Growth of the Muslim League in Odisha

As the Muslim League solidified its base in the coastal districts, a parallel and significant expansion was occurring in Western Odisha, specifically in Sambalpur. The growth of the League in this region was distinct due to its unique demographic composition, which included a mix of indigenous Odia-speaking Muslims and an influential migrant merchant class from neighbouring provinces. The Sambalpur branch became an operational stronghold in the early 1940s, serving as a gateway for the League’s ideology to penetrate the interior highlands.

Local leadership in Sambalpur capitalised on the linguistic anxieties of the community, framing the Congress government’s promotion of Odia as a direct threat to the Urdu-based cultural identity of Western Odisha’s Muslims. The organisational strength in Sambalpur was such that the League managed to bridge the geographical gap between the coastal plains and the western plateaus. By the time of the 1946 elections, Sambalpur was grouped into the Balasore-Sambalpur Muslim Constituency, a strategic move that allowed the League to mobilise a vast, diverse electorate.

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The campaign in Sambalpur was characterised by massive street processions and the fervent display of the League’s green flags, signalling that the demand for Pakistan had successfully transcended the coastal heartland. A definitive escalation in separatist rhetoric occurred on 15 May 1942, when Nawab Ismail Khan and Muhammad Isa Khan arrived in Cuttack. Their tour of the northern districts was not merely an administrative visit but a mission to strengthen the ideological foundations of the Pakistan demand. Muhammad Isa Khan, a leader known for his oratorical skills, addressed massive gatherings in Balasore and Bhadrak.

His speeches were characterised by an uncompromising adherence to the Two-Nation Theory. He asserted that Muslims were not a minority within a nation, but a separate nation altogether, possessing a unique philosophy, distinct social customs, and a literary heritage that was incompatible with Hindu civilisation. He explicitly warned the Muslims of Odisha to stay away from the Congress-led “Quit India” movement, framing it as a “Hindu struggle” for total dominance. To enforce this new ideological discipline, the Muslim League National Guards were organised. In the Bhadrak region, these uniformed cadres were famously known as the Azrail Bahini (The Angel of Death Force).

The National Guard served as a paramilitary wing, conducting drills and marches that served as a psychological deterrent to political opponents and a source of pride for local Muslims. They were the primary organisers of communal mobilisation, ensuring that the League’s message reached the rural hinterlands. The term Azrail Bahini itself reflected the militant and uncompromising posture that the League had adopted in the 1940s. Nilamani Routray, the former Chief Minister of Odisha, who was an active political figure in Balasore and Bhadrak, in his memoir “Smruti O Anubhuti,” describes how the atmosphere turned dangerously electric as the “Pakistan Movement” gathered steam.

He recounts the pervasive presence of the Muslim League National Guards and the frequent chanting of provocative slogans like “Ladke Lenge Pakistan” (We will take Pakistan by force). According to Routray, these slogans were not merely political rallying cries but acted as a psychological declaration of war against the local socio-political order. Routray details the extreme tension in Bhadrak and Balasore, noting that the towns became divided into communal enclaves. He describes how common public spaces, like markets and schools, became sites of daily friction. He specifically mentions the atmosphere of fear among the Hindu population in response to the aggressive posturing of the Azrail Bahini.

Routray’s account emphasises that the provincial government and local leaders were constantly on edge, attempting to manage a situation where even a minor dispute, such as a religious procession or a market disagreement, could trigger a massive clash. His observations confirm that the ideological divide had reached such a depth that communal peace was maintained only through heavy police presence and a fragile, high-stakes political balancing act. The culmination of nearly five decades of communal politics was the 1946 Provincial Election.

In Odisha, the League contested this election almost exclusively on the ideological ground of the Two-Nation Theory. The campaign was a masterclass in religious and political mobilisation. In Puri and Bhadrak, the League utilised religious platforms, where Ulema and local leaders declared that voting for the Muslim League was a religious obligation, a Farz. They successfully framed the election as a “plebiscite for Pakistan,” telling the voters that every vote for the League was a brick in the foundation of the new Islamic state. The result was a total consolidation of the Muslim vote. The Muslim League won all four seats reserved for Muslims in the Odisha Assembly. The victors became the vocal representatives of the “separate nation” within the Odisha legislature.

Muhammed Abdus Sobhan Khan, serving as the leader of the League bloc, used the assembly floor to argue that the Congress’s “Muslim Mass Contact” programme was an attack on Muslim solidarity. He insisted that the “clean sweep” of the reserved seats was the ultimate proof that the Muslims of Odisha rejected a unified India. As the political temperature reached its zenith in the mid-1940s, the district of Bhadrak, already a stronghold of the Muslim League and the Azrail Bahini, witnessed a critical turning point in its communal relations. The atmosphere in Bhadrak had become increasingly volatile due to the League’s “Direct Action” rhetoric and the corresponding mobilisation of Hindu groups. A significant firing incident occurred during this period when a religious procession led to a violent confrontation between the two communities.

Historical accounts suggest that during a dispute over a Hindu procession passing near a mosque, tensions spiralled out of control. The local police, struggling to maintain order amidst the partisan atmosphere, eventually opened fire. While the casualty figures remained a point of contention between the League and the Congress government, the incident served as a powerful tool for the League’s narrative of victimhood. They argued that the police action was biased and targeted, using it as “blood evidence” that Muslims could never expect justice under a Hindu-majority administration. This incident effectively ended any remaining chance of communal reconciliation in the district and ensured that Bhadrak would remain the ideological epicentre of the Pakistan movement in Odisha until the very moment of Partition.

The declaration of Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946, saw a massive demonstration of League strength in Odisha. In a historic meeting at the Qadam-e-Rasool in Cuttack, Muhammed Abdus Sobhan Khan read the Lahore Resolution to a charged crowd, reaffirming that the Muslims of Odisha stood with Jinnah. Large processions were held in Sambalpur and Balasore, where the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad” resonated, and portraits of Jinnah were displayed as symbols of the new sovereignty. By 1947, the Odisha Muslim League had reached its organisational peak. The party decided to collect Rs 20,000 to establish its own press and created a ‘Pakistan Fund’, demonstrating that even in a region that would not physically become part of Pakistan, the community was emotionally and financially committed to the separatist cause.

The period from 1900 to 1947 in Odisha thus showcases a remarkable transition. What began as a petition by the local elite for Urdu and job quotas evolved into a mass movement for a separate nation. For the Muslims of Odisha during this era, the Odia identity was synonymous with Hindu identity, and their struggle was defined by the rejection of that identity in favour of a pan-Islamic nationalism that eventually led to the Partition.

(The writer is a public policy consultant with an interest in politics, history and international relations.)