Fazle Umar
Independence of India During the second half of the 19th Century Muslim minds were apathetic, lazy and divided. In the first half, by conquest, Sikhs had taken over many territories previously ruled by Muslims. Then British military power, fuelled by the Industrial Revolution in Britain, took over and the Indian Empire was born. Muslim religious leaders made the problem more acute by their persistent preaching of hatred of the British and all their works. Contacts with British officials and entry into government educational institutions were largely shunned. The learning of English was held to be tantamount to apostasy from the faith. The Muslims turned their backs on everything and chose to sulk in their tents while they received no better than step-motherly treatment from the British authorities.96 The Promised Messiah [as] had throughout his life, strongly advocated and held that the Muslims in India were an entirely separate entity and hence promoted the twonation theory. He commanded his followers to keep away from the Hindu Congress. The year 1905 was a milestone in the political activities of the Indian Muslims. The reaction of the Hindus to the division of Bengal and East Bengal (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Bangladesh) by Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, led the Muslims for the first time to realise the importance of their separate entity from the Hindus. The Hindus dominated commerce and controlled business all over India and also held key positions in Government administration. They were not given due share in the Councils, High Courts, Chief Courts, Municipal and District Boards. To address this issue, the Viceroy of India appointed a Commission to deliberate over the reforms in connection with admitting a much larger number of Indians in the army and in the civil administration in executive posts. To keep quiet at this stage
153
