India and Pakistan Summative Prep

The Mughal Empire (1400s-1600s)

• Muslim empire, but very diverse (majority Hindu population with a Sikh minority)

• Decentralized government - no uniformed conditions

• Princely states (states headed by princes)

The East India Company

• Joint-stock company = not funded by government but by individual stakeholders/investors in return for part of the profit

• Objective was not political, but to protect its monopoly on the spice trade and capture more market

• Gained power by: control of military protection (used as trade conditions), becoming tax collectors, winning control of land through disputes with princes, and slow entrenchment (were invited in at first and slowly embedded themselves into the Mughal governmental structure)

How did the East India Company rule?

• Religious laws = two different legal codes; one for Hindus and one for Muslims (ignored other religions)

• Permanent Settlement Act = peasants became renters, and those who could not pay rent (which was collected by Company land revenue collectors) were kicked out

• Farms in India slowly converted to grow cash crops like indigo - you can’t eat cash crops + people have to grow quotas to pay rent, and must cut into personal food crops if they don’t grow enough to meet quota → famine

• Indian Civil Service = created to train British citizens to replace Indian revenue collectors, police officers, and judges → Indians lose jobs in favor of British

• Sepoys = Indian soldiers recruited by the Company for expansion - clear hierarchy between British and Indian soldiers

Indian Uprising (1857)

• Initial cause (catalyst after years of imperialist rule) = rumor about grease for ammunition cartridges made from pig or cow fat →Hindu and Muslim sepoys rebelled

• Violence spreads and protests continue for a solid year

• Large civilian and sepoy casualties → eventually, the British government steps in and takes over India: bans the East India Company

• Shift from company rule to crown rule

How did the British Raj rule?

• Community division (encouraged division between religions, castes, etc. → divide and conquer)

• Restrictions

• Economic growth

• Transportation installments = railway system created for quick transport of military troops and the movement of raw goods → deforestation, new towns along the railway, urban population grows, new opportunities for pilgrimage

Famine of 1876

• Britain turns food farms into cash crop farms → eventually, reserve food supplies ran out → famine

• British administration problems = reduced welfare and slow response

• Approximately 5.5 million people died

Establishment of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885

• Represented the interests of the middle class

• Called for greater representation in the Indian Civil Service

• Believed interest in caste and religious affiliation should come second to the needs of India

• Very male and wealthy

• Gandhi a part of the INC

• Initially just wanted more Indian representation in government, used petitions to try and achieve its goals

Establishment of the Muslim League (ML) in 1906

• Established as an alternative to the INC in response to talks about Indian representation in government

• Worried that the Muslim minority would be overrun

• Advocated for the needs of Indian Muslims in government

• Division between ML and INC encouraged by Britain

• Partition of Bengal made them aware that Muslim voices were in the minority

Partition of Bengal (1905)

• Bengal = center for anti-colonial discussions among students and workers + most profitable area for Britian

• Partitioned by Britain to stop anti-colonial sentiments

• East Bengal = Muslim, West Bengal = Hindu

• Bengali-speaking Hindus saw the partition as a threat to their position in the region and a deliberate attempt by Britain to weaken Bengali nationalism

• INC/anti-partition movement expressed its opposition using petitions, protests int he press, and rallies → failure of these measures led to swadeshi/protest of British goods

• Swadeshi was very effective - British imports dropped by 25% and Indian industries developed to fill that gap → nationalists in other parts of India were united in support for the Bengali cause → mass arrests from Britain

• Led to the radicalization of parts of the INC → revolutionary wing called the New Party emerged

• Muslims in Bengal were worried → support for the Muslim League increased as the Islamic minority sought to secure its interests → representatives met with the British viceroy and stressed that Muslims needed separate representation for their own protection

• Secretary of state for Indian (John Morley) decided to give some concessions →Morley Minto Reforms

• 1911 = Britain reverses the partition

Swadeshi

Movement of self-sufficiency, boycott of British goods in favor of Indian-made goods

Morley Minto Reforms/Indian Council Acts (1909)

• Response to heavy protest against the partition of Bengal/rise in nationalist sentiment

• Added seats for Indians in provincial legislature

• Reserved seats for Indian Muslims

• Separate electorate for Indian Muslims

• British goal = small changes to make the INC happy and weaken anti-colonial protests, secure Muslim elites as British allies, fuel division between Muslims and Hindus

• Still very low representation in government

Impact of WW1

• Most Indians urged support for Britain’s war effort, including radicals → sent a lot of soldiers and resources - hope was that wartime sacrifices would lead to greater representation

• War dragged on = increase in dissatisfaction (heavy wartime taxes and increased recruitment efforts)

• Indian soldiers returning from Europe told about the high living standards and wealth of even the poorest people in Britain in France compared to the poorest people in India → heightened nationalist sentiments

• 1917 = Britain announced its intention to encourage “the gradual development of self-governing institutions” → rejected the the INC and ML as not going far enough

• Led to protests from India → led to Rowlatt Acts

The Rowlatt Acts (1919)

• 1918 = protests from Indians → wanted Britian to uphold promises of self-determination + upset from WW1 policies

