The Govt. of India Act of 1909- also known as Morley -Minto Reforms-gave Indians limited role in the central and Provincial legislatures-known as legislative councils. For Mslims it was important both to gain a place in all-India politics and to retain their Muslim identity, objectives that required varying responses according to the circumstances, as the example of M.A.Jinnah illustrates. Jinnah was born in 1876, studied law in England and and began his carrier as an enthusiastic liberal in Congress. But in 1913 he joined in Muslim League, which had been shocked by the 1911 annulment of the Partition of Bengal into co-operating with Congress to make demands on the British. Jinnah continued his membership with Congress until 1919. During dual membership period, he was described as the "Ambassador of Hind-Muslim unity".
Jinnah became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt to form a Hindu-Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in Britain. The leadership of the league was taken by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a separate state in India.
Muhammad Iqbal
