AHC: Independent India with no Partition

With a Pod after 1930, have the British Raj gain independence with no division along religious lines.

I think that having Jinnah drop his two nation theory would be integral in achieving this.
 
With a Pod after 1930, have the British Raj gain independence with no division along religious lines.

I think that having Jinnah drop his two nation theory would be integral in achieving this.
I won't say that this is impossible, but it's difficult. My reading (not masses, but I have done an undergraduate study of India 1857-1947) suggested that the 1905 Partition of Bengal sowed the seeds for much of what followed. After that point, it'll always be more difficult.

With a PoD in the early 1930s, either in India, or possibly in the UK and/or Europe, then things may change enough to see it happen. Indian PoDs would obviously work best, but a UK PoD could see a different 1935 Government of India Act. The problem is, you're then relying on a different Indian response as a consequence of your PoD, which may not be guaranteed. Maybe something can be done there in the UK though? I'm not really very knowledgeable on the different competing theories in Westminster to know whether a different PM could have managed something different enough to cause Jinnah to change his views.

I look forward to the thoughts of those more knowledgeable on the subject than myself.
 
Is it true that Jinnah didn't really want a separate state for the Muslims and that Pakistan was a bargaining chip in his negotiations for a better deal for them in a Greater India? But according to the TV documentary that made this claim his plan backfired because Ghandi and Nehru called his bluff.

Is the Christopher Lee film still made?
 
Is it true that Jinnah didn't really want a separate state for the Muslims and that Pakistan was a bargaining chip in his negotiations for a better deal for them in a Greater India? But according to the TV documentary that made this claim his plan backfired because Ghandi and Nehru called his bluff.

Is the Christopher Lee film still made?

Jinnah was never a true believer in the two nation theory, also the two nation theory pre-dates Jinnah's political career.
Jinnah was actually a very fervent Indian Nationalist, and his views were not dissimilar to that of Nehru's. What alienated Jinnah from the INC was Gandhi's unorthodox methods and practices with the party, his differing stance on non - cooperation, and the general feeling that Jinnah was the sole Muslim voice in the INC.

Before the 1920s, Jinnah was one of the most prominent and influential members of the party, and the Muslim League were extremely minor in their power. All you have to do is keep this status quo, and the partition lacks a strong Indian figure backing it, and most likely does not happen.

The way to achieve this would be to change Gandhi, and make him much less....eccentric, and also less prominent in general, as Gandhi's dominance tied in with Jinnah's disagreements with the direction of the party led to Jinnah siding with the Muslim League, and therfore the idea of partition.
 
Other PODs include:

- No WWII;
- Jinnah simply deciding not to return from England in 1937;
- The Khilafat/Non-Cooperation Movement not falling apart in the 1920s;

Post-WWII, you could have the Cripps Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 be implemented, though getting it to implementation would be difficult and it's possible the whole thing would have violently fallen apart.
 

Ak-84

Banned
Is it true that Jinnah didn't really want a separate state for the Muslims and that Pakistan was a bargaining chip in his negotiations for a better deal for them in a Greater India? But according to the TV documentary that made this claim his plan backfired because Ghandi and Nehru called his bluff.

Is the Christopher Lee film still made?

No. Jinnah was willing to accept and in 1946 did accept maximum autonomy under a United India. The Congress refused.

Removing Jinnah from the equation changes little, there were other, younger men who were coming through who might have been more adament. Jinnah was always a late convert to independance.
 
Top