The two nation theory: Why did it fail?
Introduction:
The independence of India meant a new turn in the history of the world. It confirmed the end of
European Imperialism. India was partitioned in a manner which never happened before. India was
divided into two parts, according to religion, Hindu and Muslim. The concept of dividing the region on
basis of religion was never thought of before. It was only as recent as the 1940s that this was proposed
by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of Muslim League (1). Jinnah and many other Muslim leaders
believed that Muslims and Hindus cannot coincide peacefully in the region, although Jinnah was thought
to be a secular leader and he did fight for the independence of united India before. He believed religious
unity in Muslims will strengthen the nation. His theory is now known as The Two Nation Theory, or The
Two-state Theory. As a result of this proposal, India was divided into two parts as India and Pakistan.
Pakistan was also divided into two parts as West and East Pakistan due to geographical difficulties. West
Pakistan was geographically situated on the north-west of India and East Pakistan, now known as
Bangladesh, was situated on the east of India which was almost surrounded by India. The majority of the
population of East Pakistan spoke a different language from its counterpart, the west. Along with it, the
culture in the East was different from the West in all perspectives as well. In 1971 war broke out
between the then East Pakistani people and the West Pakistan army (2). As a result of this war
Bangladesh was born which proved that religion was not enough to bind a nation together as suggested
by Jinnah by his theory, hence proving the Two Nation Theory wrong.
Shaping of the idea
Jinnah was known as one of the leaders who fought for Hindu-Muslim unity up till a certain point of
time. In fact in 1904, on the 20 th annual meeting of the Congress he supported the Hindu-Muslim unity,
which is known to be his entrance into politics (3). He was a secular figure and fought for Indian
freedom rather than a separate state in the early 1920s (4). Even up till the late 1930s the idea of a
separate Muslim state was vague to all, even Jinnah. Although there were urges to establish a separate
state for Muslims were heard, but were never formally approached. It was as late as 1940 that an official
political statement was made by the All India Muslim League, led by Jinnah, for a separate Muslim state.
The resolution was passed and the hopes for a separate Muslim state started to form. The resolution is
said to be the turning point where Jinnah abandons his work of Hindu-Muslim unity and starts pursuing
a different goal (5). In 1944 Jinnah met Gandhi and had a dialogue with him. The dialogue was not
fruitful as Gandhi refused the idea of separating a chunk of India into a different state (6). In 1946 Jinnah
and the Muslim League refined the claims of the Lahore Resolution and demanded for a country named
Pakistan with dominion status (7).
Flaws from the beginning
Many scholars now believe the concept of the Two Nation Theory was a false from its inception. One of
the most known scholars of Bangladesh in this century, Ahmed Safa claims that not only the Two Nation
Theory, but the concept of united India was also wrong. He says, ”The Indian subcontinent is as large as
Europe itself. It has different races and ethnicities and each of them are different from the others. Just
because the subcontinent was ruled by the Mughals and later by the British as one land, it cannot be
said that India is a nation state, rather it should be called a cumulative state…. The One Nation theory’s
intent was to keep the map of India as it is from the British Empire and the Two State Theory wanted to
break it by making a country called Pakistan…. Bangladesh’s birth does not only disprove the Two Nation
Theory, it also disproves the One Nation Theory. The One Nation Theory states that there is only one
nation and the Two Nation Theory states that there is two nation, Hindu and Muslim. The birth of
Bangladesh suggests there are not only 2 nations, in reality, there are multiple nationalities in the Indian
subcontinent” (8). According to Ahmed Safa, the false concept of united India forced the even more
false concept of Two Nation Theory. He argues that India has different races and ethnicities, then what
is the logic behind breaking India apart and making communal states such as India and Pakistan based
on religion? He also suggests that at a certain point of time India will break apart even more. We can see
this happening from the separatist movements in Punjab and north-east Indian territories where many
want a separate state of their own (9) (10).
Implementation of the theory and the formation of Pakistan
In 1947 under the Mountbatten plan, which is also known as 3 June plan, India was divided into two
parts according to the Radcliffe Line. On the same day, June 3, it was also announced that India will gain
independence on the 15 th of August. Bengal was divided into two parts and so was Punjab. A part of
Punjab went to Pakistan. Divided Bengal was known as East and West Bengal where India received the
West and Pakistan received the East, which was renamed as East Pakistan. Thus the independent nation
of India and Pakistan was born on the 15 th of August, 1947 (11).
Bengal (Bangladesh) under Pakistan rule (1947-1971)
Even from the beginning of the rule under Pakistan the people of Bengal felt they were not free. Most of
the people started thinking that they were again colonialized under Pakistan. The people started
believing there were no differences between Bengal under the British Raj and Pakistan rule. The main
reason behind this is that Pakistan spoke a different language, has a different culture and was two
thousand kilometres away from Bengal. This triggered the minds of the people thinking that the British
also had a different language, a different culture and was also thousands of kilometres away (12). The
Muslim bond, which was suggested by Jinnah as the glue to binding the nation, started to fade away
within a few years of Pakistan’s birth.
Struggle for power, discrimination
Even though Pakistan had a parliamentary system which was replicated from Westminster, it was not
accurate. It was devised to disguise and provide power to the people who already had power in their
hands. The ruling class of Pakistan was made of people from West Pakistan. Bengalis almost did not
have a say in national affairs. Even in the province of East Pakistan, the most powerful posts of the
administration who had direct access to the central rulers were from West Pakistan (13). To summarise,
Bengalis did not have any share of power be it the central government or the provincial one. This ignited
the rise of Bengali nationalism.
