Lucknow Pact 1916 – Outcome, Nature, Significance

What is Lucknow Pact 1916?

The Lucknow Pact 1916 represented to be a pact that was signed between the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League in Lucknow in December 1916.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a member of both the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League. He asked people to pester the British government to facilitate more liberty for the nation and furnish its citizens with enhanced autonomy.

Lucknow Pact UPSC

Lucknow Pact 1916 created an amicable relationship between both parties heading Sarojini Naidu referred Mohammed Ali Jinnah as the ambassador of ‘Hindu-Muslim Unity. The purpose of signing the Lucknow pact was to bring out the common political rules made by both parties, including the demand for self-governance in India after the war.

History of Lucknow Pact

Lucknow session 1916 is important to learn as this tells us about the reason for the growing popularity of the All India Muslim League at that time. To know the significance of the Lucknow Pact 1916, it is important to know its background.

• The Muslim League came into existence in 1906, and the prime motive of the Muslim League was to establish a cordial relationship with the British.
• Despite this, the league changed its stance toward the British after the partition of Bengal was announced by the Britishers.
• During the period of the All India Muslim League and Indian National Congress coalition, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was the then member of both parties, used the occasion as a joint venture to pressure the British to reform.
• This was the first time when both parties were together at the first joint session.
• Hindu Muslim Unity was conceived when extremists under Bal Gangadhar Tilak and moderates under Bhopal Krishna Gokhale met in Bombay and, together with the Muslim League, created their constitutional seekings and discussed them mutually.
• As a result of this, both parties’ leaders gathered at the same place with the same thoughts and demands.
• 19 members of both parties were elected to the legislature in Bombay in October 1996, and these 19 members presented a memorandum to the viceroy about the constitutional reforms.
• The suggestions from the prior meeting were discussed and agreed upon at the following meeting in Calcutta in November in the year 1916.
• At the latter’s annual session at Lucknow in December 1916, the Muslim League and Indian National Congress signed the Lucknow Pact 1916.

Nature of Lucknow Pact 1916

The Lucknow pact focused on creating self-government for Indian citizens. It also suggested an end to the Indian Council. The provisions of the Lucknow Pact 1916 demanded the eligibility to vote for the president, allowing more than 100 members, and the Central Legislative Council and council should have a 50-50 ratio of British and Indian citizens. The nature of the Lucknow Pact was very interesting as it contained several provisions like-

• The Indian affair will have to be administered by the British Government and not by Indian funds. The British Government will be accountable for crediting the pay of Secretaries of State and funds will not be utilized for the same.
• The members of the Legislative Assembly were considered eligible to cast vote for the President.
• They also sent proposals to fix the duration of the Legislative Assembly to 5 years.
• The communities will be possessing separate electorates unless otherwise appealed.
• The Central Legislative Council comprises 150 members.
• The Indian citizens must constitute at least half of the Council.
• Nomination of ⅕ of the members will occur, and the election of the 4/5th members will also occur.
• The Muslims ought to be facilitated representation in the Central Council, as they have an average weightage of one-third of all the members.
• The candidates apart from those who have been nominated will be elected utilizing the universal adult franchise.
• Minorities ought to be permitted and facilitated equal representation.
• Congress advocated the Muslim lead positions on a different electorate, which will be regulated unless any group seeks united electorates, even though the league was devoted to facilitating the government with the proposition of the common constitution proposals.
• A fixed percentage of members in both the national and provincial legislatures were allotted to Muslims.

Main Points of Lucknow Pact 1916

There were numerous provisions enshrined in the Lucknow pact since the start. These points will illustrate the importance of the Lucknow Pact 1916; candidates preparing for UPSC must prepare well for this topic to be able to solve questions in the stipulated time frame. Following are some main points of the Lucknow Pact 1916:

• The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress both assented to the idea of separate electorates. This determined that both groups were well-versed in the essentiality of local politics and the self-centered aspirations of numerous communities dwelling in India that might contribute to the separation of the country in 1947.
• The essentiality of the Muslim community’s representation was admitted. This led the way for communal politics.
• Before the onset of the Lucknow Pact, the league lacked any political presence.
• It was distinct that there was a conflict between the leaders and the people. The riots among the people of numerous communities broke out in the region of Bengal and Bihar.
• If three-fourths of the members did not agree or dissented then the legislature could not sanction the decision hence Indian legislature had taken into account the concept of veto communalism.
• The agreement made it clear that all of India’s major communities had their own areas of interest.

The Outcome of the Lucknow Pact

The radical wings of the Congress and the moderates were united. At the joint meeting held between both the Parties, the Congress Party and Muslim League assented to an agreement that is called as Lucknow Pact. The result of the signed agreement was that the two parties assented to the agreement that religious minorities could be represented in the provincial legislatures.

• The Congress assented to the idea of separate electorates, which recommended that the Congress and the Muslim League be associated together as different political entities.
• The development of the two-nation thesis was the main remarkable point.
• Efforts made to unify the people of varied communities were disregarded when the leaders met.

Lucknow Pact UPSC

The Lucknow Pact topic is an important topic in Modern Indian History for the IAS exam. Since Lucknow Pact 1916 topic includes many dates, parties, and leaders, there are higher chances of it being asked in Prelims and UPSC mains.

The candidates preparing for the exam can get access to the Lucknow Pact UPSC notes and keep them saved on their devices to comprehensively prepare for the exam. It is important to have a strong base for taking the Civil Services exam hence you can take the help of NCERT books for UPSC to gain in-depth knowledge of this topic.

Questions on Lucknow Pact

The candidates need to practice this topic in order to complete the questions in the stipulated time frame. The questions asked in the IAS exam on Lucknow Pact 1916 have been enlightened herein. The aspirants can get in touch with the Lucknow Pact UPSC questions and accelerate toward achieving their goals.

Question: The Lucknow pact was signed between which two leaders?

1. Aga Khan and Mahatma Gandhi
2. Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah
3. Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah
4. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Answer – Option D

Question: Consider the following statements in the context of the Lucknow Pact 1916 and choose the correct option from the course given below.

1. It called for India to be given Dominion status and provided a combined leg Congress plan for constitutional reforms.
2. The Montague Chelmsford reforms were adopted in 1919.

1. One only
2. Two only
3. 1 and 2 both
4. None of the above

Answer – Option A

UPSC Notes
Gandhi Irwin Pact	North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Antarctic Treaty	Non-Proliferation Treaty
Treaty of Versailles	Poona Pact 1932