• 1919 = Rowlatt Acts = Britain can arrest and jail protesters for up to two years without trial

• Hartal (strikes) in response + boycotts

• Anger from Indians over the suspension of habeas corpus (increased by the influenza epidemic, which killed 12 million Indians)

• Led to more protests → led to Amritsar Massacre one week later

The Amritsar Massacre (1919)

• One week after Rowlatt Acts = protests all over India

• 5000 people gather in Amritsar - some for protest, others to go to the festival that was taking place at the time

• British officer blocks exits from Jallianwala Bagh and orders troops to open fire → 379 killed, over 1000 injured

• Led to a large increase in support for the INC and the call for the end of British rule

• Gandhi emerges as an outspoken INC member

• INC agrees that Muslims needed to be included → INC declares support for the Khalifa Movement

• British officer was forced to resign, but was regarded as a British hero

Developments after WW1

• Key industries in India experienced a boom during the war

• Agriculture remained the dominant economic sector → food production could not keep up with the high population growth rate

• India is badly affected by the Great Depression (value of export goods decreased dramatically) - forced peasants to borrow to survive, and when their debt got too big, they were kicked off the land → masses of rural unemployed that migrate to the cities, adding to the masses of urban unemployed → breeds dissatisfaction and anger

Government of India Act (1919)

• First step towards self-government for India

• Certain responsibilities given to Indian ministers (agriculture, education, health, etc.)

• Britain remained in control of the police and justice system

• 10% of Indian male population given the right to vote for provincial legislatures

• Steps overshadowed by the growth of a massive nationalist movement

Satyagraha

• Form of non-violent resistance/civil disobedience championed by Gandhi

• Stemmed from satyagraha (‘soul force’)

• Involved a campaign on non-cooperation with British administration, boycotts of British schools, universities, goods, and law courts, as well as strikes (hartal).

• Ashram = community dedicated to non-violence and self-sufficiency using traditional methods → appeal to traditional cultural values allowed Gandhi to connect with masses of Indian peasantry

• Armed resistance was not really an option given the military power of the British - satyagraha worked to exploit Britain’s economic overreliance on India

• Gandhi changed the INC from a narrow elite organisation into a mass nationalist movement that incorporated all sectors of Indian society - spanned class, ethnic, and religious barriers

• Strong support from the Khalifa movement

Swaraj

Self-government

Non-cooperation campaign, 1920-1922

• 1920 = INC formally agrees to support Gandhi’s plan for a non-cooperation campaign, which now included a call for swaraj

• British arrest 20,000 people in response - prompted further resistance

• Gandhi called off the campaign when protesters turned to violence, and then was arrested and sentenced to six years → released after two years and withdrew from direct political activity until 1929

• 1922-1929 = Gandhi fought for greater rights for the Untouchables → sent signal that post-colonial India would be a modern state

Hindutva

• Militant religious group advocating for a solely Hindu India

• Fueled a lot of tension between Hindus and Muslims even though early non-cooperation campaigns featured strong unity

• Tensions led to strengthening support for the Muslim League → Mohammed Ali Jinnah offers to cooperate with the INC to create constitutional reform in exchange for safeguards for the Muslim minority → INC rejects the offer

Simon Commission (1927)

• British government appointed the Simon Commission to make recommendations for constitutional reform

• No Indians were included in the commission → rejected by nationalists, who instead call for self-rule

• Britain says no

Nehru Report (1928)

• Motilal Nehru drafted a proposed constitution that called for dominion status (where India would be linked to Britain, but would have the autonomy to run their own affairs, such as Canada or Australia) and full self-government

• More radical members of the INC (Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawharlal Nehru) call for complete separation from the British empire

• 1928 = protests from students and urban youth + series of strikes by workers in Bombay → British charge 31 trade union leaders with planning to overthrow the government

• Impatience with the slow rate of reform increases

• 1929 = INC session → Gandhi backed the demand for purna swaraj (complete independence)

The Salt March (1930)

• Gandhi chose to make salt the issue he would base his second satyagraha campaign on - vital commodity in India, taxed heavily by the British, production was a state monopoly (illegal for ordinary Indians to produce)

• March 1930 = Gandhi marches 250 miles to the coast and picked up a lump of natural salt (symbolic act rejecting British laws/rule)

• Protests spread and thousands of people began to break the salt laws

• Authorities imprisoned thousands of protesters, including Gandhi → nationwide strikes and rioting

• End of 1930 = 100,000 people arrested and 100 killed by police

• 1931 = Irwin (viceroy of India) released Gandhi and began talks with him in Dehli

• Round Table conference in Britain - INC boycotted the meeting and little progress was made

• Agreement reached: Gandhi calls off the civil disobedience campaign, Britain recognizes the development of an indigenous Indian manufacturing economy and invites Gandhi to London for a second round of talks

• Second Round Table conference = did little for India, Gandhi calls for a renewal of civil disobedience upon his return

Increasing Political Tension in the 1930s

• 1932 = Gandhi arrested and imprisoned again → widespread resistance to colonial power (boycott support increases, peasants refuse to pay taxes, etc.) → another 80,000 Indians imprisoned

