Muhammad Ali Jinnah: A Congress Nationalist (1906-20)

Abstract

The Indian National Congress was a political organization established in 1885 with the slogan of Indian nationalism. This slogan of Indian nationalism and politics of peaceful co-existence and reconciliation of its leaders fascinated those Muslim leaders of high caliber who too possessed nationalistic attitudes in the Indian politics. Before dominating the politics of the League as a separatist Quaid-i-Azam, the only significant Muslim personality who dominated the politics of the Congress was nationalist Jinnah. He started his political career from the Congress’s platform in 1906 as an ardent nationalist and remained its member till 1920. He was in the Congress for about fourteen years and was attached to its policy of peaceful negotiations and constitutional agitation very passionately. But in 1920 he resigned from the Congress. The study answers the questions why did Jinnah join the Congress and why did he leave it? It highlights his participation and role in several Congress meetings from 1906 to 1920. It also evaluates his role in the Congress and the League during the first phase of his political life in a chronological order. The study is historical and qualitative research based on content analysis method and for this purpose data was collected both from primary and secondary sources.