# Delhi Resolution

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{{Short description|Document of the All-India Muslim League}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox document
|document_name=Delhi Resolution
|Image=
|caption=
|date_presented=8 April 1946
|location_of_document=Anglo-Arabic Hall, [Delhi](/source/Delhi)
|purpose=To abrogate the Lahore Resolution and confirm the Muslim League's intention of advocating a unitary Pakistan 
|writer= Muslim League sub-committee consisting of: [Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan](/source/Nawab_Mohammad_Ismail_Khan), [Mirza Abol Hassan Ispahani](/source/Mirza_Abol_Hassan_Ispahani), [Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman](/source/Chaudhry_Khaliquzzaman), [I.I. Chundrigar](/source/I.I._Chundrigar), and [Abdul Matin Chaudhary](/source/Abdul_Matin_Chaudhary);<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Harun-or-|title=The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh: Bengal Muslim League and Muslim Politics, 1906–1947 |publisher=University Press Limited |year=2003 |location=Dhaka |pages=232–233}}</ref> Resolution moved by [Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy](/source/Huseyn_Shaheed_Suhrawardy)
|signers=[All-India Muslim League](/source/All-India_Muslim_League)
|date_ratified={{Start date and age|df=yes|1946|04}}
}}

The '''Delhi Resolution''' ([Urdu](/source/Urdu_language):دہلی قرارداد; [Bengali](/source/Bengali_language):দিল্লির প্রস্তাব), was a Resolution of the [All-India Muslim League](/source/All-India_Muslim_League), written by an All-India Muslim League sub-committee and moved by [Prime Minister of Bengal](/source/Prime_Minister_of_Bengal) [Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy](/source/Huseyn_Shaheed_Suhrawardy), passed during the All-India Muslim League legislators convention in Delhi in April 1946. It is noted for calling for the establishment of a United Pakistan comprising Northwest India and Northeast India.

==Historical Context==

Until the mid-1930s and 1940s, the Muslim League's approach to the Muslim question was to advocate for political and constitutional safeguards for India's Muslims within a federal India. The 1935 Government of India Act provided separate electorates and provincial devolution, paving the way for the [1937 Indian provincial elections](/source/1937_Indian_provincial_elections) that resulted in the formation of Congress ministries in six out of eight provinces with a [Krishok Proja Party](/source/Krishak_Proja_Party)-[Muslim League](/source/All-India_Muslim_League) coalition ministry formed in Bengal and a [Unionist Party](/source/Unionist_Party_(Punjab)) ministry formed in Punjab. During the rule of Congress ministries between 1937 and 1939, the Muslim League would direct its propaganda towards highlighting atrocities against Muslims under Congress rule.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Muslims under Congress rule, 1937-1939: a documentary record |editor-last=Aziz |editor-first=K.K. |location=Islamabad |publication-date=1978}}</ref> The outbreak of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) in September 1939 would lead to the resignation of Congress ministries, leading to Jinnah to call for Deliverance Day in December 1939 to celebrate this.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1939 |title= |journal=Indian Annual Register |location=Calcutta |volume=II}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In March 1940, the [Lahore Resolution](/source/Lahore_Resolution), which called for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India, would help popularise the Muslim League and the Pakistan Movement among the Indian Muslim masses whilst sparking debates around the shape of a hypothetical Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Text of the 1940 Lahore Resolution of the All-India Muslim League by Brian McMorrow |url=https://pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/140584822 |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=PBase |language=en-US}}</ref> The meaning of the Lahore Resolution is contested given its vagueness and whether it called for a unitary state or two states is highly contested, with those in Bengal particularly advocating that the Lahore Resolution called for the establishment of two states whilst others stating it called for one state. During WW2, the British made several attempts to solve the communal question and deadlock between the [All-India Muslim League](/source/All-India_Muslim_League) and [Indian National Congress](/source/Indian_National_Congress) as exemplified by the [Cripps Mission](/source/Cripps_Mission) of 1942 and [1945 Simla Conference](/source/Simla_Conference), leading to the holding of elections in 1946.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |location=Cambridge}}</ref> The [1946 Indian provincial elections](/source/1946_Indian_provincial_elections) would come as a plebiscite on Pakistan in favour of Pakistan, proving that Pakistan had mass support among India's 80 million Muslims and it would be after the conclusion of these elections that a legislators convention would be held. After the elections, the Labour Government of [Clement Attlee](/source/Clement_Attlee) dispatched the [1946 Cabinet Mission to India](/source/1946_Cabinet_Mission_to_India) led by [Viceroy Wavell](/source/Archibald_Wavell%2C_1st_Earl_Wavell) to solve the communal deadlock and the question of transfer of power. The Cabinet Mission called for the creation of a federal India where the Muslim majority zones in the Northwest and Northeast of India were autonomous.<ref name=":1" /> However, the Cabinet Mission was unsuccessful due to [Jawaharlal Nehru](/source/Jawaharlal_Nehru) (who was elected President of the INC in July) rejecting it in a press conference in [Bombay](/source/Bombay) in spite of Congress President [Maulana Azad](/source/Maulana_Azad)s and AIML President Jinnahs acceptance of the Mission.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Azad |first=Abul Kalam |title=India Wins Freedom |publisher=Oriental Longmans |year=1988 |edition=Complete |location=Hyderabad |pages=Ch. 11}}</ref>

