Azad Punjab Scheme and Communalism in Punjab

 

Azad Punjab Scheme and Communalism in Punjab

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Before the Partition of India, the official languages of India were English and Urdu. Almost every literate person knew Urdu language and used it for correspondence and other literary purposes. But by a perversion of Communal Politics in the Pre-Partition Punjab, Urdu came to be looked upon as language of the Muslims, Hindi of the Hindus, and Punjabi in ‘Gurmukhi’ script as of the Sikhs. The Communal organizations of the Hindus, the Muslims, and of the Sikhs fanatically promoted the interests of their respective languages.

Educational institutions set up by the Hindus, the Sikhs, and Muslims further compounded the problem because their medium was the language of the community that controlled the institutions. English was taught as a compulsory language.

Due to the increasing influence of communalism, conflict, and rivalry amongst communities developed in Punjab over the relative representation of their separate religious groups in public affairs and government agencies. This issue became urgent in the 1920s. Muslims made up approximately seven percent of the population in the Rohtak district. But they were a minority in the Ambala Division, to which Rohtak belonged.

Hindus, and specifically the ‘Jat’ Community within the Hindu community, were accused by Muslim community newspapers such as Muslim Outlook, ‘Zamindar’, ‘Vakil’, and ‘al-Shams’ of controlling all political posts in the district of Rohtak. According to Sir Chhotu Ram, Muslims in Rohtak district had started to view ‘Jats’ as competitors and are pressing the government for a number of concessions.

The 1919 Punjab Disturbances altered the province's political balance. The Rowlatt Acts were criticized by the Congress. The Jat-dominated Rohtak district participated heavily in this agitation as well. Following the First World War, Punjabi politics remained unclear, and political allegiances were not well defined. The ‘Khilafat’, ‘Gurudwara Sudhar’, and Civil Disobedience activities were expressions of the Punjab's ongoing anti-British sentiment. The Punjabi politics saw a radical shift with the establishment of the Unionist Party in 1923 and the ‘Akali’ Party in 1920.

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