jinnahs forteen points

he Fourteen Points of Jinnah were proposed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India. The report was given in a meeting of the council of the All India Muslim League on March 28, 1929.

The Fourteen Points 1. The form of the future constitution should be federal with the

residuary powers vested in the provinces.

2. A uniform measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.

3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even equality.

4. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one third.

5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present, provided it shall be open to any community at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favor of a joint electorate.

6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in the Punjab, Bengal and the North West Frontier Province.

7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.

8. No bill or any resolution or any part thereof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected body if three-fourth of the members of any community in that particular body oppose such a bill resolution or part thereof on the ground that it would be injurious to the interests of that community or in the alternative,

such other method is devised as may be found feasible and practicable to deal with such cases.

9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.

10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan on the same footing as in the other provinces.

11.

Provision should be made in the constitution giving Muslims an adequate share, along with the other Indians, in all the services of the state and in local self-governing bodies having due regard to the requirements of efficiency.

12.

The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion, personal laws and Muslim charitable institution and for their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the state and by local self-governing bodies.

13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one-third Muslim ministers.

14.

No change shall be made in the constitution by the Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the State's contribution of the Indian Federation.

Reactions One newspaper headline described the 14 points as Muslims' irreducible minimum. These demands were rejected by the Congress Party. He was then invited to attend the round table conferences, where he forwarded the Muslims' point of view. However some of the pro-British Muslim nobility were not willing to listen to him. Years later he would remark to his Hindu friend Dalmiya how he was finally able to bring the British lackeys, "Jee Huzoors"(yes men) and "nawabs" into line.{{Fact|date=February 2009 manoj rathi

Importance A comparison of the Nehru Report (1928) with Jinnah’s Fourteen points shows a political gap between the Muslims and the Hindus in India. They motivated Jinnah to revive the Muslim League and give it direction. As a result, these points became the demands of the Muslims and greatly influenced the Muslims thinking for the next two decades till the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.

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The "Nehru Report" (1928) was a memorandum outlining a proposed new Dominion (see dominion status) constitution for India.

It was prepared by a committee of the All Parties Conference chaired

by Motilal Nehru with his son Jawaharlal acting as secretary. There were nine other members in this committee including two Muslims.

The Nehru Report The constitution outlined by the Nehru report was for Indian enjoying dominion status within the British Commonwealth. Some of the important elements of the report (details) – 

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Unlike the eventual Government of India Act 1935 it contained a Bill of Rights All power of government and all authority - legislative, executive and judicial - are derived from the people and the same shall be exercised through organisations established by, or under, and in accord with, this Constitution There shall be no state religion; men and women shall have equal rights as citizens.

There should be federal form of government with residuary powers vested in the center.( Some scholars, such as Moore in “The Making of India’s Paper Federation, 1927-35” (p. 39) in

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Moore 1988 considered the Nehru Report proposal as essentially unitary rather than federal.); It included a description of the machinery of government including a proposal for the creation of a Supreme Court and a suggestion that the provinces should be linguistically determined; It did not provide for separate electorates for any community or for weightage for minorities. Both of these were liberally provided in the eventual Government of India Act 1935. However, it did allow for the reservation of Muslim seats in provinces having a Muslim minority of at least ten percent, but this was to be in strict proportion to the size of the community.

The language of the Commonwealth shall be Hindustani, which may be written either in Nagari or in Urdu character. The use of the English language shall be permitted. (details)

The Nehru Report, along with that of the Simon Commission was available to participants in the three Indian Round Table Conferences 1931-1933. However, the Government of India Act 1935 owes much to the Simon Commission report and little, if anything to the Nehru Report.

Muslim League's Reaction to the Nehru Report With few exceptions League leaders rejected the Nehru proposals. In reaction Mohammad Ali Jinnah drafted his Fourteen Points in 1929 which became the core demands the Muslim community put forward as the price of their participating in an independent united India. Their main objections were: 

Separate Electorates and Weightage - the 1916 CongressMuslim League agreement The Lucknow Pact provided these to

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the Muslim community whereas they were rejected by the Nehru Report; Residuary Powers – the Muslims realized that while they would be a majority in the provinces of the North-East and North-West of India, and hence would control their provincial legislatures, they would always be a minority at the Centre. Thus they demanded, contra the Nehru Report, that residuary powers go to the provinces.

The inability of Congress to concede these points must be considered a major factor in the eventual partition of India. This was the major historical significance of the Nehru Report --------------------------------------‘Few

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individuals significantly alter the course of history.

Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three.’ Stanley Wolpert