DEPARTMENT OF PAKISTAN STUDIES

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Assignment Topic
Critically analyze the fourteen points &
What was the reaction of Nehru Report.
Submitted To:
Madam: Afroz Kalhoro
Subject: Independence movement and creation of
Pakistan(1857-1947)

Submitted By:
Sajjad Ali pahore
Roll No: BS-PS-0120-067
1st Year, 1st Semester
Introduction
The wave of communal harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus in India, created in the early 1920’s by the symbiosis
of the Khilafat Movement with M. K. Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement was replaced by an atmosphere of grave mistrust
between the two communities. Jinnah’s celebrated Fourteen Points, presented on 30 March 1929, were one passionate
attempt to make sense of the situation and reach upon a solution through parliamentary means within the framework of a
United India.
Background
Failure of Simon Commission
Under the Act of 1919, new reforms were to be introduced in India by the British Government after every 10 years.
For this purpose, Simon Commission was sent to India in 1927. Most of the Indian political parties decided to
boycott the Commission on the plea that it lacked Indian representation. Lord Birkendhead, Secretary of State for
Indian Affairs, challenged the Indians:
If they have any political capability and competence then they should form a unanimous constitution and present
it to us and we will implement [Link],the Simon Commission as it was destined to’ failed.

Nehru Committee
After the failure of Simon Commission, there was no alternative for the British government but to ask the local people to
frame a constitution for themselves. Indian political parties accepted the challenge and called an All Parties Conference at
Delhi in January 1928. But, the Conference failed to reach a conclusion on the issue of the rights of minorities. The second
round of the All Parties Conference was held in March the same year. Two sub-committees were formed but the end result
of the session was not different from the first one.
Nehru Report
Despite many hurdles, the Nehru Committee completed its task. And its report, commonly known as Nehru Report, was
presented in the fourth session of the All Parties Conference held in August 1928. The Committee declared that it was
useless to ask anything less than complete Swaraj, and presented the following demands:
1. India should be given Dominion Status with the parliamentary form of government.
2. There should be a bicameral legislature consisting of senate and house of representatives. The senate will comprise two
hundred members elected for seven years, while the house of representatives should consist of five hundred members
elected for five years.
3. Governor-General will act on the advice of executive council. It was to be collectively responsible to the parliament.
4. There should be federal form of government in India with residuary powers to be vested in Centre.
5. There will be no separate electorate for minorities. It claimed ‘since separate electorate awakens communal sentiments
therefore it should be scrapped and joint electorate should be introduced.
6. System of weightage should not be adopted for any province.
7. There will be no reserved seats for communities in Punjab and Bengal. However, reservation of Muslim seats could be
possible in the provinces where Muslim population should be at least ten percent.
8. Judiciary should be independent from the executive
9. There should be 1/4th Muslim representation at Centre.
10. Sind should be separated from Bombay provided it proves to be financially self-sufficient.
11. Reforms should be introduced in NWFP.
Muslims’ Reaction
The report was not acceptable to Muslims and both the Muslim members of the Committee, Syed Ali Imam and Shoaib
Qureshi, refused to sign it. Syed Ali Imam could not attend the meetings of the Committee due to bad health.
Amendments proposed by Quaid-i-Azam
In the fourth session of the All Parties Conference convened in December to review the Nehru Report, Jinnah, representing
the Muslim League, presented following four amendments in the report:
1. There should be no less than one-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature.
2. In event of the adult suffrage not being established, Punjab and Bengal should have seats reserved for the Muslims on
population basis.
3. The form of the constitution should be Federal with residuary powers vested in the provinces.
4. Sind should immediately be made a separate province and the reforms should also be introduced in NWFP and
Balochistan at the earliest.
Rejection of Proposals
Jinnah’s proposals were rejected when put to vote in All Parties Conference. The Congress managed to get the majority
vote in favour of the Report.
Quaid-i-Azam’s Fourteen Points
The League, after anxious and careful consideration, most earnestly and emphatically laid down that no scheme for the
future constitution of the Government of India will be acceptable to Muslims of India until and unless the following basic
principles are given effect to and provisions are embodied therein to safeguard their rights and interests:
1. The form of the future constitution should be federal with the residuary powers vested in the provinces.
2. A uniform measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.
3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate and
effective representation of minorities in every province without reducing the majority in any province to a minority or even
equality.
4. In the Central Legislative, Muslim representation shall not be less than one-third.
5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present, provided it shall
be open to any community at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favour of a joint electorate.
6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority in the
Punjab, Bengal and the North West Frontier Province.
7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and observance, propaganda, association and education, shall be
guaranteed to all communities.
8. No bill or any resolution or any part thereof 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 such a bill resolution or part thereof on the ground that it
would be injurious to the interests of that community or in the alternative, such other method is devised as may be found
