Thread:

For sometime now, liberals in #Pakistan have been peddling the demise of Two Nation Theory that provides the basis of #Pakistani statehood.

One of them is an obtuse physicist Pervez Hoodboy whose pseudo philosophy deems the 1971 secession of East Pakistan as cause.

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This proposition especially proves its own intellectually bankrupt, when its made while India is being ruled by #hindu nationalist #BJP.

Who’ve passed genocidal CAA & NRC laws to cancel citizenships of millions of #Indian #Muslims & when 8 million #Kashmiris are under siege.

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Hoodboy claims that today’s Pakistan is only half the country envisioned by our founding fathers, therefore Two Nation Theory is dead.

Besides BJP’s #hindu nationalism itself proving the Two Nation Theory, let’s consider how it influenced Bengal’s struggle for independence.

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Firstly, the Two Nation Theory is based on a premise that #Muslims of subcontinent deserve a separate homeland as a way to save themselves from the perils of Hindu majoritarianism.

With an ominous potential of permanent #Hindu supremacist fascism in the name of democracy.

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In an 1887 speech, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan expressed this fear of #hindu majoritarian domnination imagining a need for the Two Nation Theory:

“Now suppose all the English were to leave India, then who would be the rulers of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances..

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“..two nations, Mohammedan & Hindu, could sit on the same throne & remain equal in power?

Most certainly not.

It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other & thrust it down.

To hope that both could remain equal is to desire the impossible & inconceivable.”

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Therefore, Two Nation Theory was highly relevant for Bengal’s ML leaders.

For them, concept of #Pakistan provided an opportunity to campaign for self-determination of #bengali #muslims & save themselves from oppression by a #hindu nationalist majority in a democratic India.

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Whether this self determination for Muslims of #Bengal was achieved by a union with #Pakistan or via an independent state, it was to achieve the same goal of being able to escape #hindu majoritarianism in #India.

Fact that #Bangladesh became a 2nd Pakistan after secession,

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rather then declaring accession to #India reinforces the Two Nations Theory & the factors that lead to East Bengal’s union with Pakistan.

QaideAzam later expressed similar sentiments in his Lahore speech on 22March1940:
“Our Hindu friends fail to understand
the real nature..

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of #Islam & #Hinduism.
They aren’t religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different & distinct social orders and it is a dream that the #Hindus & #Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one #Indian nation has troubles..

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..and will lead #India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. To yoke together two such nations under a single state .”

#Pakistan was created in light of the dream of Allama Iqbal, the idea of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali & leadership of #QaideAzam MA #Jinnah.

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It’s imp to note that All India Muslim League was formed in 1906 to secure rights of Muslims of subcontinent within constitutional limits of #British Raj
&
Founders of ML used #Urdu as the representative language of #Muslims of #India & party resolutions were drawn in Urdu.

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However, ML leaders from #Bengal deemed the political interests of #Bengali #Muslims unique to Bengal politics & therefore on the 2nd of March 1912 they formed Bengal Provincial Muslim League in #Dhaka as a branch of the parent organisation of All #India #Muslim League.

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A significant difference was that its resolutions were drawn in Bangla & its politics focused solely on welfare of #Muslims of Bengal.

AK Fazle Haq, Abdul Hasheem & Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy remained at helm of its affairs & ML dealt with Bengal politics only through BPML.

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Besides, the idea of a separate state as a homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent was first envisioned by Allama Iqbal, when on the 29th of December 1930 he delivered a monumental address, saying:

“I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind..

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..and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.”

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It’s mustn’t ignore the fact that this dream of Iqbal only consisted upon current provinces of #Pakistan & #Kashmir him specifically naming “North-West India” & didn’t include #Bengal, Assam, Lucknow or #Hyderabad Deccan.

This idea was conceived by Iqbal knowing full well..

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..the practical impossibility of uniting all Muslim populated areas of the subcontinent into a single state.

The concrete concept of #Pakistan as an independent state was later conceived by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, when he published a pamphlet on the 28th January 1933 titled:

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"Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?"

In this pamphlet the word #Pakistan is deemed to have composed with letters from the names of five north western units of British India with ‘P’ for Punjab, ‘A’ for Afghania (North-West Province of KPK), ‘K’ for Kashmir,..

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.. ‘S’ for Sindh & ‘TAN’ for the province of Balochistan.

He wrote, “At this solemn hour in the history of #India, when #British & #Indian delegates are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that sub-continent, we address this appeal to you, in the name of..

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..our common heritage & on behalf of our 30 million Muslim brethren who live in #PAKISTAN by which we mean the 5 northern units of #India viz: #Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), #Kashmir, Sind & Baluchistan.”

Here again, #Bengal was not envisioned as..

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..being a part of the future state of #Pakistan, instead he imagined #Bengal as a separate state of ‘Bangistan’ as a homeland of the #Muslims of northeastern #British #India.

Even a map was formulated by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali to outline multiple #Muslim states of India:

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There’s no historical evidence that QaideAzam ever insisted on Bengal becoming an eastern wing of future Pakistan.

Because him & the leaders of BPML who were framers of the Pakistan Resolution understood an autonomous Bengal to be a logical outcome of the Pakistan Movement.

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In fact, historical records do show that #QaideAzam, not once but twice, encouraged the leaders of #Bengal Provincial ML to seek & even campaign for an independent state of Bengal.

First of these instances is proven from records of the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946.

And..

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Second of these instances is proven from records of 1947 negotiations known as ‘United Bengal Movement.’

At partition, both ML & BPML leaders were cognizant of the fact that rights of Muslims of Bengal would best be protected in a Muslim majority independent Bengal.

Contd.

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