In this article, we discuss Jinnah 14 points for various competitive exams such as UPSC, SSC, etc...
In 1919, the British Government passed the Government of India Act 1919, also known as Montagu-Chelmsford Reform.
According to one of the provisions of this Act, a commission was appointed in the year 1927 which was named Simon Commission.
The task of the Simon Commission was to examine the impact and progress of the Montagu Chelmsford Reform and at the same time, also tells which constitutional reforms should be proposed in India.
All the major parties of India opposed this commission. The Indian leaders protested because there was not a single leader from India in the commission that made the Indian Constitutional Reform, they were only British people.
Understanding the points of the Indian leaders, the British Government made an offer.
The British Government said that if you make such a constitution which is acceptable to every class, community and political parties of India so we will also consider the report given by you people along with the Simon Commission at the time of making the constitution.
Indian leaders took it as a challenge. First of all, all the major parties held a conference. Here a committee was formed to draft the Indian Constitution.
There were total 8 members in this committee, whose names were Sardar Mangal Singh, Sir M S Aney, Sir Ali Imam, Shoaib Qureshi, Subhas Chandra Bose, G R Pradhan and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Motilal Nehru was the chairman of this committee and the report prepared by this committee was called Nehru Report.
The Nehru Report was not acceptable to the Muslim League at all. During the All Party meeting in Calcutta in December 1929, Jinha demanded some ammendment in the Nehru Report.
Jinha wanted to get 3 changes done in the Nehru Report. These are follows -
1.In the Nehru Report, Muslims were given 1/4th representation in the Central Legislature, the Muslim League demanded that it should be given 1/3rd.
2.The demand of the Muslim League was that in some Muslim majority areas, Muslims should be given a separate electorate whereas Joint Electorate was talked about in the Nehru Report.
3.In the Nehru report, the residual power was given to the center but jinha demanded that these power should be with the provinces.
These Demands were completely rejected in the Nehru Report. Jinha felt that Hindus would be in power in independent India and the voice of Muslims would be suppressed.
After this the All India Muslim Conference was organized in Delhi. In March 1929, to save the Muslim community, Jinha gave his 14 points, also known as Jinnah 14 points.
These 14 points were put by the Muslim League in front of the British Government during the Round Table Conference. Some of these points were also accepted by the British Government and also implemented in Government of India Act 1935.
who wanted to give more power to the provinces than to the center because they knew the Muslims were in minority, That's why they will never be able to form their government in the center.
In these 14 points, some points were related to the representation of Muslim.
Some points were given by Jinha to make his plans future proof. Because he felt that even if these points are accepted now, but because Hindus are in the majority, then they can also ammend them later.
In some points, Jinha wanted to safeguard the liberty and culture of the Muslims.
The 14 Points of Jinnah are as follows -
1.Residual Power Should Remain with the Province -
First we understand what is Residual Power.
The subjects on which the Central Government Law is made are kept in the Central List. The subjects on which the government laws of the province or state are made are kept in the list of the state or province.
There are also some subjects which neither come in the center nor come in the state, such subjects are kept in the Concurrent List.
In the future, if a subject comes up which is not a subject of any of these three lists, then constitutional amendment has to be made.
For which the bill has to be passed by both the houses and later the approval of the state has to be taken.
This process takes a lot of time, so at such a time this subject is considered a part of the residual list. In such a case, the state or center which has residual power makes a law on this subject.
2.Jinha's demand was that the provinces should be made autonomous so that the hold of the center on them is negligible.
3.Jinha was demanding the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency.
Jinha said that Sindh has a different culture which is completely different from the culture of Bombay Presidency. Apart from this, the capital of Bombay Presidency is far away from Sindh. Therefore, Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency and made a separate province.
In fact, Jinha wanted to separate Sindh because there was a majority of Hindus in Bombay Presidency and Sindh was a Muslim majority area. So if Sindh is separated from the Bombay Presidency, then the Muslim League will have another province where they will be able to form their government.
4.Jinha wanted that NWFP and Balochistan should also take advantage of the Constitutional Reforms.
In British India, NWFP and Balochistan did not apply any constitutional reforms. The NWFP was made a new province by the British Government in 1902 and was placed under the administration of the Commander in Chief.
The Natives here were Pashtuns and they were giving full resistance to the British Government. The British government was trying to suppress political activities here. Therefore, political or constitutional reforms were not applicable here.
Some special treaties were signed between Balochistan and Britain. This treaty was different from other princely states and provinces. Therefore, Balochistan was also not getting the benefit of constitutional reforms.
Jinha had the advantage here that both were Muslim majority areas and the government of the Muslim League was to be formed in both the places. But this was possible only when the British Government gave these two status like other provinces.
5.1/3rd representation of muslims in the central legislature.
6.All legislature and elected bodies to have adequate muslim representation without reducing muslim majority in a province to minority or equality.
This means, If the population of Muslim in any one state is more than 80%, then the representation of Muslim in that legislature should be 80%.
7.Jinha had demanded Separate Electorate in Muslim Majority area.
8.Adequate Muslim representation of Muslim in the services and in self-governing bodies.
9.No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one third Muslim Ministers.
10.Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim Majority.
11.No bill or Resolution or nay part therof shall be passed in any legislature or any other elected body if three fourth of the members of any community in that particular body oppose it as being injurious to the interests of that community.
12.No change shall be made in the constitution by the central legislature except with the concurrence of the states constituting the Indian Federation.
13. Full Religious Liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be guaranteed to all communities.
14.The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and promotion of Muslim Education, Language, Religion, Personal Law, and Muslim charitable.
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