The Muslim Mass Contact Campaign: An Attempt at Political Mobilization
Author(s)
Hasan, Mushirul
Abstract
After the Indian Congress’s dismal showing in Muslim constituencies in the 1936 elections, Jawaharlal Nehru conceived of a campaign to increase contact with the Muslim community. The campaign was remarkably successful, drawing in both Muslim intellectuals and the masses, but it finally faltered in the face of communal ill-will caused by the Muslim League’s perception of Nehru’s success as a threat to its own religion-based demands and the opposition of right-wingers within Congress who were suspicious both of Muslims and of Nehru’s ascendancy. This reading challenges the conventional claim that the campaign was spontaneously rejected by the Muslim community.
