The Lucknow Pact of 1916
.png)
The Indian political scene took a new turn in 1913, when the Muslim League adopted the principle of self-rule for India as its goal, which brought Congress and the Muslim League closer to each other. The leaders of both parties agreed that they should cooperate with each other to convince the government to accept the demands. They agreed that the purpose could be achieved only if the two major communities in India forgot their differences on petty issues and came closer to each other to see eye to eye on important national issues. Quaid-e-Azam was greatly respected in both Congress and the Muslim League, under whose guidance efforts for Hindu-Muslim unity were launched.
For the first time in Indian history, the Muslim League and Congress met in Lucknow in December 1916.The Muslim League session was presided over by Quaid-e-Azam, while Ambeka Charan Maujamdar presided over the Congress session. Mainly due to the efforts of Quaid-e-Azam, who was hailed as the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, an agreement on a scheme of constitutional reforms was reached between Congress and the Muslim League, known as the Lucknow Pact.
The agreement conceded a separate electorate to Muslims and provided for election central and provincial councils and the responsibility of the executive councils and the responsibility of the executive to the legislature. They agreed to the principle of a separate electorate and the reservation of one-third of the seats in the central legislature for Muslims. The Muslim representation was fixed at 33 1/3% of the elected members for the Central Government, 50% and 40%, respectively, for Punjab and Bengal, and 33 1/3%, 30.5%, 25.5%, and 15%, respectively, for Bombay, UP, Bihar, CP, and Madras. The congress also agreed to separate electorates in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal, where they were almost nonexistent. The Congress and Muslim to the British government, which included the demand that a greater number of seats on the councils be decided by election, and provincial autonomy for all religions, were agreed as a common aim.
This was the first time that the major communities of India reached an accord on the constitutional issues. The Muslims in particular were happy that the questions of weightage and separate electorates were at last accepted by the Hindu majority.
The Lucknow Pact is highly significant, as it revealed to both Hindus and Muslims that the Hindu-Muslim problem was an extremely sensitive one. It also demonstrated that, one day, India will have to be divided in order to achieve a permanent solution to the Hindu-Muslim conflict.It was mainly for this reason that the hardliners in the congresses agreed to the Lucknow Pact, as it accelerated India's chances of ultimate freedom.
It was also decided that the members of assemblies would have the right to present adjournment motions. Provincial autonomy shall be given to the provinces, and the communal problems shall be solved. Seats shall be reserved for Muslims in those provinces in which they are in the minority, and protection shall be given to Hindus in Muslim-majority provinces. No resolution or motion shall be presented in the assembly that may affect the interests of either of the two communities without the approval of the concerned group.
The Lucknow Pact was a great achievement of the Hindu and Muslim leaders, particularly of
Quaid-e-Azam, who had always been a staunch advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. The main characteristic of the pact was that Hindus, for the first time, acknowledged Muslims as a separate nation and accepted their right to a separate electorate.
