A History of India, Third Edition

THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA

Jinnah, however, was acknowledged as the leader at a national level. Since
the League had only won two seats in the Panjab, Jinnah did not lose much
by assuring Sikander that he did not intend to challenge him on his home
ground. Sikander, on the other hand, interpreted the pact in his own way
and thought that he had Jinnah in his pocket. At any rate, this pact marked
the beginning of Jinnah’s new role as spokesman for the Muslim majority
provinces. He had opted for Pakistan although he did not say so as yet. It
was in 1938 that he started talking about national goals for the Muslims
and he gladly adopted the title ‘Qaid-i-Azam’ (Great Leader) bestowed
upon him by his followers, whose numbers were increasing rapidly.
The outbreak of the Second World War and the resignation of the
Congress ministries pushed Jinnah even more into the arms of the Muslims
in the Muslim majority provinces, as political activity in the Muslim
minority provinces was now practically suspended in order that British
governors might run them much as they had done in unreformed times. At
the Lahore session of the Muslim League in March 1940, Jinnah
introduced a resolution which included the demand for Pakistan—though
the term itself was still avoided. Rahmat Ali happened to be in India at
that time but was kept out of the Panjab by Sikander’s men, who told him
that he would be arrested if he entered the province. Had he been present
at Lahore, he would have been surprised to hear Jinnah’s speech with its
echoes of so much that he himself had written in his Cambridge pamphlets.
The Lahore resolution was supported by Sikander and by Fazlul Haq, the
leader of the Bengali Muslim peasantry. It soon came to be referred to as
the ‘Pakistan Resolution’—which must have thrilled Rahmat Ali, who had
been so assiduously debarred from witnessing the scene that signalled the
triumph of his ideas.

The Lahore Resolution and the Two Nations Theory

Jinnah’s assertion at Lahore, that the Muslims of India are a nation by any
definition of the term—his ‘Two Nations Theory’, as it came to be
known—provided him with a new legitimation as a national leader whose
commands ought to be obeyed by provincial Muslim leaders. He soon
proved this point when Sikander and Fazlul Haq accepted posts on a
National Defence Council which the viceroy had established in 1941.
Jinnah had not been consulted and promptly ordered the two to resign
from these posts. They did so reluctantly, but did not dare snub their
leader. In this way Jinnah not only taught them a lesson, but also issued a
warning to the viceroy, who preferred to deal with Sikander rather than
with Jinnah.
Such moves helped Jinnah to consolidate his position as a leader whom
nobody could afford to ignore. A most crucial test came for him when
Cripps arrived in India in 1942. Had the Cripps mission been successful,