Question

Explain the reasons for the lukewarm response of some Muslim organisations to the Civil Disobedience movement.

Answer 1

Hint: The Civil disobedience movement in India was started on 12th March 1930 after Gabdhiji started that historic salt march from Sabarmati to Dandi to protest against the salt tax of the British. Before this, the only large scale movement seen in India was the Non cooperation and Khilafat movement where both Hindu and Muslim leaders decided to fight for Khilafat and swaraj together.

Complete answer: Muslim organisations were lukewarm in response to the civildisbodience movements, there were many reasons to this:-
a. After the Non cooperation and Khilafat movement came to an end, the muslims of India didn’t feel represented by the Congress.
b. They felt that the Congress was more closely related to the Hindu organisations and favoured their ideas.
c. This led to a mutual distrust between the Hindu and Muslim communities, both the communities organised processions in areas of North India, this led to communal riots.
d. In 1927, the Muslim league and Indian national congress tried to form an alliance.
e. The demands of the Muslim league were assurance of reserved seats in the Central assembly, they were also willing to give up their demad of separate electorates, however all hopes of unity were lost when M.R. Jaykar, a member of the Hindu Mahasabha made a public declaration that no such demands would be entertained.

Note: When the civil disobedience movement started in 1930, the Muslims felt alienated from the congress and thus could not respond to calls for unity. Added to this were the concerns of Muslim leaders over the status of Muslims in India and whether they would have equal rights after India’s freedom, this led to some leaders of the Muslim league, demanding a separate nation for muslims.