Elections in the Subcontinent 1937 ( O Level Pakistan studies)

 Elections in the Subcontinent 1937

Q.Explain how did congress win the elections 1936-37. Also describe what Muslim League learnt from these election results?

  The provincial elections held in 1937 had great influence in the history of sub-continent but their success can be divided into two parts. For the Congress and Hindus the elections were much successful while for Muslims it was unsuccessful time. Congress was able to win 9 seats in the whole of India. They could even collide with Punjab and NWFP which were Muslim majority provinces. Unionist party in Punjab and Red shirts in NWFP were the winning political parties which joined with Congress in collations of parties. It increased the power of Congress in overall country. It caused a big drawback on half of the Muslims especially in Punjab and Sindh. Muslim League did not have any say from the public and became a less popular party in the political scene of the subcontinent.

  In result of these elections Muslims could see their mistakes in the election campaign. Muslims were in trouble as their image was lower in front of the central government which was in the hands of the British. Congress started claiming that it was representative party of all Indians in the subcontinent. In result of Muslim League’s policy failure now the Muslim leaders realized that they must unify all Muslims of subcontinent to vote only for Muslim League in future. These let the Muslim league improve its organization and planning in next election. Another important news Muslim League leadership was that their main support of vote was in Muslim minority rather than in Muslim majority provinces. Muslim leaders were mostly from elite class and Muslim public felt that these rich Muslims did not know and understand their problems so they could not rely upon them. Muslim leaders realized that they must come closer to their public and develop understanding with their voters.

  Even if Congress got immense success in the elections due to their smarter election campaign policies but still it could not be clearly seen that Muslim majority provinces were in the hands of Unionist party and Red shirts who could black mail congress anytime. Gap between Congress and Muslim League widened and future negotiations became more difficult. Congress had extremely bad attitude towards Muslims after winning the election. Nehru as one main political leader always displayed anti-Muslim attitude which alarmed Muslims that if they wanted respect and protection they must not vote for any political party which was pro-congress/Hindus. Idea of separate homeland and two nation theory strengthened in Muslims which gave a direction towards Pakistan-a separate homeland for Muslim community.

  These elections overall decreased the image of British government and Congress in the eye of Muslims. After winning the elections congress enjoyed unfairly wide provincial autonomy. There was no check and balance from the British Government on congress. Muslims felt that British and Hindus were on one side while Muslims were standing in the opposite direction. It widened the gap between Hindus and Muslims and the idea of separate homeland for Muslims became more popular.