Hatred Between Muslims and Hindu's

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Hatred Between Muslims and Hindu's

  • Muslims knew they were a minority (20% India's population, 70% were Hindus)
  • Hindus worshipped many Gods, Muslims believed Allah was the only God
  • Hindus believed in the caste system, Muslims didn't
  • Hindus frequently displayed their gods in paintings and statues but Muslims did not allow any visual representations of Allah or His prophet Mohammed
  • Hindus liked to use gongs, bells and cymbals to create loud music when they worship, Muslims prayed in silence
  • Hindu processions were increasingly often deliberately held in areas where they would cause most offence and disruption to Muslims
  • Hindus regarded cows as sacred, in Muslim festivals cows were often slaughtered
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The problems Muslims faced

In every state they were a minority

The Hindu majority at every level could out vote the Muslim minority

Muslims had been slower than the Hindus to take up the educational opportunities offered by the Raj and so there was a considerable un-educated Muslim underclass, and the Muslim elite did not want this underclass to have any control

Many Muslims opposed any extention of democracy, in contrast to Congress

in 1906 the Muslim League was set up to promote Muslim interests in India, A key leader of the Muslim League was Muhammed Ali Jinnah

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Split between Congress and the Muslim League

  • Giving Muslims seperate electorates (as agreed in the Morley-Minto Reforms, and reinforced in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and the Lucknow Pact) gave the Muslims an enhanced seperate Islamic identity
  • The Muslim League having joined Congress in the Lucknow Pact 1916, seperated from congress in 1924
  • The Khilafat movement, which Gandhi had used to gain Muslim support in the 1920-2 campaign became irrelevant when the Sultan of Turkey was forced toabdicate and Turkey became a secular (non-religious) republic. Gandhi was never able to find another issue on which to mobilise Muslim support: satyagraha was seen as a Hindu idea despite Gandhi's attempts to link it with the Prophet Mohammed
  • By 1923, less than 4% of Congress delegates were Muslim compared with 11% in 1921
  • Congress rejected Jinnah's proposals in 1927 and 1929 for seperate Muslim representation (despite the deal made in the Lucknow Pact), including a third of the seats in the national parliament, and constitutional protection for Muslim culture. Jinnah called this the "parting of the ways"
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