26 SOCIAL SCIENTIST cultural adaptation, the Khanqahs provided a means of incorporating Hindu religious customs and beliefs into an eclectic system. But it was found convenient by the colonial rulers to ignore this reality; there can be no doubt that the British played an important part in heightening communal consciousness and in giving credence to many stereotyped notions about various communities. They laid special emphasis on the conflicts and divisions in medieaval Indian society in order to underscore the unifying and centralizing impact of the British rule as well as to counter the claims of the Indian National Congress to represent all classes and communities of Indian society. The British government singled out the Muslim community for deliberate repression in the years immediately after the Mutiny of 1857.3 The policy was subsequently replaced by one of appeasement of Muslims. The success of these policies was made possible by the uneven development of the various communities, as indeed of various regions. Except for the United Provinces where they were relatively better placed in the professions and government service, Muslims were economically and educationally a backward community. 4 They 'formed an insignificant portion of the rudimentary Indian bourgeoisie, being far removed from the commercial and industrial centres of the Empire—Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. It was for this reason that leaders like Sir Syed Ahmad Khan claimed special concessions and safeguards. Above all, they saw the future progress of the Muslims as inextricably linked with the fortunes of the Raj. Syed Ahmad Khan, in particular, professed and preached loyalty to the government: this was the corner-stone of his politics. The British government recognized the necessity for enlisting the support of the Muslims and extended special favours to them in recognition of their "historical importance'9.5 The introduction of separate electorates was one such favour: it was also seen as a counterpoise to the growing strength of the anti-colonial movement. The principle of communal representation inevitably leads to the "creation of political camps organised against each other and teaches men to think as partisans and not citizens".6 The Hindu-Muslim differences are significant, observed Lord Ronaldshay, Governor of Bengal from 1917 to 1922, since "the divisions are not only those due to religious belief and practice, but to a profoundly different outlook on life resulting in social systems which are the very antithesis of one another".7 Such notions established a Muslim identity in Indian politics and encouraged the growth of communal alignments. To treat Muslims as a distinct political interest was a conscious, but mistaken, policy pursued by the British colonialists. The Muslim community, like the Hindus, was divided at all levels— political, economic and ideological. Its political interests were not alike; they varied from class to class and from region to region. These contradictions came to the fore at the end of 1917 when