The Premier of the Punjab was the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

and the Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly of Punjab Province in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The position was dissolved upon the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947.

History

The office was created under the

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act, 1935 was an Act adapted from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act of (British) Parliament ever enacted until the Greater London Authority ...

. The Unionist Party was the principal legislative force in the province. It received support from legislators of the

Punjab Muslim League When the All-India Muslim League was founded at Dacca, on 30 December 1906 at the occasion of the annual All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, It was participated by the Muslim leaders from Punjab, i.e., Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, Mian Fa ...

, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...

at various periods. The Unionist government implemented

agrarian reform Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land (see land reform) or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land re ...

s in Punjab by using legal and administrative measures to relieve farmers and peasants of crippling debt. Similar steps were taken by the

Prime Minister of Bengal The Prime Minister of Bengal was the head of government of Bengal Presidency, Bengal Province and the Leader of the House in the Bengal Legislative Assembly in British India. The position was dissolved upon the Partition of Bengal (1947), Partitio ...

. The Unionists opposed the

Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule i ...

movement and supported the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Unionists were constitutionalists who favored cooperation with the British to achieve independence from the Raj. The Unionists signed the

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

Pact with the

All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...

(AIML) in 1937.Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 150–151. The Punjab premier supported the drafting of the

Lahore Resolution The Lahore Resolution ( ur, , ''Qarardad-e-Lahore''; Bengali: লাহোর প্রস্তাব, ''Lahor Prostab''), also called Pakistan resolution, was written and prepared by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and was presented by A. K. Fazlul ...

in 1940. In 1941, the premiers of Punjab and Bengal joined the Viceroy's defence council against the wishes of the AIML. The second Punjab premier joined the Paris Peace Conference in 1946.

Premiers of the Punjab (1937-1947)

Legacy

The office was succeeded by the

Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan) The Chief Minister of Punjab ( ur, ) is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the Provincial Assembly. Given that he has the ...

and

Chief Minister of Punjab (India) The Chief Minister of Punjab is the head of the government of Punjab. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Punjab is the state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Pun ...

References

{{Reflist Provinces of British India Prime Ministers of British India

History

Premiers of the Punjab (1937-1947)

Legacy

See also

References