Day of Deliverance

Day of Deliverance Muslim League's observance of December 22, 1939 as a mark of relief on the resignation of all provincial Congress Ministries of British India. After the 1937 elections, Congress ministries were formed in seven provinces of British India. However, the muslim league could form ministry in only one, Bengal, and that was also in the form of a grand coalition headed by the krishak praja party leader ak fazlul huq. Under the leadership of mohammed ali jinnah, the Muslim League adopted manifold strategies from 1938 to mobilize the Muslims behind him. One such strategy was to expose to Muslim public opinion the actual and imagined discriminations of Congress Ministries against Muslims.

It was in pursuance of this policy that Jinnah called upon Indian Muslims to observe on 22 December 1939 as a 'Day of Deliverance and Thanksgiving' and a sign of relief from 'Congress oppression'. Earlier in October, all Congress Ministries had resigned in protest at the inadequacy of the dominion status which the British wanted to grant India after the end of the Second World War.

Jinnah's strategy worked splendidly in Bengal where meetings and rallies were held all over the country. Muslims expressed their happiness about the resignation of the Congress ministries in other provinces and at the same time expressed their determination to uphold the rights of Muslims in Bengal. With AK Fazlul Huq, who had earlier joined the Muslim League and had now been inducted as a member of the League Working Committee, the Muslim mobilization movement took a new turn in Bengal. 'Day of Deliverance' is thus considered as an important step in the movement towards Muslim separatist politics in Bengal which is epitomized in Bengal premier AK Fazlul Huq's move at the historic lahore resolution, 1940. [Sirajul Islam]