Amendments Proposed By Jinnah

Earlier in December 1927, the Muslim League session met in Delhi and put four proposals to be incorporated into the draft constitution. One out of four was incorporated i.e. common electorates rather than separate electorates with seats reserved for Muslims and others were rejected. To consider the Nehru Report Jinnah proposed three amendments to the report at the All Parties Conference in December 1928: 

• 1/3 representation to Muslims in the central legislature;
• reservation to Muslims in Bengal and Punjab legislatures depending on their population;
• residual powers should be given to provinces.

All three demands were ignored, which led Jinnah back to the Shafi faction, which meant that he changed his ideal from Gandhi to Shafi and gave his famous 14 points in March 1929, which became the basis of the Muslim League advocacy.

Jinnah’s Fourteen Points

1. The fourteen points of Jinnah include the following:
2. Provision of provincial autonomy.
3. Presence of a federal constitution with residual powers within the provinces
4. Without the agreement of the states, no constitutional amendment.
5. Adequate Muslim representation in all legislatures and elected bodies without reducing the Muslim majority in a province to a minority or equal.
6. 1/3rd part of the representation of Muslims is in Central Legislature.
7. 1/3rd Muslim members are to be present in both central as well as state cabinets.
8.  Presence of separate electorates.
9.  Bills should not be passed in any legislature if 3/4th of a minority community considers it to be against their wishes.
10. Any form of reorganization of the territories should not affect the Muslim majority in Punjab, NWFP, and Bengal.
11. There should be a separation of Sindh from the Punjab Presidency.
12.  There should be constitutional reforms for both NWFP and Baluchistan.
13. Presence and acceptance of full religious freedom of all communities.
14. There should be the protection of the religion, culture, education as well as the language of the Muslim community.

The Nehru Report proceeded with the primary aim of assigning Dominion status to India, situated under the British Commonwealth. The major components of the Nehru Report would include:

1. Bills of Rights
2. Assignment of Equal Rights to men and women as citizens
3. Formation of a federal form of government with the help of residuary powers within the hands of center
4. Proposal for the development of a Supreme Court.

In order to broaden and review the British Raj and the Government of India Act, of 1919 a seven-member Statutory Commission was set up by the British government to examine the issue of further constitutional reform. The two mainstream parties, Congress and the Muslim League, countered the commission in their own way and received full public support when the commission landed in Bombay, through rallies, boycotts, and hartals. The Indians were challenged to draft a constitution that was acceptable to all Indians, all parties, and all provinces. The challenge was taken seriously and the All-Party Conference took place, with all parties, including Congress and the Muslim League, working enthusiastically and collectively to finalize the recommendations of the report popularly known as the Nehru Report.