"Two-nation theory" is founding principle of Pakistan, and Bangladesh ie former East Pakistan also owes its existence to it. I will talk only about emergence of two-nation theory in Bengal here because family is from East Pakistan.
1. In pre-partition Bengal, Muslims lagged behind Hindus in education, economic conditions. They were opposed to Western education being promoted by British colonialists and ignored it. It was viewed as threat to Islamic values and considered form of subjugation by British. For the Hindus this was opportunity to get an upper hand over Muslims and boost ego. So they gladly accepted Western values and education and thereby got more preference for jobs. In this way the economical conditions of Hindus vastly improved while Muslims remained economically and socially awkward.
2. Till the time Muslims realized mistake it was bit too late. There was real dearth of leaders who would encourage Muslims to take to Western education. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was instrumental in bringing turnaround through Aligarh movement and by 1900s, an vibrant educated Muslim middle class emerged in British India. Now most of the posts in administration was being occupied by Hindus. The beaureacracy was dominated by Hindus. Even business, trade in Bengal was dominated by Hindus. The landlords were Hindus. As a result many were left jobless. This led to lot of resentment among Bengali Muslim middle class
3. The landlords in Bengal considered Muslim Bengali peasants inferior because of their lack of education and illiteracy, and systematically exploited, mocked and insulted them- using the term "kangal" meaning "beggar". Even the middle class Muslim Bengalis weren't spared from this humiliation- Hindus refused to eat with them and told them to eat in separate places. Hindus considered them impure for eating beef. Beef was also banned by some Hindu zamindars in Bengal even though the areas were Muslim majority. The Muslim Bengalis were discriminated in all walks of life.
4. The prejudice can be seen even in Bengali literature by Hindus during British raj, which deliberately ignored Bengali Muslim populace and portrayed them as irrelevant to Bengal. Bengali Muslim writers like Kazi Nazr ul Islam didn't display such prejudice and included both Hindus and Muslim societies in his writings. Unfortunately there was no reciprocation from Bengali Hindu writers.
5. Bengal was partitioned in 1905 for efficiency of administration. Bengal province was almost the size of France and it was becoming really difficult to administer under single province. Another reason for the partition was to develop the underdeveloped Eastern part of Bengal which had overwhelming Muslim majority.
As soon as partition was enacted, the Bengali Hindus started demonstrating against the creation of a Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal and Assam under the pretentious banner of religious unity. The actual reason for the protests was loss of power by Bengali Hindus in Eastern Bengal and their inability to continue their dominance over Muslim Bengalis. They even opposed formation of Dhaka University which was established for improving educational standards in East Bengal, because they saw it as a threat to established universities of Western Bengal like Calcutta and Presidency University. Eventually 1905 partition had to be annulled under pressure from Bengali Hindu populace.
6. During the height of Indian freedom struggle, slogans such as "Vande Maratam" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" were devised to represent Indian aspirations for freedom from British Raj. The Bengali Muslims did not have any problems in raising slogans against the British, but such slogans which derived inspiration from Hindu beliefs alienated the Muslim populace of Bengal from the freedom struggle.
Bengali Muslims refused to use these slogans and they had every right to do so, because saying them constitutes "shirk". When Muslims say shahadah, they have to respect it. These slogans invoked mother goddesses which are explicitly forbidden in Islam. Bengali Muslims used alternative slogans like "Jai Hind", "Hindustan Zindabad", but the Hindu Bengalis refused to accept them and considered them disloyal for refusing to say those slogans.
7. All these factors led to alienation of Bengali Muslims from Indian freedom struggle, and they instead directed their attention to creating a separate state for Muslims in Bengal, where their religious beliefs would be respected, where they wouldn't they be treated as inferior and second-class citizens by Hindus simply because of their religion, and where they could get education and jobs to earn bread butter for family and lead life of dignity.
These grievances were shared by not only Bengali Muslims but by all sub-continent Muslims, merging into what we now know as "Pakistan Movement", which started much earlier. And hence the creation of our beloved Pakistan
'71 war was very saddening where we succumbed to enemy propaganda and fought amongst ourselves for no apparent reason. There was so much bloodshed everywhere because of a few selfish politicians. But what's done is done so I am not discussing this here anymore.
Anyways coming back to topic, my question to Indian members is : Do you believe in Two-Nation theory? If yes or no, plz give some reasons. I have given my reasons for supporting Two-Nation theory, I want to hear yours
Plz don't post biased responses just because Pakistan and Bangladesh are based on this theory
