voted to the cause of freedom. He had absorbed Western ideas at Harrow and Cambridge, however, and, unlike Gandhi, wanted to bring modern technology and industrialization to India.After three "round-table" conferences in London had considered the commission's report, Parliament passed a new Government of India Act in 1935. It provided for elected legislatures in the provinces, but property and educational requirements restricted the number of voters to about 14 percent of the population. To protect the interests of minorities, voting was by communal groups. Upper-caste Hindus, Untouchables, Muslims, Sikhs, and others voted for their own candidates. The system perpetuated religious strife. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, charged that Congress ministries mistreated their Muslim minorities. He agitated for the separation of the Muslim provinces from India and the creation of a state called Pakistan, which means "country of the pure."When World War II broke out, the Congress demanded complete and immediate freedom for India as the price for India's active participation. In 1942 Sir Stafford Cripps went to India with a plan for granting dominion status after the war, but Indian leaders could not agree on the terms. The Congress insisted on a unified India. The Muslim League demanded a separate Pakistan. The princes were determined to preserve their states.Finally, in 1947, British India was divided into two independent nations: India, with Nehru as Prime Minister, and Pakistan, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah. More than 1 million people died in the ensuing disorder. Hostile relations between the nations led to the India-Pakistan Wars (1947-48, 1965, 1971). A specific dispute was jurisdiction over Kashmir, which both countries claimed. India was also involved in a border conflict (1962) with China. A sovereign republic from 1950, India became a leader of the nonaligned nations. Indian National Congress (Largest Political Party)The...