• Britain tries “political engineering to divide and deflect the nationalist challenge” → confirmed separate electorates for religious minorities (the Communal Award) → Gandhi threatens to fast to death in his prison cell

• After the fast → agreement between Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (leader of the Untouchables) that a separate electorate would be abandoned in favor of a larger number of reserved seats

• ML calls for a separate Muslim state called Pakistan

Government of India Act (1935)

• New set of constitutional reforms which gave more control in the provinces to elected Indian ministers

• Britain retained control with emergency powers

• Nationalists say that it’s too little too late, but the INC and ML still participate in the provincial election sin 1937

• Right to vote based on property qualification

• INC receives a landslide victory with 70% of the popular vote

• ML got 5% → asks INC to let the ML be a part of a coalition government in provinces that had large Muslim populations - INC says no but appoints some of its own Muslim members to provincial governments

• Jinnah tries to build power by uniting all Muslims with the League → support for the idea of a separate state for India’s Muslims got more popular

Conflict within the INC (1930s)

• Left-wing leaders (Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose) were impatient with eh cautious approach advocated for by Gandhi

• Gandhi helped heal the rift by ensuring that first Nehru, and then Bose, both served as INC president

• 1939 = Bose reelected as president of the INC → first contested election (supported by youth, trade wing, and peasant wings → moving towards support for a more radical or violent approach) - opposed by Gandhi and other moderates

• Bose leaves the INC to form the Forward Bloc Party

Impact of WW2

• Reforms proposed in the 1935 Government of India Act are postponed

• 1939 = Viceroy commits India to fight for the Allies without consulting the Indian legislative council - a legal move, but no one was happy about it → strengthened nationalist resolve

• During war = Britain didn’t have the resources to suppress a potential nationalist uprising → decides to make small concessions to the INC and ML

• 1941 = Churchill commits Britain to the Atlantic Charter (document that supports the right for all people’s political self-determination, but specifically excludes India to the British parliament → outrage

• 1942 = Japan is winning a lot of South Asia → Churchill needs Indian support → Stafford Cripps (British government member) proposes an agreement that India gets full independence, but only after the war is over. In return, the INC commits fully to fight for the British war effort.

• “Quit India” Campaign = INC rejected Cripps’s offer → argues that Japanese victory would leave them in the same position of colonial domination and argues for immediate independence

• 1942 = “Quit India” Resolution + relaunch of non-cooperation campaign → Britain imprisons INC members and bans the organization

Muslim League during WW2

• Jinnah approaches the INC with an offer of cooperation against Britain → INC refuses

• ML continues to work with Britain and accepts Cripps’s offer, but demands a two-state solution after independence

• ML fully supports British war effort → Britain seriously considers the two-state solution

Economic impact of WW2 on India

• India’s economy contributed significantly to Britain’s war effort

• Before war = India in debt to Britain

• After war = Britain in debt to India from all the wartime borrowing

• 1943 = Great Bengal Famine → 2 million people die - caused partly by lack of rice imports from Japanese-occupied Burma and partly by Britain’s decision to divert food from the Bengal countryside to feed the military

• Huge increase in industrialization

• Large negative impact on Britain’s economy - by 1945, the economy was on the brink of collapse and it was clear that Britain would be unable to maintain its global empire

Role of Mohammed Ali Jinnah

• Western education → approach was firmly grounded in constitutional methods

• 1913 = joined ML

• 1916 = president of ML

• Recognized benefits of British rule and originally argued for dominion status

• Britain fails to give independence after WW1 → radicalization

• Argues for a two-stake solution; claims that Muslims would be swamped by the Hindu majority - uneasy with Gandhi’s image as a traditional Hindu holy man and thought that his noncooperation tactics could destabilize the political structre

• 1920 = parted from INC

• 1920s-30s = campaigns for independence, upset with slow progress of reforms

• Successfully fought for separate Muslim representation in elections → ML performs horribly in 1937 elections

• WW2 = Jinnah supports the British - strengthens the position of the ML in later negotiations

• Tense period after the war = Jinnah presses for a Muslim state

• 1946 = instructs ‘direct action’ - strikes, protests, and eventually large scale communal violence

• Eventually = British and INC leaders accept the partition of India - Pakistan established in 1947 as a separate Muslim state with Jinnah as its first leader, though he dies within a year of natural causes

Role of Gandhi

• Western education

• Public image as a traditional Hindu holy man

• Policies of satyagraha opposed Jinnah’s constitutional approach

• Experiences in South Africa = sees an extremely violent response from Britain to protests → forms an ideology against racism and belief that the way to fight colonialism is through non-violent methods

• 1915 = returns to India

• 1918 = leads the first non-cooperation acts in the Champaran agitation → established his reputation as an effective leader of mass civil disobedience

• 1919 = launched first all-Indian non-cooperation capaign

• Adept at propaganda (ex: Salt March)

Khalifa Movement

• Pan-Islamic movement outside of India

• Muslim League supports it

• INC goes on record in support to make the ML feel included and try to unite the British opposition