The language movement
In 1947, a vital resolution at a national education summit advocated Urdu as the sole state language
which was to be implemented exclusively in school and the media (14). In the same year the then
education minister, Fazlur Rahman made preparations to declare Urdu as the state language of Pakistan.
Protests spread out immediately throughout Dhaka. On 8 th December the students of Dhaka University
gathered and demanded that Bengali should be made the state language of Pakistan (15). Matters
became even worse when Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited the Dhaka University on the 21 st of March, 1948
and in a public speaking declared that Urdu will be the state language of Pakistan. He said, “Let me make
it very clear to you that the state language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language.
Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one state language, no nation
can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of other countries. Therefore, so far
as the state language is concerned, Pakistan’s shall be Urdu” (16). His speech was met with great
criticism amongst the Bengali people. His argument of anyone else who does not want Urdu as state
language is an enemy of Pakistan stirred outrage. Although the Bengali speaking population made up
54.5% of the entire Pakistani population, yet the government refused to accept Bengali as a state
language. In 1952, because of ongoing protests and the declaration from the All-Party Central
Language Action Committee of a strike and rally, the Pakistani government declared section 144,
which banned public gathering of more than 3 people. The committee defied section 144 and rallied
on the 21 st of February. Police gathered around the campus surrounding them and open fired on the
students rallying. A number of students were killed in the incident and protests spread throughout
the city and an immediate strike was called leading to further unrest (17). After further protests and
unrest, the Pakistani government was forced to accept Bengali as a state language in 1956 (18).
The day is now known as the International Mother Language Day and is recognised by the UN.
The Indo-Pak war of 1965
Pakistan was tied together under two belief. First, the Muslim unity. Second, the fear of India (19). The
Pakistan government always spread a propaganda that if Pakistan was not tied together, India would
attack East Pakistan and would take over Bengal. There was a belief in Bengali people that if India
attacked East Pakistan, West Pakistan would take New Delhi. This belief was overturned in the war of
1965. Although it was a 17 day war and neither side claimed victory, it was more than enough to break
the nationalistic unity between the East and West Pakistan. Bhutto, the foreign minister of the then
president Ayyub Khan, stated in the National Assembly that East Pakistan was protected by China.
Bengalis began ask questions. If that was so, why depend on West Pakistan? Within hours of the war,
East Pakistan was cut off from not only its counterpart, the West, but the whole world (20). This
essentially broke the trust of Bengalis in the Pakistan government in terms of protection.
Sheikh Mujib’s 6 points and the election of 1969
Out of all the factors, this is probably the most important factors behind the breakage of Pakistan. The 6
points of Sheikh Mujib is known to be a pivotal point of Pakistan’s history which led way to the
independence of Bangladesh. Although it was not said aloud, but the 6 points practically called for a
separate state. The 6 points called for a separate currency, separate foreign exchange reserve, but the
most important demand of the 6 points was that Pakistan should be a federal state as proposed in the
Lahore Resolution (21)
After the fall of Ayub Khan, Gen. Yahiya Khan wanted to regain the trust of the Bengalis. He initiated a
free and fair election on the basis of “one man, one vote” in 1969. But it backfired on him. Sheikh Mujib
won the election and wanted to form a new constitution under the lights of the 6 points. Talks between
Yahiya, Mujib and Bhutto was held but it did not bring any conclusion. On the 7 th of March 1971, Sheikh
Mujib in one of his public speeches said, “This time our fight is for freedom. This time, our fight is for
independence”. This caused a stir in the government which eventually lead Yahiya to enforce military
actions on the people of Dhaka on 25 th March which later turned out to be a genocide. The
independence of Bangladesh was declared the next day, 26 th March by Sheikh Mujib just before getting
arrested (22).
The liberation war:
The Pakistan army committed atrocities upon the Bangladeshi people for 9 long months. Despite
international pressure the Pakistan army spread throughout the country. It is estimated that around
three million people were killed and a hundred thousand women were raped by the Pakistan army. And
more than 10 million people were displaced who, mostly took refuge in India for the duration of the
war. The war ended on the 16 th of December 1971 when the Pakistan army surrendered to the joint
forces of Bangladesh and India (23). This was the final nail on the coffin to the Two Nation Theory. By
the birth of Bangladesh, Jinnah’s belief and his theory was disproved blatantly.
This article was written as coursework.
Footnotes-
1) Jaswant Singh, “Jinnah, India-Partition-Independence”, 2010
2) Craig Baxter, “Bangladesh, From a Nation to a State”, 1997
3) Stanley Wolpert, “Jinnah of Pakistan”
4) Jaswant Singh
5) Akbar Ahmed, “Jinnah, Pakistan & Islamic Identity
6) Iftikhar Malik, “The History of Pakistan”
7) Jaswant Singh
8) Ahmed Safa, “Bangladesh, The States Challenges and Destination” Self Translation.
9) http://www.khalistan.net/
10) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Liberation_Front_of_Assam
11) O H K Spate, “The Partition of Punjab and Bengal”
12) Craig Baxter
13) G W Choudhury, “International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-),Vol. 48, No.
2 (Apr., 1972), pp. 242-249Published
