Opinion of punjabi press towards sapru proposals: from a sikh perspective

The Sapru Committee was formed under the patronage of Gandhi, but it failed to get support from all three parties in the political game: the British, Congress,and the League. The Congress initially supported the committee under the influence of Gandhi, but when the Sapru Committee introduced suggestions for Hindu-Muslim parity, the Congress also rejected the report of the committee. The Committee opposed the idea of Pakistan on the basis of language, race, religion, and the impossibility of segregating Hindu and Muslim communities. It also rejected the two-nation theory. The Committee argued that the idea of Pakistan or the division of India cannot satisfy the problem of minorities. In other words, these proposals rejected the Muslim demand for separate electorates and, most importantly, the partition of India, which at that time was advocated by both Jinnah and the League. Therefore, the League also strongly rejected the proposals of the Committee and considered them a conspiracy against the demand for Pakistan. This article analyses the Sapru proposals in the context of the demand for Pakistan and the opinion of the Punjabi press towards the Sapru Proposals from the Sikhs’view point.