In Hyderabad, the Communist party led a massive movement of farmers of the Telangana region. The Telangana farmers opposed the large land owners and demanded that debts of farmers be cancelled. They also demanded that bonded labour should be stopped and land be distributed to those who worked on it. The peasants took up arms to fight against the rulers and their armies. Almost 3000 villages were part of the movement. Another armed revolt of peasants took place in Travancore (Kerala) in Punnapra- Vayalar.


◾Review the actions of ordinary masses in the country. What were they demanding?

◾It was noted that religious divisions were not important in many of these mass movements mentioned above. What could be the reason for the unity of the people in these movements?

Muslim League and Congress - Negotiation for transfer of power


When political negotiations between top leaders began again in l945, the British agreed to create an entirely Indian central Executive Council, except for the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. They did this as a first step towards full independence. Discussions about the transfer of power failed due to Jinnah’s demand that the League should have an absolute right to choose all the Muslim members of the Executive Council. This demand was not acceptable to others. Most nationalist Muslims supported the Congress Party. The Unionist Party of Punjab, which had a large number of Muslim members, did not agree with Muslim League’s demand. In fact, Maulana Azad was the leader of the Congress Party delegation for these discussions as he was the President of this party! In 1946, elections were held for the Provincial Governments. The Muslim League won all 30 reserved constituencies in the Centre and 442 out of 509 seats in the provinces. The League was able to establish itself as the dominant party among Muslim voters only around 1946. It wanted to represent itself as the “sole spokesperson” of India’s Muslims. It had got more than 86% of the Muslim votes. In 1946, the Congress swept the general constituencies, capturing over 91 per cent of the non-Muslim vote.


◾What were the demands of the Muslim League that were not acceptable to the Congress?

◾Do you agree with the reasons of the Congress?

◾According to you, what did the election results of 1946 indicate about public mood?

A possible alternative to Partition


In March 1946, the British Cabinet sent a three member mission team to Delhi to examine the demand made by the League and suggest a suitable political framework for Indian freedom. This Cabinet Mission toured the country for three months and recommended a three-tier confederation but India was to remain united. Initially, all the major parties accepted this plan. But the agreement was short- lived because the parties had different opinions of the plan. Ultimately, neither the

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