Unionist Party (Punjab)

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(Redirected from
Unionist Muslim League
)

The National Unionist Party was a

Prime Minister of the Punjab
.

The creed of the Unionist Party emphasized: "Dominion Status and a United Democratic federal constitution for India as a whole".[1]

Organisation

The Unionist Party, a secular party, was formed to represent the interests of Punjab's large feudal classes and gentry.

Sir Fazli Husain, Sir Shahab-ud-Din, Muhammad Hussain Shah and Sir Chhotu Ram
were all members of the party. Although a majority of Unionists were Muslims, a large number of Hindus and Sikhs also supported and participated in the Unionist Party.

In contrast with the Indian National Congress and many other political parties of the time, the Unionist Party did not have a mass-based approach. Unlike the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, the Unionists supported the British Raj and contested elections for the Punjab Legislative Council and the Central Legislative Council at a time when both Congress and the Muslim League had boycotting them. As a result, the Unionist Party dominated the provincial legislature for several years, allowing an elected provincial government to function when other provinces were governed by direct rule.

Punjab government

Sir Sikander Hayat Khan

In the

Sir Muhammad Iqbal from gaining the support of a majority of Punjabi Muslims. In the 1946 elections, the Muslim League won 73 of the 89 Muslim seats in Punjab, while the Unionist Party under Khizar Hayat Tiwana won only 13. Overall, the Muslim League failed to win any non-Muslim seat and fell short of the halfway mark of 88 required to form the government, while the Unionist Party won 19 seats in total and formed a short-lived[clarification needed] coalition government[clarification needed
]with Congress (which had won 51 seats) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (which had won 21).

Decline

After the death of Khan in 1942, the party gradually collapsed.[

opposed the partition of India.[6][7] As a result, the pro-separatist Muslim League sought to intimidate Tiwana.[6]

The Muslim League's

Sir Khizar's ministry, which depended on Congress and Akali support; inter-community relations were effectively destroyed as communal violence against Hindus and Muslims across India claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. With the partition of India in August 1947 into the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan, Punjab was also partitioned with the Muslim-majority West Punjab becoming part of Pakistan and the Hindu-Sikh majority East Punjab
forming part of independent India. The Unionist Party's diverse pan-provincial organisation was destroyed, with some Muslim Unionists integrating themselves into the Muslim League; the party ceased to exist in independent India and Pakistan.

Legacy

In

1937 provincial election
.

In 2013, Guar farmers in Rajasthan formed the National Unionist Zamindara Party (or Zamindara Party) to represent their interests. While there is no connection to the historic Punjab Unionists, the new party honours the legacy of Unionist leaders like Sir Chhotu Ram.[8] The party was successful in winning 2 seats in the 2013 state election.

See also

References

  1. ^ Malhotra, S. L. (1983). Gandhi, Punjab, and the Partition. Publication Bureau, Panjab University. p. 73b.
  2. . In Bengal, the Krishak Proja Party of Fazlul Huq and in Punjab, the Unionist Party of Sir Sikander Hyat Khan defeated most of the League candidates.
  3. ^ Prof. Stanley Wolpert, "Jinnah of Pakistan", Karachi:Oxford UP, 1999 reprint, pp. 150-151
  4. ^ Wolpert, p.151
  5. .
  6. ^ a b Ahmed, Ishtiaq (27 May 2016). "The dissenters". The Friday Times. Here, not only anti-colonial Muslims were opposed to the Partition – and there were many all over Punjab – but also those who considered the continuation of British rule good for the country – Sir Fazl-e-Hussain, Sir Sikander Hyat and Sir Khizr Hayat Tiwana for instance – were opposed to the Partition. The campaign against Sir Khizr during the Muslim League agitation was most intimidating and the worst type of abuse was hurled at him.
  7. ^ Talbot, Ian (1996). Khizr Tiwana, The Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India. Curzon Press. p. 303. Khizr was opposed to the division of India on a religious basis, and especially to suggestions about partitioning Punjab on such a basis. He sincerely believed that Punjabi Muslims had more in common with Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs.
  8. ^ Guar farmers plan own party in Rajasthan

Further reading

External links