Pakistan Movement (ii)

Rise of organised movement

The success of All India Muhammadan Educational Conference as a part of the Aligarh Movement, the All-India Muslim League, was established with the support provided by Syed Ahmad Khan in 1906. It was founded in Dhaka in a response to reintegration of Bengal after a mass Hindu protest took place in the subcontinent. Earlier in 1905, viceroy Lord Curzon partitioned the Bengal which was favoured by the Muslims, since it gave them a Muslim majority in the eastern half.

In 1909, Lord Minto promulgated the Council Act and met with a Muslim delegation led by Aga Khan III to meet with Viceroy Lord Minto, a deal to which Minto agreed. The delegation consisted of 35 members, who each represented their respective region proportionately, mentioned here under.

1. Sir Aga Khan III (Head of the delegation); (Bombay).
2. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk (Aligarh).
3. Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk (Muradabad).
4. Maulvi Hafiz Hakim Ajmal Khan (Delhi).
5. Maulvi Syed Karamat Husain (Allahabad).
6. Maulvi Sharifuddin (Patna).
7. Nawab Syed Sardar Ali Khan (Bombay).
8. Syed Abdul Rauf (Allahabad).
9. Maulvi Habiburrehman Khan (Aligarh).
10. Sahibzada Aftab Ahmed Khan (Aligarh).
11. Abdul Salam Khan (Rampur).
12. Raees Muhammed Ahtasham Ali (Lucknow)
13. Khan Bahadur Muhammad Muzammilullah Khan. (Aligarh).
14. Haji Muhammed Ismail Khan (Aligarh).
15. Shehzada Bakhtiar Shah (Calcutta).
16. Malik Umar Hayat Khan Tiwana (Shahpur).
17. Khan Bahadur Muhammed Shah Deen (Lahore).
18. Khan Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chaudhary (Mymansingh).
19. Nawab Bahadur Mirza Shuja'at Ali Baig (Murshidabad).
20. Nawab Nasir Hussain Khan Bahadur (Patna).
21. Khan Bahadur Syed Ameer Hassan Khan (Calcutta).
22. Syed Muhammed Imam (Patna).
23. Nawab Sarfaraz Hussain Khan Bahadur (Patna).
24. Maulvi Rafeeuddin Ahmed (Bombay).
25. Khan Bahadur Ahmed Muhaeeuddin (Madras).
26. Ibraheem Bhai Adamjee Pirbhai (Bombay).
27. Maulvi Abdul Raheem (Calcutta).
28. Syed Allahdad Shah (Khairpur).
29. Maulana H. M. Malik (Nagpur).
30. Khan Bahadur Col. Abdul Majeed Khan (Patiala).
31. Khan Bahadur Khawaja Yousuf Shah (Amritsar).
32. Khan Bahadur Mian Muhammad Shafi. (Lahore).
33. Khan Bahadur Shaikh Ghulam Sadiq. (Amritsar).
34. Syed Nabiullah. (Allahabad).
35. Khalifa Syed Muhammed Khan Bahadur. (Patna).

Until 1937 the Muslim League had remained an organisation of elite Indian Muslims. The Muslim League leadership then began mass mobilisation and the League then became a popular party with the Muslim masses in the 1940s, especially after the Lahore Resolution. Under Jinnah's leadership its membership grew to over two million and became more religious and even separatist in its outlook. The Muslim League's earliest base was the United Provinces. From 1937 onwards, the Muslim League and Jinnah attracted large crowds throughout India in its processions and strikes.