Muslim League Founded (1906)

Introduction

The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was founded on 30 December 1906 at Dacca (now Dhaka) to politically represent Muslim interests in British India and emerged from deliberations at the Muhammadan Educational Conference held there that winter. Its creation reflected rising Muslim political consciousness amid the Swadeshi agitation after the 1905 Partition of Bengal and parallel elite mobilization, including the Simla Deputation to Viceroy Minto earlier in 1906.

Where, when, and how it was founded

• Venue and date: The League was constituted in Dhaka on 30 December 1906, the day after the Educational Conference concluded its formal sessions (27–29 December), when delegates reconvened to pass the resolution creating a new all‑India Muslim political body.
• Conference setting: Roughly 3,000 delegates attended the Dhaka meeting of the All‑India Muhammadan Educational Conference, which provided the platform for the founding step once its traditional self‑denial of politics was set aside.
• Naming and motion: Nawab Khwaja Sir Salimullah of Dhaka proposed the name “All‑India Muslim League,” a motion seconded and supported by Hakim Ajmal Khan and other leaders present.

Principal figures and early leadership

• Convening elites: The Dhaka initiative was driven by prominent Muslim notables including Nawab Salimullah, with leading Aligarh Movement stalwarts Nawab Viqar‑ul‑Mulk and Nawab Mohsin‑ul‑Mulk presiding over and organizing proceedings.
• First honorary president: Sultan Muhammad Shah, the Aga Khan III, emerged as the League’s first (honorary) president in its initial phase, providing stature and continuity from the Simla Deputation circle.
• Early sessions: The League’s first annual session convened at Karachi in December 1907 as it began to formalize organization and program beyond the founding meeting in Dhaka.

Immediate background and triggers

• Aligarh Movement legacy: The Muhammadan Educational Conference (founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1886) had fostered a modern, educated Muslim elite that increasingly felt the need for all‑India political coordination by the early 20th century.
• Simla Deputation (October 1906): A high‑profile delegation led by Aga Khan met Viceroy Minto to seek constitutional safeguards like separate electorates, crystallizing demands that fed directly into the League’s birth at Dhaka later that year.
• Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi: The 1905 provincial split and ensuing anti‑partition mobilization heightened communal and political contention, spurring Muslim leaders to establish a distinct platform.

Founding objectives and early stance

• Core aims: The League sought to protect and advance Muslim political rights, ensure adequate representation (notably via separate electorates), and articulate community interests at the all‑India level.
• Loyalty posture: In its initial years, the League coupled advocacy for Muslim safeguards with a declared loyalty to the British Raj as a pragmatic route to constitutional concessions.

Key decisions and organization at Dhaka

• Resolution and enrollment: The 30 December assembly, chaired by Nawab Viqar‑ul‑Mulk, passed the motion to establish the AIML and enrolled delegates as members to launch the party nationwide.
• From “Confederacy” to “League”: While “All‑India Muslim Confederacy” was discussed in drafts, the Dhaka meeting settled on the title “All‑India Muslim League” following Salimullah’s proposal.

Early trajectory (1907–1908)

• Karachi session: The first annual session at Karachi in December 1907 began regularizing procedure, leadership roles, and outreach across provinces.
• Institutional base: With a leadership cohort drawn from Aligarh-associated elites and provincial notables, the League established its identity as an all‑India political association distinct from the Congress.

Why the founding mattered

• Pan‑Indian Muslim platform: The League unified provincial Muslim elites under a single banner for the first time, enabling coordinated lobbying in forthcoming constitutional reforms.
• Constitutional leverage: Its early agenda—separate electorates and safeguarded representation—shaped British responses in subsequent reforms and set a template for communal representation politics in the Raj.

Quick facts

• Founding date: 30 December 1906.
• Place: Dacca/Dhaka (Shahbagh/Conference venue), British India.
• Proposer of name: Nawab Khwaja Sir Salimullah of Dhaka.
• Early honorary president: Aga Khan III.
• Immediate antecedent: Simla Deputation to Lord Minto (1906).

Timeline

• 27–29 Dec 1906: All‑India Muhammadan Educational Conference sessions in Dhaka.
• 30 Dec 1906: Delegates reconvene; resolution passed to found the All‑India Muslim League and adopt its name and organizing framework.
• 29 Dec 1907: First annual session of the League at Karachi inaugurates routine national meetings.

Legacy (brief forward glance)

• Over the next decades, the AIML evolved from an elite pressure group into a mass political organization that decisively influenced constitutional reforms and, ultimately, subcontinental politics leading to 1947.