Lucknow Pact

Lucknow pact was an agreement signed between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League (AIML). The agreement was inked on December 1916 during a joint session held in Lucknow. In this article, you will learn about important points of Lucknow pact, features and significance of Lucknow pact, Criticism of Lucknow pact. This article will provide key insights for GS Paper-I Indian History section of UPSC IAS Exam.

Table of Content            

• What is Lucknow pact? 
• Background of Lucknow pact
• Reasons for change in attitude of All-India Muslim League             
• The Nature of the Pact  
• Features of Lucknow pact            
• Why Lucknow pact failed?           
• Importance of Lucknow pact 1916
• Conclusion         
• Frequently Asked Questions       
• Reference           

What is Lucknow pact?

• The Lucknow Pact was an agreement signed between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League (AIML) in December 1916 during a joint session held in Lucknow.
• This Lucknow Pact aimed to provide representation to religious minorities in Imperial and Provincial Legislative Councils.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak had represented the Indian NationalCongress, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah had represented the Muslim League.
• This has occurred when the younger and more militant nationalists within the Muslim League had aligned themselves closer to the objectives of the Congress and grew anti-imperialist.

Background of Lucknow pact:

• Under pressure from the Indian masses, the British had announced a series of proposals.
• These proposals included electing at least half of the members of the Executive Council and having a majority of elected members in the Legislative Council.
  • Both the Congress and the Muslim League had supported these proposals and recognized the need for greater cooperation to achieve more concessions.
• Leaders of the Indian National Congress who has opposed such pact included- Madan Mohan Malaviya.

Reasons for change in attitude of All-India Muslim League

• The Muslims were angered by Britain’s refusal to support Turkey in its conflicts with the Balkans and Italy.
  • The Turkish ruler had claimed leadership over all Muslims and were acting as Khalifa under the Caliphate system.
• The annulment of the partition of Bengal in 1911 had upset the Muslims who had initially supported the division.
• The British government has denied the establishment of a university in Aligarh which has the authority to affiliate colleges across India.
  • This has further alienated some Muslims.
• The Younger MuslimLeague members has embraced more assertive nationalist politics and aimed to move beyond the limited outlook of the Aligarh school.
• The Calcutta session of the Muslim League in 1912 had committed collaboration with other groups to achieve self-governance or home rule in India and aligned their goal with that of the Congress.
• The younger Muslims were angered by government repression during World War I.
• Publications like Maulana Azad’s “Al Hilal” and Mohammad Ali’s “Comrade” hadfaced the suppression, while leaders such as the Ali brothers, Maulana Azad, and Hasrat Mohani were interned.
  • These events fuelled anti-imperialist sentiments among the “Young Party” or MuslimLeague.

The Nature of the Pact

• The MuslimLeague had agreed to present joint constitutionaldemands with the Congress, and the Congress had accepted the League’s demand for separate electorates forMuslims in the Imperial and Provincial Legislative Councils.
  • The separate electorates for Muslimswill remain effective until either community calls for joint electorates.
  • Although the Indian Council Act of 1909 had already granted this right to Muslims, the Indian National Congress had initially opposed it.
• The Congress has also accepted the concept of allocating one-third of seats to Muslims in both the Councils, despite Muslims representing less than one-third of the population.
• The Congress has agreed that any act affecting a community should only be passed if three–quarters of that community’s council members supported it.

Features of Lucknow pact:

• The government should declare its intention to grant self-government to Indians at the earliest.
• Elect at least half of the members of the Executive Council and have a majority of elected members in the Legislative Council in line with the British commitment.
• Representative assemblies at both the central and provincial levels should be expanded with elected majorities and shall be granted more powers.
• Laws or motions passed by majorities in the councils should be binding on the British Government.
• The term of the legislative council should be five years.
• The salaries of the Secretary of State for India should be funded by the British treasury rather than from Indian funds.
• Half of the members in the viceroy’s and provincial governors’ executive councils shall be Indians.
• Grant autonomy to all provinces.
• Separate the executive from the judiciary.

Why Lucknow pact failed?

• Half of the executives would be elected by the legislature but the executives were not accountable to the legislature.
• Legislature cannot remove the electedhalf of the executive.
  • This may have resulted in a constitutional deadlock as matters like the budget required legislative approval.
• This resembled the executive-legislature relationship that the Congress has sought in any post–war constitutional reforms.
• The demands of the Lucknow Pact were an expanded version of the Morley-Minto reforms.
• The acceptance of separate electorates implied that Congress and the Muslim League have come together as separate political entities.
  • This resulted in the Muslim League’s demand of the two-nation theory.
• Efforts to unite the masses from both the Muslim and Hindus communities cannot be fulfilled.
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Importance of Lucknow pact 1916:

• The Lucknow Pact was seen as a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, as first time Hindus and Muslims had jointly demanded political reform from the British.
• The Congress’s decision to accept separate electorates had demonstrated a sincere attempt to look after the minority concerns.
  • The reunion has also sparked enthusiasm among the people of both the communities.
• Even the government wanted to appease nationalists by declaring its intention to grant self–government to Indians, as stated in Montagu’s August 1917 declaration.
• It instilled a belief in British India that self-government was a possibility.
• The pact had fostered cordial relations between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress by overcoming their previous rivalry and self-interests.
• The pact had establish harmonious relations between two prominent factions within the Congress—the ‘extremist’faction and the ‘moderate’faction.
  • ‘Extremist’ faction was led by the Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal.
  • ‘Moderate’ faction was led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Gandhi.

Conclusion

The Lucknow Pact that was concluded between the Congress and the Muslim League held significance in the struggle for nationalistic freedom. The impact of Lucknow pact bas both merits and demerits such as merits includes that for the first time both the community has come together to express their desire to work together politically and demerit includes that it became one of the reason of demand for separate nation by the All-India Muslim League.

Ref: Source-1

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