My Contacts with Quaid-e-Azam 1945-1948

By Mahmud Ali

The Quaid at home, 10 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi

Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy to India, declared on 3 June, 1947 that the British paramount power had decided to create two independent dominions in the subcontinent which  eventually would attain sovereignty. In the declaration it was envisaged that although the dominion of Pakistan would constitute some area of North-Western and some areas of North-Eastern parts of the subcontinent, yet the whole of the Punjab in the North-West and the whole of Bengal in North-East would not form part of Pakistan.

The moment I read about it in the newspapers on 4 June, 1947 I felt shocked and dismayed in my prison cell: I thought within my self, “O God! Quaid-i-Azam’s assertion has also failed to come true!” My faith in the Quaid-i-Azam was such that I never imagined that his affirmation would not fructify.

I functioned as Secretary Assam Provincial Muslim League during 1945-47.

In April, 1946 after the Muslim Legislators’ Convention at the Anglo-Arablic College compound had concluded its deliberations, some of us who attended the convention from Bengal and Assam had stayed on at New Delhi for a few days more. Amongst them, besides myself, Moulana Mohammad Akram Khan, President of then Bengal Provincial Muslim League and Mr. Moyeen Uddin Ahmad Choudhry, a member of the Assam Provincial Assembly, were there for rest and sight-seeing. The Legislators’ Convention concluded on 9 April and we continued to stay there for the next couple of days.

One morning as I turned pages of the Daily Dawn I came across a news report that Husseyn Shahid Suhrawardy and Sarat Chandra Bose, brother of the great revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose had prepared a plan to make a greater Bengal State separate from both Pakistan and Hindustan and that they had the Quaid-i-Azam’s blessing.

Partition of Bengal

The partition of Bengal shook India in 1905. Lord Curzon, one of the most powerful British rulers gave affect to the partition. With a population of over 80 million, it was difficult to administer the province so a line was drawn between the Hindu dominated West Bengal and the Muslim dominated East Bengal. Dacca became the capital of the new Muslim majority province comprising Eastern Bengal and Assam. West Bengal with Hindu majority was administered from Calcutta. The birth of the “Eastern Bengal and Assam” province was considered as a blessing and a moment of relief for the Muslims whereas it was an eyesore for the Hindus.

The Hindu community was aghast at the creation of the Muslim majority province and even a movement was launched against the partition. Calcutta’s Bengali Hindu elite protested vehemently against this partition. Large rallies and protests on the streets were carried out frequently all over the country and the British goods were also boycotted.

The impassioned anti-government speeches brought the common man in the streets. Though Jinnah was not very vocal about the issue of the partition of Bengal but its effects were to alter his life and career tremendously in the future. The partition of Bengal gave the Muslims of Bengal adequate representation in the power structure and awakened political consciousness among them which led to the formation of the Muslim League in 1906.