The new development in communal politics in India was the propagation of the ‘two nation theory’. According to this theory, India consisted of two separate nations — Hindus and Muslims. The ‘two national theory’ was a total falsification of the entire Indian history. In the medieval period, Hindus and Muslims had developed a common culture.
During and after the Revolt of 1857 they had fought for freedom together. During the national struggle for independence both suffered repression as one people and one nation.
In 1940, at the Lahore session of the Muslim League, the demand for a separate state of Pakistan was made. It was based on the two nation theory. The demand for a separate state was opposed by large sections of Muslims.
The Khudai Khidmatgar a prominent-Muslim organization in the North-West Frontier Province was ogranized by the veteran leader, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, popularly known as ‘Frontier Gandhi. The Muslim League was provoked by the British government to press its demand for a separate state.
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When the Congress withdrew from the provincial governments in protest against the British attitude to the demand for independence, the Muslim League celebrated the event by observing it as ‘Deliverance Day’, and tried to form ministries in the provinces. But the effort was useless.