ABSTRACT
Until 1937, the party that came to be identified with the Pakistan movement had virtually no presence in Bengal. In that year, the Muslim League, in coalition with the Krishak Praja Party (KPP), formed the first provincial government under the reformed constitution of 1935. In Bengal, the 1941 communal outbreaks—in which Hindus were the principal victims—occurred on the watch of the Muslim League-KPP ministry, marking the first time that abuses by agents of the state were directly linked to a Muslim administration. Nearly all of the other provincial governments were Congress-led, and Muslim leaders, particularly but not exclusively those of the Muslim League, claimed Muslims as the “victims” of oppression by a “Hindu” raj in those provinces. The principal incidents of communal violence during this period demonstrated the efforts by the League and other parties to use specifically Islamic symbols to assert their claim to represent Bengali Muslims.
