SIMLA DEPUTATION:
INTRODUCTION:

Some of the reforms of lord Cruzan greatly harmed the British interests in
India. So lord minto had to face a wide spread political agitation after formers resignation

CAUSES OF SIMLA DEPUTATION:

Joint electorate: the elections held in the country according to the Indian councils act 1892, made it clear that the system of joint electorates is not good for a country with different communications and dominated by one community. During the period from 1892-1905 not even a single muslim representative could secure his seat in the legislative councils.Charging international situation: victory of japan over Russia in 1905 created a sense
in india that finally east has renew. It was also felt that England was also declining. This encouraged Indian to secure more rights for themselves.Congress attitude: the hindu attitude over partition of Bengal conviced the muslims of the futility of expecting any justice or fair play form the hindu majority. Therefore to safeguard their interests, the muslim leaders now drew up a plan of separate electorates for their community.Resignation of fuller: congress launched Swedish movement to exert economic pressure on the british fuller the governor of east Bengal and Assam had to resign as a accepted which showed that muslim interest were least important.

Immediate reason:
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS:

Elections were held in 1905 in Britain and liberal party came into power. Literal party wanted to encouraged the nations of india by giving them participation in the affairs of government liberal party announced to introduces to introduce constitutional reforms in india. In the wake of this announcement, muslim leaders felt the need of articulating muslim demand.

SIMLA DEPUTATION:

In the march 1906, minto started discussing the scope of constitution reform with the members, of his executive council, a leading muslim haji ismail khan, wrote to nawab mohsin-ul-mulk drawing his attention to demand the right of separate electorates for the muslims.

FORMATION OF COMMITTEE AT ALIGARH:

Mohsin-ul-mulk consulted waqar-ul-mulk and constituted a committee at Aligarh, mr. archbold, the principle of M.A.O. college assign the duty of setting appointment from lord minto. Muslims of all provinces gathered and finalize the text and decided that sir agha khan would lead the deputation of 34-36 members. The delegation met viceroy on October 1,
1906 at his residence at simla.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

i. Muslims should be given weight age in the legislative assembly and their representatives should be elected on the basis of separate electorate.
ii. Quota will be fixed of all services for muslim.
iii. Muslim judge to be appointed in high court and chief court.
iv. Separate seat be fixed in syndicates of universities.
v. Muslim universities to be established.
vi. Steps to be taken in order to protect the political, social and cultural identity of muslims.

VICEROY’S RESPONSE:

Lord minto assured the delegation that he was entirely in accord with their case and right would be safeguarded.
WAS IT A COMMAND PERFORMANCE:
There is a controversy about the delegation; maulana Muhammad ali jauhar is reported to have characterized the delegation as a command performance. Rajindra parsad has tried to prove that the delegation was engineered by mr. archbold, the british principle of Aligarh college. This is a distortion of real facts. He being the principle was very close to the muslims, he was simply asked to contact the secretary of viceroy col. Dunlop for an appointment with the viceroy.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

The simla deputation is critically important in the history of modern muslim india. i. First time, the hindu muslim conflict was lifted to the constitutional plane. The rift in the society was now to be reflected in legal and political institution. ii. Muslims had made it clear that they had no confidence in the hindu majority. They rejected the idea of a single Indian nation on the ground that the muslim minority had an entity which could not be merged into the hindu majority.
iii. It was but a further step to demand a separate state for muslims.
The hindu allegation that the simla deputation was inspired by the british has to be rejected for two reasons.
iv. No positive evidence is available in its support and what the muslims demanded was in complete consonance with their thinking and philosophy.
v. The simla deputation is also a milestone in the struggle for the freedom of muslims. The concept of two-nation theory as enunciated by sir syed ahmed khan was further strengthened by this delegation.
Because of it, the british government finally gave a legal sanction to the demand of separate electorate under minto-morley reforms known as “Indian act of 1906”.

For more Notes click here.