Question

What did the Muslim league resolution of 1940 ask for?

Answer 1

Hint: Following the partition of Bengal, in 1906 a political party named All India Muslim League or simply Muslim league was formed in Dhaka. It was formed under Aga khan, who was the then Nawab of Dhaka and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk. The main aim of its formation was to protect the rights of Indian Muslims.

Complete Answer:
Factors that promoted the ideals of Muslim league:
1 Britishers inculcated the feeling of divide and rule among Indians and Muslims.
2. Alienation of Muslims from western and technical education.
3. Due to the revolt of 1857 Britishers became hostile to Muslims as the revolt was started under the name of Mughal ruler.
4. One side of our hybrid society was glorified by most historians and nationalists. They were biassed because they always glorified Shivaji, Rana Pratap etc but remained silent about Akbar, Sher Shah Suri, Alauddin Khilji, Tipu Sultan etc.

Muslim league resolution/Lahore resolution:
Muhammad Zafarullah was the person who wrote and prepared the Muslim league resolution/ Pakistan resolution. It was presented before the people byA.K. Fazlul Huq who was that time prime minister of Bengal province.
This resolution was adopted by the Muslim League as a formal political statement on the event of a three-day general session of the party. This session was held in Lahore from 22 March to 24 March 1940. Being adopted in Lahore, this resolution was also known as Lahore resolution.

The main aim of the resolution: Lahore resolution stated that the geographically distributed units are delineated regions. They should be established, with territorial readjustments that might be required to group the areas in which the Muslims are in majority in number, as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of (British) India, should be rearranged into independent states in which the constituent units should be autonomous and sovereign.

While Choudhary Rahmat Ali had proposed the word "Pakistan" in his Pakistan Declaration, it was not until after the resolution that it started to be widely used.

Note: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, that time leader of Muslim League, declared 16 August as 'Direct Action Day in 1946 and called for Muslims to 'suspend all business' throughout the country on this day. It is said that he never thought that his declaration would lead to such a large scale massacre. In the city of Calcutta in the Bengal province of British India on this day widespread communal rioting took place between Muslims and Hindus. People from both sides were killed. It was one of the most brutal riots in history.