ABSTRACT

The poor performance of the Muslim League in the general election in 1937 did not come as a surprise to the government. Official forecasts had predicted victory for the regional Muslim parties against the Muslim League. Jinnah’s election platform — denunciation of the new constitution and appeal to like-minded parties, and especially to the Congress, to get together to agitate against the retrograde Act of 1935 — had not endeared him to the British authorities. The British political parties, the press and the Parliament were concerned about the international situation and the problem of defence of Britain and its far-flung empire. In May 1939, Linlithgow told Zetland that it would be a good idea to include in the British delegation to the League of Nations a Congress representative like K.M. Munshi.