Test: Understanding Partitions- 1 - UPSC MCQ

Communalism refers to a politics that seeks to unify one religious community against another. It seeks to define this identity as fundamental and fixed. To unify the community, communalism suppresses distinctions in the community and emphasized the unity of that community against other communities. It is a particular kind of politicisation of religious identity that seeks to promote religious conflict.

Mohammad Iqbal was an Urdu poet who spoke about the need for a Muslim state in northwest India in 1930.

The Lahore session of the Muslim League in 1940 was presided over by M.A. Jinnah where he gave his famous speech, openly supporting the two-nation theory.

According to Maulana Azad, an important Congress leader, while members of the Congress were not allowed to join the League, many Congressmen were active in the Hindu Mahasabha, especially in the Central Provinces (present-day Madhya Pradesh). Finally, in December 1938, the Congress Working Committee declare that Congress members could not be members of the Mahasabha.

The Hindu Mahasabha was a Hindu party that remained confined to North India. It aimed to unite Hindu society by encouraging Hindus to transcend the divisions of caste and sect. It sought to define Hindu identity in opposition to Muslim identity. Till late 1938, many Congressmen, especially in the Central Provinces (modern-day Madhya Pradesh) were active in the Hindu Mahasabha.

The RSS cadres were well-trained and highly disciplined cadres, all pledged to an ideology of Hindu nationalism, convinced that India was a land of the Hindus.

On 8th August 1942, the All-India Congress Committee passed the Quit India Resolution and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle, under Gandhiji’s leadership.

Unionist party was a political party that was an umbrella organisation of All India Muslim League, and was based in the province of Punjab during British Raj in India. It mainly represented the interest of landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.

Chaudhary Rehmat Ali was a Punjabi Muslim. In his 'PAK-STAN', each letter denotes a Muslim-dominated region, where 'P' stands for Punjab, 'A' stands for Afghan bordering region, 'K' stands for Kashmir and 'stan' stands for Baluchistan. His view of a separate Muslim State was ridiculed by many leaders. Even the Muslim League dismissed the idea as a student's dream.

Arya Samaj was a North Indian Hindu reform organization of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Very active in Punjab, it sought to revive Vedic learning and combine it with modern education in the sciences.