All-India Muslim League
All-India Muslim League | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | AIML |
| President | See List of presidents of the All-India Muslim League |
| Historical Presiding Leader(s) | Muhammad Ali Jinnah Aga Khan III Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Sir Feroz Khan Noon Khwaja Nazimuddin Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman Mohammad Ali Bogra Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Abul Mansur Ahmed Ibrahim Rahimtoola Sardar Abdur Rab Nistar |
| Founder | Khwaja Salimullah |
| Founded | 30 December 1906 Dacca, Bengal Presidency |
| Dissolved | 15 December 1947[1] |
| Succeeded by | ML IUML |
| Headquarters | Lucknow, United Provinces |
| Newspaper | Dawn |
| Student wing | All India Muslim Students Federation |
| Paramilitary wing | Muslim National Guard[2] |
| Ideology | Separatism[3] Muslim nationalism Islamic modernism[4] Two-nation theory Factions: Conservatism Islamic socialism Regionalism |
| Religion | Islam |
| International affiliation | All-India Muslim League (London Chapter) |
| Election symbol | |
| Crescent and Star | |
| Party flag | |
| |
The All-India Muslim League (AIML), commonly referred to as the Muslim League or simply the League, was a Muslim political party in the British Raj. Founded in 1906 in Dacca, Bengal Presidency (present-day Bangladesh) with the goal of securing Muslim interests in colonial India, it successfully led the Pakistan Movement, establishing a separate Muslim homeland following British exit from the subcontinent.
The party arose out of the need for the political representation of Muslims in British India, especially during the Indian National Congress-sponsored massive Hindu opposition to the 1905 partition of Bengal. During the 1906 annual meeting of the All India Muslim Education Conference held in Israt Manzil Palace, Dhaka, the Nawab of Dhaka, Khwaja Salimullah, forwarded a proposal to create a political party which would protect the interests of Muslims in British India. He suggested the political party be named the 'All-India Muslim League'. The motion was unanimously passed by the conference, leading to the official formation of the All-India Muslim League in Dhaka.[5] It remained an elitist organisation until 1937, when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses, which turned the league into a popular organisation.[6][7][8]
The Muslim League played a decisive role in the 1940s, becoming a driving force behind the division of India along religious lines and the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state in 1947.[9]
After the Partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan, the All-India Muslim League was formally disbanded in India. The League was officially succeeded by the Pakistan Muslim League, which eventually split into several political parties. Other groups diminished to a minor party, that too only in the Kerala state of India. In Bangladesh, the Muslim League was revived in 1976, but it was reduced in size, rendering it insignificant in the political arena. In India, a separate independent entity called the Indian Union Muslim League was formed, which continues to have a presence in the Indian parliament to this day.
- ^ The Muslim League: a progress report. himalmag.com. 1 February 1998.
- ^ Sajjad, Mohammad (2014). Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours. Routledge. ISBN 9781317559818.
- ^ Keen, Shirin (1998). "Partition of India". Emory University. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- ^ "Atheist Fundamentalists". The Times of India.
- ^ Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir, eds. (2012). "Muslim League". Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Rizvi2000was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 468. ISBN 978-0-8021-3797-5.
Heavily supported by mainly landed and commercial Muslim interests ... they duly consummated this distrust [of Congress] by forming the All India Muslim League.
- ^ "Establishment of All India Muslim League". Story of Pakistan. June 2003. p. 1. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ Jalal, Ayesha (1994). The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-521-45850-4.
In 1940, ... [the A.I.M.L.] formally demanded independent Muslim states, repudiating the minority status which separate representation necessarily entailed, and instead asserted that Muslims were a nation ... The claim was built upon the demand for 'Pakistan'. But from first to last, Jinnah avoided giving the demand a precise definition.