1916 Lucknow Pact

Lucknow Pact refers to an agreement reached between the moderates and extremists of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League at the joint session of both the parties, held in Lucknow, in December 1916. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, then a member of the Congress as well as the League, made both the parties reach an agreement to pressure the British government to adopt a more liberal approach to India and give Indians more authority to run their country, besides safeguarding basic Muslim demands. Jinnah is seen as the mastermind and architect of this pact.

The British had announced, in order to satisfy the Indians, that they will be considering a series of proposals that would lead to at least half of the members of the Executive Council being elected and the Legislative Council having a majority of elected members. Both the Congress and the Muslim League supported these . Both had realized that for further concessions to be gained, greater cooperation was required.

The Congress agreed to separate electorates for Muslims in electing representatives to the Imperial and Provincial Legislative Councils. Although the Muslims were given this right in the Indian Councils Act of 1909, the Indian National Congress opposed it. The Congress also agreed to the idea of one-third seats for the Muslims in the Councils despite the fact that the Muslim population represented less than a third. Apart from that, the Congress agreed that no act affecting a community should be passed unless three-quarters of that community's members on the council supported it.

Both the parties presented some common demands to the British. They demanded:

The Lucknow Pact is seen as a beacon of hope of Hindu-Muslim unity. It established cordial relations between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. Before the pact, both parties were viewed as rivals who opposed each other and worked in their own interests. However, the pact brought a change in that view.

The Lucknow Pact also established cordial relations between the two prominent groups of the Indian National Congress – the "hot faction" garam dal led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, the Lal Bal Pal and the moderates or the "soft faction", the naram dal led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.It also paved way to the Home Rule League led by Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

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