Lucknow Pact (Continued: Pakistan Movement)

Lucknow Pact, 1916

In December 1916, the Congress and the Muslim League held a joint session at Lucknow in which Hindu - Muslim unity was passionately preached from one platform and approved a joint scheme of the reforms to be presented to Viceroy which could satisfy both the Muslims and the Hindus. The scheme is generally termed as Lucknow Pact. The agreement was confirmed by the Muslim League and Indian national Congress at their following annual sessions. Important points of the agreement were as follows:

1. Separate electorates were accepted by the Congress.
2. The Congress agreed to enforce electorates in those provinces also, where they did not exist, for example Punjab and Central Provinces.
3. No bill affecting the particular community should be proceeded within any council, if three - fourths of the representatives of that community opposed it.
4. The Muslims and the Hindus were to have weightage in provinces where they formed minorities. The Muslim strength in the different provinces shall be as follows:

Serial No.	Provinces	Percentage of Muslim Population		Percentage of seats reserved for the Muslims
1	Punjab	55		50
2	Bengal	53		40
3	Madras	07		15
4	Bombay	20		33.3
5	Utter Pradesh	14		30
6	CP	04		15
7	Bihar	10		25

The Punjab and Bengal got less representation than their percentage of Muslim population, whereas the other provinces, in which the Muslims were in a minority, received more. Contemporary newspapers show how strongly some Punjabi and Bengali leaguers reacted to the injustice extended to their provinces. Weightage of the heaviest variety given the Muslim minorities in Bihar and CP and Madras and UP did not in any manner help the Muslims of India; it did not even help the recipients except to give them a hollow confidence. On the other hand, the deprivation imposed upon the Punjab and Bengal sealed their fate. In Bengal, There was unstable ministries, political uncertainty and the strange incident of a Muslim League - Hindu Mahasabha coalition. the Punjab was saved from such hazards by the establishment of Unionist party.



The Lucknow Pact proved to be the only beacon light on the political horizon of India. If this sense of cooperation could have been carried on, a better atmosphere of understanding and cooperation could have been generated. But the Hindu did not honestly stick to these principles. Instead of understanding and cooperation, mistrust, hatred and non - cooperation crept into the political life of the Indian people. The Lucknow Pact and the non - cooperation movement in which the Congress collaborated with the Khilafat movement demonstrated the force of unity, and held it been further pushed the political struggle could have marked the beginning of new era.