The Politics of Indo Pak Muslims-1858-1906
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Extracts from "The Politics of Indo Pak Muslims- A Political and Psycho Social Study" a book written by Maj (Retd) Agha Humayun Amin dealing with the Indo-Pak Muslim politics from 1858 to 2000.
A.H AminÂ
December 2000
It is necessary to understand the politics of Indian Muslims in order to understand the Civil Military relations of the post 1947 Pakistan. Till 1857 the Muslims were regarded as India's natural political leaders keeping in view the fact that the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah; although only a pensioner, was still acknowledged by the English East India Company as the de jure King of India. Thus in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, although bulk of the rebel sepoys were Hindustani Hindus, the fact that some 95 % of the rebel regiments converged at Delhi and Lucknow which were centres of rebellion led by Muslim rebels, signified that even the Hindus regarded the Muslims as politically fit to lead India. It is an ironic fact of history that contrary to common myth, it was the Muslims of the north west (Punjabis and Pathans) who played a major role in assisting the British in defeating the rebels. This event was later rationalised to give birth to the Martial Races Theory.Â
The politics of Indian Muslims from 1858 to 1947 revolved around three different ethnic/regional groups i.e. the Hindustani Muslims (from the old Northwest Provinces of Agra and Oudh which were renamed as United Provinces or UP in 1901), the Punjabi Muslims who made their first appearance on the Indian scene by loyalty to the British cause in 1857 and the numerically largest but politically most backward the Bengali Muslims. Initially the Hindustani Muslims led the politics of the Indian Muslims and had a representation in government jobs both higher than their population percentage warranted in government jobs within UP and even on all India basis. Educationally also they were ahead of the Muslims in both Bengal and Punjab, thanks to the pre-British Mughal heritage and because of the fact that the English Company occupied UP 46 to 74 years (in case of Benares area) earlier than Punjab and initiated the process of establishing educational institutions imparting education in English much earlier than Punjab. The Bengali Muslims were more backward than both the UP or Punjab Muslims, but this was a pre-British legacy, the Bengali Muslims being largely low caste Hindu converts. The rebellion of 1857 was largely a Hindustani based revolt with its nucleus in UP and both the Punjabi and Bengali Muslims had nothing to do with this rebellion, except the fact that while the Bengalis stayed passively loyal, exhibiting no interest in the King of Delhi, the Punjabi Muslims actively assisted the English Company, who they perceived as liberators from Sikh yoke, against the Hindustani rebels. This does not mean that all Hindustani Muslims actively aided the rebels and suffered the consequences of British persecution in the aftermath of the rebellion. Even within UP the rebellion was largely a military rebellion of lower middle class/Middle class Muslim soldiers (who were some one fourth in number, but the leaders of the rebellion) and Hindu Rajput and Brahman soldiers (who were mostly followers of Muslim rebel soldiers, but three fourth of the rebel regiments). In addition many dispossessed feudals and native princes who had personal grievances against the English Company joined the rebels. Many Hindustani Muslims, however, remained loyal and not only survived the rebellion but were given generous rewards for loyalty, and this included Sayyid Ahmad Khan who became famous after 1857 as the most prominent Indian Muslim leader in the period 1858-98.Â
The final abolition of the Mughal de jure rule after 1857 entirely changed the Indian political scene. The Muslims were now plain British subjects like the Hindus. While the Punjabi Muslims welcomed the British rule because it raised their status from third class subjects of the Sikhs to first class subjects of the British especially after 1857, the Hindustani Muslims became the victim of a feeling of insecurity, because of tougher competition from Hindus, who were their provinces majority, and challenged the pre-1857 undue domination of the UP Muslims in government jobs, because of higher literacy rate (as far as English medium education was concerned). In addition the Bengali Hindus who were the most educated lot in India in terms of numbers, were a threat to the UP elite, both Hindu and Muslim, since these Bengalis were most likely to qualify in the competitive Indian Civil Service examination, and make it to the elite ICS (Indian Civil Service). Thus in 1886 Pandit Ajudhia Nath one of the most eminent UP Hindu leader made a statement before the Public Service Commission that recruitment to government posts should not be done through an open all India competitive examination, but through examinations on provincial basis since the UP candidates could not compete with the more educated Bengali and Madrasi candidates1!Â
The main political philosophy of Sayyid Ahmad Khan was to safeguard political interests of the UP (Hindustani Muslims) who were in minority in their province, and were under the threat of losing their pre 1857 proportion of representation in government service (which was more than percentage in total population warranted) which in 1882 stood at 35% against their population of 13%2. Sayyid Ahmad Khan opposed the principle of elections to legislative councils since in his view system of election was not suitable for India, where various ethnic and religious groups lived under one government, and in case of elections held on western lines, the larger community (i.e. the Hindus) would totally override the interests of the smaller community (the Muslims), and this in turn would lead to greater disorder violence/strife etc3. This viewpoint of Sayyid Ahmad Khan was later taken as the basis of the "Two Nation Theory
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