Photo Courtesy: https://muslimleague.uchicago.edu/

“In December of 1906, a group of nationalist Muslim leaders gathered in Dhaka, India and proposed a Muslim political association with three aims:

to protect Muslim interests,

to counter Congress influences, and

to support the British administration.”

(Source: One Hundred Years of All India Muslim League, University of Chicago Colloquium, Nov 4, 2006, https://muslimleague.uchicago.edu/Welcome.html)

PS:

It will be highly educative to read about The Congress-League Scheme 1916, also known as the Lucknow Pact. It was a document jointly drafted by the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League. The document, inter alia, proposed separate electorates and proportional representation for minorities, especially Muslims, at the provincial and federal legislatures. 

Also may read about Khilafat Movement. Khilafat movement, pan-Islamic force in India that arose in 1919 in an effort to salvage the Ottoman caliph as a symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India during the British raj. (https://www.britannica.com/event/Khilafat-movement)

Supporting  Khilafat Movement by M K Gandhi has been seen his biggest folly, by many a leaders of his time including Dr BR Ambedkar and Dr Hedgewar and others, for the reason that Khilafat Movement was for supporting Ottoman Sultan caliph and not Self- government in India.

Between ‘Religious Community First’ or ‘India First’, many a Muslim Leaders in India still choose ‘Religious Community First’.

No Fun Fact:

“Vallabh Bhai (Patel), once jocularly, but most poignantly, observed that there was only one nationalist Muslim left in the Country and he was Jawahar Lal Nehru.” (N V Gadgil, Government from Within, 1968, p.13)

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