==Delhi Legislators Convention==
The Session was held on 7–9 April 1946 at the quadrangle of the Anglo-Arabic Hall in Delhi. The convention started with a speech by Muslim League President [Muhammad Ali Jinnah](/source/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah). Then [Liaquat Ali Khan](/source/Liaquat_Ali_Khan) announced the creation of the Subject Committee in each province of India. The next day on Monday 8 April, the Subject Committee approved the Delhi Resolution moved by Suhrawardy, which called for "the Zones comprising Bengal and Assam in the North East and the Punjab, the North West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan in the North West of India, namely the Pakistan Zones, where the Muslims are a dominant majority, be constituted into one sovereign independent state and that an unequivocal undertaking be given to implement the establishment of Pakistan without delay".<ref name=":2" /> Suhrawardy and others would then assert the need for Muslim India to rally around and fight for Pakistan and Jinnah would make a concluding address at the end affirming this.<ref name=":2" />

==Full Text==
The full text of the Resolution reads as follows:

<blockquote>
'''"THE DELHI RESOLUTION"'''

Whereas in this vast subcontinent of India a hundred million Muslims are adherents of
a Faith which regulates every department of their life—education, social, economic and
political—whose code is not confined merely to spiritual doctrine and tenets or rituals
and ceremonies, and which stands in sharp contrast to the exclusive nature of the
Hindu Dharma and Philosophy which has fostered and maintained for thousands of
years a rigid caste system resulting in the degradation of sixty million human beings to
the position of untouchables, creation of unnatural barriers between man and man,
super-imposition of social and economic inequalities on a large body of the people of
the country, and which threatens to reduce Muslims, Christians and other minorities to
the status of irredeemable helots, socially and economically;

Whereas the Hindu Caste System is a direct negation of nationalism, equality,
democracy and all the noble ideals that Islam stands for.
Whereas different historical background, traditions, cultures, social and economic
orders of the Hindus and the Muslims made impossible the evolution of a single Indian
nation inspired by common aspirations and ideals and whereas after centuries they still
remain two distinct major nations;

Whereas soon after the introduction by the British of the policy of setting up Political
institutions in India on lines of Western Democracies based on majority rule which
means that the majority of the nation or society inspite of their opposition as amply
demonstrated during the two and half years' regime of Congress Governments in the
Hindu majority Provinces, under the Government of India Act 1935, when the Muslims
were subjected to untold harassments and oppressions as a result of which they were
convinced of the futility and ineffectiveness of the so called safeguards provided in the
Constitution and in the Instrument of Instructions to the Governors and were driven to
the irresistible conclusion that in a United India Federation, if established, the Muslims,
even in Muslim Majority Provinces, could meet with no better fate and their rights and
interests could never be adequately protected against the perpetual Hindu majority at
the centre;

Whereas the Muslims are convinced that, with a view to saving Muslim India from the
domination of the Hindus and in order to afford them full scope to develop themselves
according to their genius, it is necessary to constitute a sovereign independent state
comprising Bengal and Assam in the North East Zone, and the Punjab, North West
Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan in the North West Zone;

This Convention of The Muslim League Legislators of India. Central and Provincial,
after careful consideration hereby declares that the Muslim Nation will never submit to
any constitution for a United India and will never participate in any single constitution
making machinery set up for the purpose, and any formula devised by the British
Government for transferring power from the British to the peoples of India, which does
not conform to the following just and equitable principles calculated to maintain
internal peace and tranquility in the country.

I. That the Zones comprising Bengal and Assam in the North East and the Punjab,
the North West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan in the North West of India,
namely the Pakistan Zones, where the Muslims are a dominant majority, be constituted
into one sovereign independent state and that an unequivocal undertaking be given to
implement the establishment of Pakistan without delay.

II. That two separate Constitution making Bodies be set up by the peoples of
Pakistan and Hindustan for the purpose of framing their respective constituencies.

III. That the minorities in Pakistan and Hindustan be provided with safeguards on
the line of All-India Muslim League Resolution passed on the 23rd March 1940, at
Lahore.

IV. That the acceptance of the Muslim League demand for Pakistan and its
implementation without delay are the sine qua non for the Muslim League cooperation
and participation in the formation of an interim Government at the Centre.

