Editing Pakistan Movement (section)

===World War II===
{{Main|India in World War II}}
On 3 September 1939, British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] declared the [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|commencement]] of war with [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. Shortly thereafter, Viceroy [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|Lord Linlithgow]] followed suit and announced that India too was at war with Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolitho |first=Hector |author-link=Hector Bolitho |year=1960 |orig-year=First published 1954 |title=Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan |location=London |publisher=John Murray |page=123 |oclc=14143745}}</ref>

In 1939, the Congress leaders resigned from all [[British Indian Department|British India government]] positions to which they had elected.<ref name="Basic Books"/> The Muslim League celebrated the end of the Congress-led British Indian government, with Jinnah famously declaring it "a day of deliverance and thanksgiving".<ref name="Basic Books"/> In a secret memorandum to the British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], the Muslim League agreed to support the United Kingdom's war efforts—provided that the British recognise it as the only organisation that spoke for Indian Muslims.<ref name="Basic Books">{{cite book |last=Mukerjee |first=Madhusree |author-link=Madhusree Mukerjee |year=2011 |title=Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnMTgtXQqCkC&pg=PA9 |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |page=9 |isbn=978-0-465-02481-0 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=7 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207010356/https://books.google.com/books?id=RnMTgtXQqCkC&pg=PA9 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the Congress's effective protest against the United Kingdom unilaterally involving India in the war without consulting with them, the Muslim League went on to support the [[United Kingdom in World War II|British war efforts]], which allowed them to actively go against the Congress with the argument of "Islam in Danger".<ref>{{cite book |last=Qureshi |first=M. Naeem |year=1999 |title=Pan-Islam in British Indian Politics: A Study of the Khilafat Movement, 1918-1924 |publisher=Brill |pages=57, 245 |isbn=978-90-04-11371-8}}</ref>

The Indian Congress and Muslim League responded differently over the World War II issue. The Indian Congress refused to support the British unless the whole Indian subcontinent was granted independence.<ref name="ABC-Clio">{{cite book |last=Mohiuddin |first=Yasmeen Niaz |year=2007 |title=Pakistan: A Global Studies Handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTMy0B9OZjAC&pg=PA69 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=69– |isbn=978-1-85109-801-9 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=5 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205040209/https://books.google.com/books?id=OTMy0B9OZjAC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Muslim League, on the other hand, supported Britain both politically and via human contributions.<ref name="ABC-Clio"/> The Muslim League leaders' British education, training, and philosophical ideas helped bring the British government and the Muslim League closer to each other.<ref name="ABC-Clio"/> Jinnah himself supported the British in World War II when the Congress failed to collaborate.<ref name="ABC-Clio"/> The British government made a pledge to the Muslims in 1940 that it would not [[Power transfer|transfer power]] to an [[Independent India]] unless its constitution was first approved by the Indian Muslims, a promise it did not subsequently keep.<ref name="ABC-Clio"/>