and destroyed any possibility of unity. Thereafter, most of the Muslims were convinced that they would get a better deal from Government rather than from the Congress. (d) Communal Award and its Aftermath The British Government was consistent in promoting communalism. Even the delegates for the second Round Table Conference were chosen on the basis of their communal bearings.
After the failure of the Round Table Conferences, the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award which further vitiated the political climate. In Lala Lajpat Rai openly advocated the partition of the Punjab into Hindu and Muslim Provinces. The Hindu Mahasabha, represented the forces of Hindu revivalism in the political domain, raised the slogan of ‘Akhand Hindustan’ against the Muslim League’s demand of separate electorates for Muslims. Ever since its inception, the Mahasabha’s role in the freedom struggle has been rather controversial.
While not supportive of British rule, the Mahasabha did not offer its full support to the nationalist movement either. Since the Indian National Congress had to mobilize the support of all classes and communities against foreign domination, the leaders of different communities could not press for principle of secularism firmly for the fear of losing the support of religious-minded groups. The Congress under the leadership of Gandhi held a number of unity conferences during this period, but to no avail. (c) Delhi Conference of Muslims and their Proposals One great outcome of the efforts at unity, however, was an offer by the Conference of Muslims, which met at Delhi on March , to give up separate electorates if four proposals were accepted.
. the separation of Sind from Bombay . Reforms for the Frontier and Baluchistan . Representation by population in the Punjab and Bengal and .
Thirty-three per cent seats for the Muslims in the Central Legislature. Motilal Nehru and S. Srinvasan persuaded the All India Congress Committee to accept the Delhi proposals formulated by the Conference of the Muslims. But communalism had struck such deep roots that the initiative fell through.
Gandhi commented that the Hindu-Muslim issue had passed out of human hands.