Muslims in a country made up of mostly Hindus. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was also a
member of Congress, was elected as president in 1916.

Following the First World War (1914-18) the Muslim League joined forces with Congress to
advocate for Home Rule within the British Empire. Home Rule had already been granted in
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In 1920, influenced by Mohandas Gandhi who began a
civil disobedience campaign following the massacre of civilians in Amritsar, Congress
launched a movement to boycott British rule. The Muslim League opposed this policy of
non-cooperation because they deemed this approach too radical. It was this same year that
Muhammad Ali Jinnah resigned from Congress.

The communal idea that the Muslims are a separate nation was sown into the Indian political
ethos first by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a philosopher and Muslim reformist.

Although he wanted Muslims to get educated and think in a scientific temper, he suggested
aligning with the British rather than rebel against them, as most beneficial for the community.
He had founded the Muhammadan Educational Conference in 1886 but this organisation
stayed away from politics and desisted from even discussing it as per its own code.

From their inception, the Muslim League continually called for unity in an independent India
but began to fear that it would be dominated by Hindus, who made up the majority of the
population. Although a minority in comparison to the number of Hindus living in India,
Muslims made up a quarter of the population. Ultimately, they demanded for a separate
country for the Indian Muslims.8

In 1940, in what became known as the ‘two-nation theory’, Jinnah began to demand for the
creation of a separate Muslim state from territories that were currently in British India.

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Jinnah’s speech was very vague about the legal nature of this state or how it would relate to
other parts of British India, but to many it seemed to be a demand for complete Muslim
independence. The idea of a separate state of Pakistan began to gain popularity with Muslims
across India.

Formation of Muslim League was one of the biggest setbacks to the unity between the
Hindus and the Muslims that ultimately led to the partition of India.

3. THOUGHTS OF SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN

Syed Ahmad Khan advocated for Hindu-Muslim unity in Colonial India at the start of his
career. He stated: "India is a beautiful bride and Hindus and Muslims are her two eyes. If one
of them is lost, this beautiful bride will become ugly."

The communal idea that the Muslims are a separate nation was sown into the Indian political
ethos first by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a philosopher and Muslim reformist.

Although he wanted Muslims to get educated and think in a scientific temper, he suggested
aligning with the British rather than rebel against them, as most beneficial for the community.
He had founded the Muhammadan Educational Conference in 1886 but this organisation
stayed away from politics and desisted from even discussing it as per its own code.

Later in his life he said, "Suppose that the English community and the army were to leave
India, taking with them all their cannons and their splendid weapons and all else, who then
would be the rulers of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances two nations—the
Mohammedans and the Hindus—could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power?
Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other. To hope that
both could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable. But until one
nation has conquered the other and made it obedient, peace cannot reign in the land."9

Sir Syed's educational model and progressive thinking inspired Muslim elites who supported
the All-India Muslim League. Ahmad Khan founded the All-India Muhammadan Educational

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Conference in 1886 in order to promote Western education, especially science and literature,
among India's Muslims. The conference, in addition to generating funds for Ahmad Khan's
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, motivated Muslim elites to propose expansion of
educational uplift elsewhere, known as the Aligarh Movement. In turn this new awareness of
Muslim needs helped stimulate a political consciousness among Muslim elites that went on to
form the AIML which led Muslims of India towards formation of Pakistan.

4. SEPARATE ELECTORATES FOR MUSLIMS

Separate electorates for the Muslims were implemented from 1909. The Indian Councils Act
of 1909 is also known as Morley-Minto reforms. Some of its provisions were as below:

1. It considerably increased the size of legislative councils, both at provincial and central
level.

2. It enlarged the deliberative functions of the legislative councils at both the levels.

3. It introduced a system of communal representation for Muslims by accepting the concept

of separate electorates.

Separate electorate seats, as well as special guarantees of Muslim “autonomy” or “veto

powers” in dealing with sensitive religious issues, were hoped to be sufficient to avert civil
war or any need for actual partition. As long as the British raj remained in control, such
formulas and schemes appeared to suffice, for the British army could always be hurled into
the communal fray at the brink of extreme danger, and the army had as yet remained
apolitical and—since its post-mutiny reorganization—untainted by communal religious
passions.

These separate electorates were detrimental for the unity of Hindus and Muslims in India.

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CONSEQUENCE

PARTITION OF INDIA

In August 1947, British India won its independence from the British and split into two new

states that would rule themselves. The new countries were India and Pakistan. East Pakistan

has since become Bangladesh. This was a very important moment in history.The partition of

India was the main outcome of the divide between the Hindus and the Muslims.

Partition triggered riots, mass casualties, and a colossal wave of migration. Millions of people

moved to what they hoped would be safer territory, with Muslims heading towards Pakistan,

and Hindus and Sikhs in the direction of India. As many as 14-16m people may have been

eventually displaced, travelling on foot, in bullock carts and by train.Estimates of the death

toll post-Partition range from 200,000 to two million. Many were killed by members of other

communities and sometimes their own families, as well as by the contagious diseases which

swept through refugee camps. Women were often targeted as symbols of community honour,

with up to 100,000 raped or abducted.10

Another unforeseen consequence of Partition was that Pakistan’s population ended up more

religiously homogeneous than originally anticipated. The Muslim League’s leaders had

assumed that Pakistan would contain a sizeable non-Muslim population, whose presence

would safeguard the position of Muslims remaining in India – but in West Pakistan, non-

Muslim minorities comprised only 1.6% of the population by 1951, compared with 22% in

East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

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CONCLUSION

The fight for the Independence of India was highly influenced by the relations that Hindus
and the Muslims shared. While the unity between these two communities was beneficial for
the independence movement, the animosity between the two groups strengthened the
hegemony of the Britishers in India.

Although many leaders tried to promote harmony between the two groups but ultimately the
Britishers were able to implement the policy of divide and rule.

There were many leaders and organizations who put their selfish interests above the national
interests, which worked in the favor of the Britishers.

The biggest outcome of the divide between the two communities was the partition of India
which changed the future of the subcontinent and endowed deep hatred in the hearts of the
people of both the communities.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://brkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/british-rule-and-hindu-muslim-riots-in-india-

a-reassessment ........................................................................................................................6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmad_Khan#Hindu-Muslim_unity ..............................13

h t t p s : / / g c w g a n d h i n a g a r. c o m / e c o n t e n t / d o c u m e n t /

1587807327Khilafat%20and%20Non%20(1).pdf ...............................................................10

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/1857-india-war-of-independence-hindu-

muslim-6405053/ ...................................................................................................................8

https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/entertales+com-epaper-entale/

these+instances+of+hindu+muslim+unity+shows+the+power+of+united+india-newsid-

n146689418 ............................................................................................................................4

https://www.britannica.com/event/Lucknow-Pact .....................................................................9

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/how-partition-of-india-happened-

and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-117081100208_1.html ...........................................15

https://www.indiatoday.in/opinion-columns/story/hindu-muslim-unity-a-lofty-ideal-ram-

madhav-blog-1826877-2021-07-12 .......................................................................................7

Https://www.neversuchinnocence.com/muslim-league-partition-of-british-india ..................12

https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/hindu-

muslim-communal-riots-india-i-1947-1986.html ..................................................................4

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