V. This Convention further emphatically declares that any attempt to impose a
constitution on a United India basis or to force any interim arrangement at the Centre,
contrary to the Muslim demand, will leave the Muslims no alternative but to resist such
imposition by all possible means for their survival and national existence.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Foundations of Pakistan |publisher=National Publishing House LTD |editor-last=Pirzada |editor-first=Syed Sharifuddin |location=Karachi-Dacca |publication-date=1970 |pages=505–522}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shafique |first=Khurram |date=2018-11-14 |title=The Delhi Resolution 1946 |url=https://marghdeen.com/2016/07/delhi-resolution-1946/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Marghdeen |language=en-GB}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==Interpretation and Aftermath==

As with the Lahore Resolution, the interpretation of the Delhi Resolution is contested. Outwardly, the Delhi Resolution called for the creation of one unitary Pakistan and abrogated the Lahore Resolution. The Delhi Resolution solidified the notion and reality that Pakistan was going to be one state, not two or more states. Mirza Abol Hassan Ispahani affirms that it was in the interests of Muslim India to advocate for a unitary Pakistan. Ispahani also asserts that the use of the word 'states' in the Lahore Resolution was a typo corrected by the Delhi Resolution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ispahani |first=M.A.H. |title=Qaid-e-Azam Jinnah as I knew him |year=1967 |location=Karachi |pages=143–146}}</ref> [Abul Hashim](/source/Abul_Hashim) (then General Secretary of the [Bengal Provincial Muslim League](/source/Bengal_Provincial_Muslim_League)) however claims he raised a voice of protest against Jinnah and the Muslim League Subject Committee regarding the change of the word 'states' in the Lahore Resolution to 'state'. Hashim then alleges that Jinnah dismissed it as a typo whilst assuring Hashim that he wanted one constituent assembly for the Muslims of India. Hashim claims he did not attend the Delhi legislator's convention as he would have allegedly been made (like Suhrawardy) to move the Resolution by Jinnah.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hashim |first=Abul |title=In Retrospect |publisher=Bangladesh Co-Operative Book Society ltd |year=1998 |edition=2nd |location=Dhaka-Chittagong |pages=125–126}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lahore Resolution - Banglapedia |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Lahore_Resolution |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=en.banglapedia.org}}</ref> Nonetheless, Hashim was a lone voice of protest and any objection to the changing of the wording of the Delhi Resolution was overruled. Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman states that the Delhi Resolution changed the Lahore Resolution's mention of States given that he (and other AIML committee members) felt that Pakistan in the public consciousness "denoted one single State, federal and confederal" and also excluded the clause "with such territorial readjustments" that was in the Lahore Resolution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khaliquzzaman |first=Chaudhry |title=Pathway to Pakistan |publisher=Longmans |location=Lahore |publication-date=1961 |pages=341}}</ref> Historians Shila Sen and Harun-or-Rashid make the argument that Suhrawardy was chosen to move the Resolution in order to bury controversy regarding the change of the word 'states' to 'state'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Shila |title=Muslim Politics in Bengal 1937-1947 |year=1976 |location=Delhi |pages=207–209}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rashid |title=The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh |publisher=University Press Limited |year=2003 |location=Dhaka |pages=232–239}}</ref>  However, in 1947, Suhrawardy and Hashim along with [Sarat Chandra Bose](/source/Sarat_Chandra_Bose) and [Kiran Shankar Roy](/source/Kiran_Shankar_Roy) advocated for the [United Bengal](/source/United_Bengal) scheme, which called for the establishment of a sovereign Bengal with equal and proportional representation between Hindus and Muslims.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hashim |title=In Retrospect |year=1998 |edition= |location=Dhaka-Chittagong |pages=172–173}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Rashid |title=The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh |publisher=University Press Limited |year=2003 |location=Dhaka |pages=Ch. 7}}</ref> However, due to opposition from the INC and AIML high command among other factors, the scheme failed, and hence the Partition of Bengal and creation of a unitary Pakistan was solidified.<ref name=":3" /> Thus, in August 1947, the Indian Independence Act would create the [Dominion of India](/source/Dominion_of_India) and the [Dominion of Pakistan](/source/Dominion_of_Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian Independence Act, 1947 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1947/30/pdfs/ukpga_19470030_en.pdf |access-date=30 May 2024 |website=The National Archives UK}}</ref>

==See also==
*[Lahore Resolution](/source/Lahore_Resolution)
*[Partition of India](/source/Partition_of_India)
*[Pakistan Movement](/source/Pakistan_Movement)
*[History of Pakistan](/source/History_of_Pakistan)

== References ==
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{{reflist}}

Category:1940s in Delhi
Category:1946 in British India
Category:History of the All-India Muslim League
Category:Resolutions (law)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Delhi Resolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Resolution) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Resolution?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.