ABSTRACT
The growth of the separatist Muslim movement started after the Indian Muslim uprising against the British Imperial presence in India during the rule of the East India Company. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 was the first Indian war of independence. The rebellion grew stronger among the Muslims when Nawab Wajed Ali Shah, the ruler of Awadh, a princely state of the United Province of India, was forcefully abdicated by Dalhousie, using the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. The Sepoy mutiny was a failure in real terms but a victory in spirit; animosity and hatred grew stronger between the rulers and the ruled. The Statutory Commission, known as the Simon Commission after its Chairman, Sir John Simon, published its report in May 1930. It offered the solution of a Federal Assembly elected by the provincial councils with a Council of Greater India that would serve as a consultative body. The ‘motley-minto’ reforms were the first manifestations of the changing outlook.