feasible and practicable to deal with such cases.
9. Sind should be separated from the Bombay presidency.
10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan on the same footing as in the other
provinces.
11. Provision should be made in the constitution giving Muslims an adequate share, along with the other Indians, in all the
services of the state and in local self-governing bodies having due regard to the requirements of efficiency.
12. The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection and
promotion of Muslim education, language, religion, personal laws and Muslim charitable institution and for their due share in
the grants-in-aid given by the state and by local self-governing bodies.
13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be formed without there being a proportion of at least one-third Muslim
ministers.
14. No change shall be made in the constitution by the Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the State’s
contribution of the Indian Federation.
Comparison
Comparison between nehru and 14 points: Muslims and hindus could not settle any dispute because of one thing,
congress always spoke on the behalf of all indians as a whole, while the muslims of india always regarede
themselves as a separate national and cultural entity. Its demand and aspirations differed from those of the congress.
1: In order to develope a harmonious look, both the congress and muslims tried to compromise but they always
[Link] recommendations in nehru report were in the benefit of the majority.
2: It also rejected weightage for minorities because it thought that minority question is a british creation and would
disappointed as india would attained dominion status, while jinnah viewed that minorty question is real and based
upon fundamental, political difference.
3: Nehru report rejected muslim demand for separate electorates on the ground that all indians belonging to one
nation, while it was not the case muslims regarded themselves a separate national entity from [Link] was
why jinnah supported muslim separate electorate.
4: According to nehru report, muslims could enjoy one-fourth of the representation in the central [Link]
jinnah recommended that in central legislature muslims representation should not be less than one-third. 5:
Moreover, nehru report favoured that autonomy should in thew centre while jinnah recommended that uniform
measure of autonomy shall be granted to all provinces.
5: Nehru report was advocating the independence of whole india which meant for all allies communities alike but
jinnah hold that independence as visualised by the congress is dominion status in british commonwealth of nations
which in practice implies the rule of minority
6: Nehru refused to include in a provincial cabinet any musllim while jinnnah with his league insisted that muslim
interests can best be defended by a minister commanding the confidence of the muslim majority in his provincial
legislature.
7: Nehru report wished to enforced parliamentary system of government at the centre without safeguarding muslim
interests while jinnah viewed this system not suited to the genius of india and already proved to be failure in the
congress governed provinces were the muslim minortiy were suppressed and not protected.
8: The nehru report demanded full independence and majority rule and refused to discuss communal issue while
jinnah`s 14 points refused to accept government at the center. The main difference and pivot of the whole question
is that the congress while claiming for itself the right to represt the whole of india denies the muslim league the right
to speak, on behalf of indian muslims.
1. The Nehru Committee’s greatest blow was the rejection of separate electorates but Quaid-i-Azam was in the
favour of separate Muslims electorate.
2. In 14 points of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, weightage for minorities was demanded but Nehru in his report did not
compromise with our Quaid.
3. Nehru report demand strong Central Government. On the other hand Quaid-i-Azam believed in provincial
autonomy.
4. Jinnah was in the favour of inclusions of Muslims in the cabinet but Nehru was against the inclusion of Muslims
in the cabinet.
5. Quaid-i-Azam demanded 1/3rd representation in central government for Muslims but Nehru report gave 1/4th
representation to Muslims in central government.
6. It is true that demand of separation of Sind from Bombay was considered in the Nehru Report as Jinnah
mentioned in his 14 points but the condition of self-economy was also put forward.
Conclusion
The main difference between the nehru report and jinnah points was that Nehru report focused on
addressing the issues related to hindus whereas jinnah points focused on addressing the issues related to
muslims. Jinnah points demanded separate rights for muslims which were left ignored in Nehru report.
Jinnah demanded the separate electorate rights for muslims. He demanded that muslim majority areas
should be given a separate status Jinnah suggested that sindh should be separated from the Bombay
presidency. Hence Jinnah points were for the protection of rights of muslims and Nehru report failed to
address the rights of muslims. A comparison of the Nehru Report with the Quaid-e-Azam’s fourteen
points shows that the political gap between the Muslims and the Hindus had really widened. Fourteen
points of Quaid-e-Azam became principles for the Muslims of India. The importance of these points can
be judged by the fact that these points were presented in the Round Table Conference of 1930. As a
result, these points became the demands of the Muslims and greatly influenced the Muslims thinking for
the next two decades till the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.

The Nehru Report was nothing else than a Congress document and thus was totally opposed by Muslims
of the Subcontinent. The Hindus under Congress threatened the government with a disobedience
movement if the Nehru report was not implemented into the Act by December 31, 1929. This Hindu
attitude proved to be a milestone in the freedom movement of the Muslims. It also proved to be a turning
point in the life of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. After reading the Nehru Report, Jinnah announced a ‘parting
of the ways’. The Nehru Report reflected the inner prejudice and narrow-minded approach of the Hindus.