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India under British Occupation
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
Banning of Persian Language by British East India Company
On December 28, 1859 AD, the British historian and politician, Thomas Babington Macaulay, died at the age of 59. He started work as an attorney and was later appointed war minister. An expert of the English language, during his tenure in British-ruled India, he made English compulsory and discouraged the use of Persian which for centuries had been the court and official language of the Subcontinent, as well as the strategic cultural and religious link of the Muslims of South Asia with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
On December 12, 1911 AD, Delhi, the former Muslim capital of North India, replaced Calcutta (presently Kolkata) as the capital of British India. The British, who had entered the subcontinent as traders, during the rule of the Moghul Emperor Akbar Shah in the 16th century, seized the opportunity after the death of the last Great Moghul, Aurangzeb, in early 18th century, to spread their military influence on the weak Muslim successor states.
In Bengal, on the banks of the River Hooghly, Calcutta, which started as the garrison town of Fort William, became the capital of all British possessions in 1772, some 15 years after these invaders ended through treachery, the rule of Nawab Siraj od-Dowla (of Iranian origin). After gradual encroachment on other parts of the subcontinent through wars and intrigues, in 1857 the British brutally brought to end the remnants of the Mughal Dynasty and sacked Delhi.
The subcontinent was subjugated, the Persian language, which had been the official language of Muslim India for almost seven centuries, was banned, and Queen Victoria was declared as Empress of India. In 1927, the British started building New Delhi and completed it in 1931. In 1947, when they left the subcontinent after partitioning it into the two independent states of India and Pakistan (Bangladesh would secede in 1971), but deliberately leaving Muslim-majority Kashmir as a bone of contention between the two neighbours, New Delhi was declared the capital of the Union of India.
"Day of Deliverance"
On December 22, 1939 AD, Indian Muslims observed a "Day of Deliverance" from Congress to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress following Britain's decision to involve India in World War II.
In 1938 and 1939, the Muslim League had tried to bring to light the grievances of Muslims in Indian states run by Congress governments. These efforts led to documents like the 1938 Pirpur Report, proving pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim bias in Congress-ruled areas.
The All-India Muslim League President, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (later the Founder of Pakistan) said in his nationwide address: "I wish the Musalmans all over India to observe Friday the 22nd December as the “Day of Deliverance” and thanksgiving as a mark of relief that the Congress regime has at last ceased to function. I hope that the provincial, district and primary Muslim Leagues all over India will hold public meetings and pass the resolution with such modification as they may be advised, and after Jum'a prayers offer prayers by way of thanksgiving for being delivered from the unjust Congress regime. I trust that public meetings will be conducted in an orderly manner and with all due sense of humility, and nothing should be done which will cause offence to any other community, because it is the High Command of the Congress that is primarily responsible for the wrongs that have been done to the Musalmans and other minorities."
The Day of Deliverance was celebrated throughout India by non-Muslim Congress opponents, including Christians, Parsis (Zoroastrians), Anglo-Indian, and especially the All-India Depressed Classes Association led by Dalit Leader B. R. Ambedkar.
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