Growth of communalism - class-XI

Dr. B.R Ambedkar was a reformist and freedom fighter who belong to an untouchable caste called Mahar. He undertook many movements against untouchability. Among them Mahad Movement and Entering the Kalaram temple of Nasik are important. He created awareness and self identity among the Dalits. He edited Mookanayak and Bahiskruth Bharat periodicals to voice the issues of Dalits. He also established Bahiskruth Hithakarani Sabha'. He took part in all the three Round Table Conferences held in London as a representative of the Dalit Class. Ambedkar and Gandhi arrived at an agreement and entered Poona Pact in 1932 that ended the conflict of the Communal Award according to which a separate electorate for the Dalits was to be created.

Poona Pact was an agreement between Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi signed on September 24, 1932, at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, to break Mahatma Gandhi's fast unto death. Poona pact was the result of the communal award granted in 1932 by the British government. Mahatma Gandhi objected to the provision of separate electorates for the Scheduled Castes, which in his view separated them from the whole Hindu community. 

The Poona Pact was signed on September 24, 1932, not January 23, 1932. The other statements correctly identify the participants (Malaviya and Ambedkar), the location (Yerwada Jail), and the increase in reserved seats.

On August 16, 1932, the British Prime Minister McDonald announced the Communal Award. It  declared the depressed classes to be minorities, and entitled them to separate electorates. Mahatma Gandhi objected to this provision which in his view separated them from the whole Hindu community. 

The Poona Pact provided for a common electorate for all Hindus, reserved seats for the depressed classes in provincial legislatures, and reserved seats in the Central Legislature. Thus, all the listed provisions are correct.

Poona Pact was an agreement between Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi signed on September 24, 1932 at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, to break Mahatma Gandhi's fast unto death. Poona pact was the result of communal award granted in 1932 by the British government. It provided asked for allocation of 148 seats to depressed classes in the provincial legislature. In the Central Legislature, 19% of the seats would be reserved for the Depressed Classes.

Both statements are historically accurate. The pact was signed on September 24, 1932, at Yerwada Jail between Ambedkar and Gandhi (represented by others like Malaviya) to resolve the issue of separate electorates.

The Khilafat movement was an agitation by Indian Muslims, allied with Indian nationalists, to pressure the British government to preserve the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph of Islam after World War I. The leaders joined forces with Mahatma Gandhi’s noncooperation movement for Indian freedom, promising nonviolence in return for his support of the Khilafat movement. This movement reflected great level of Hindu-Muslim unity.

The Muslim League was founded in 1906 at Dhaka to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims. It was a political group that led the movement calling for a separate Muslim nation to be created at the time of the partition of British India in 1947 because it feared that an independent India would be dominated by Hindus.

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was founded in 1875. The college started as a primary school on Queen Victoria's birthday, 24 May 1875 known as Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School. It was established as Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind in 1875 and after two years it became Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College. The Anglo–Indian statesman Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded the predecessor of AMU, the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, in 1875 having already established two schools. The movement of Muslim awakening associated with Syed Ahmad Khan and M.A.O. College came to be known as Aligarh Movement.

The two nation theory was given by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Two nation theory is the basis of creation of Pakistan. It states that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations from every definition, therefore Muslims should have a separate homeland in the Muslims majority areas of India , where they can spend their lives according to the glorious teachings of Islam.

From the year 1940, the Muslim League started demanding a separate nation for the Muslims. It was based on the two-nation theory. The Muslim League demanded that the areas in which the Muslims are in a majority as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of India should be grouped to constitute an Independent State.

After the First War of Independence in 1857, the British became apprehensive of the safety and stability of their empire in India. They saw the unity between the Hindus and Muslims as a threat to them. Thus, to check the growth of a united national feeling in India and to encourage communal and separatist tendencies in Indian politics they decided to follow the policy of 'Divide and Rule'.

After the 1870s, the British government changed its attitude and followed the policy of appeasing the Muslims in order to undermine the Nation Movement. They sowed the seeds of dissension between the two communities and encouraged separatist and communal tendencies.