All-India Muslim League
All-India Muslim League | |
|---|---|
| President | See List of presidents of the All-India Muslim League |
| Historical Presiding Leader(s) | Muhammad Ali Jinnah Aga Khan III Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Sir Feroz Khan Noon Khwaja Nazimuddin Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman Mohammad Ali Bogra Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Abul Mansur Ahmed Ibrahim Rahimtoola Sardar Abdur Rab Nistar |
| Founder | Khwaja Salimullah |
| Founded | 30 December 1906, Dacca, British India |
| Dissolved | 15 December 1947 |
| Succeeded by | PML IUML |
| Headquarters | Lucknow |
| Newspaper | Dawn |
| Student wing | All India Muslim Students Federation |
| Paramilitary wing | Muslim National Guard |
| Ideology | Separatism Muslim nationalism Islamic modernism Two-nation theory Factions: Conservatism Islamic socialism Regionalism |
| Religion | Islam |
| International affiliation | All-India Muslim League (London Chapter) |
| Election symbol | |
| Crescent and Star | |
| Party flag | |
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim League later led the Pakistan Movement, calling for a separate Muslim homeland after the British exit from India.
The party arose out of the need for the political representation of Muslims in British India, especially during the Indian National Congress-sponsored massive Hindu opposition to the 1905 partition of Bengal. During the 1906 annual meeting of the All India Muslim Education Conference held in Israt Manzil Palace, Dhaka, the Nawab of Dhaka, Khwaja Salimullah, forwarded a proposal to create a political party which would protect the interests of Muslims in British India. He suggested the political party be named the 'All-India Muslim League'. The motion was unanimously passed by the conference, leading to the official formation of the All-India Muslim League in Dhaka. It remained an elitist organisation until 1937, when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses, which turned the league into a popular organisation.
The Muslim League played a decisive role in the 1940s, becoming a driving force behind the division of India along religious lines and the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state in 1947.
After the Partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan, the All-India Muslim League was formally disbanded in India. The League was officially succeeded by the Pakistan Muslim League, which eventually split into several political parties. Other groups diminished to a minor party, that too only in the Kerala state of India. In Bangladesh, the Muslim League was revived in 1976, but it was reduced in size, rendering it insignificant in the political arena. In India, a separate independent entity called the Indian Union Muslim League was formed, which continues to have a presence in the Indian parliament to this day.