<P> In 1906--1907, the All India Muslim League was founded, created due to the suspicion of Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders with the Indian National Congress, which was perceived as dominated by Hindu membership and opinions . However, Mahatma Gandhi's leadership attracted a wide array of Muslims to the independence struggle and the Congress Party . The Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia stand apart--the former helped form the Muslim league, while the JMI was founded to promote Muslim education and consciousness upon nationalistic and Gandhian values and thought . </P> <P> While prominent Muslims like Allama Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan embraced the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations, other major leaders like Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Maulana Azad and most of Deobandi clerics strongly backed the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian independence struggle, opposing any notion of Muslim nationalism and separatism . The Muslim school of Indian nationalism failed to attract Muslim masses and the Islamic nationalist Muslim League enjoyed extensive popular political support . State of Pakistan was ultimately formed following Partition of India </P> <P> The political identity of the Indian National Congress, India's largest political party and one which controlled government for over 45 years, is reliant on the connection to Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Nehru - Gandhi family which has controlled the Congress since independence . The Congress Party's fortunes up till the 1970s were single - handedly propelled by its legacy as the flagship of India's Independence Movement, and the core platform of the party today evokes that past strongly, considering itself to be the guardian of India's independence, democracy and unity . Muslims have remained loyal voters of the Congress Party, seen as defender of Nehruvian secularism . In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party employs a more aggressively nationalistic expression . The BJP seeks to preserve and spread the culture of the Hindus, the majority population . It ties nationalism with the aggressive defence of India's borders and interests against archrivals China and Pakistan, with the defence of the majority's right to be a majority . </P> <P> Religious nationalist parties include the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is closely identified with the creation of a Sikh - majority state in Punjab and includes many Sikh religious leaders in its organisation . In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena uses the legacy of the independent Maratha kingdom under famous figures like Shivaji to stir up support, and has adopted Hindutva as well . In Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad is a more state - focused party, arising after the frustration of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) as a benevolent expression of Assamese nationalism . In Tamil Nadu came the first of such parties, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK). Today the DK stands for a collection of parties, with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK). Caste - based politics invite the participation of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the party of Lalu Prasad Yadav, who build upon the support of poor low - caste and dalit Hindus in the northern, and most populated states of India like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar . Almost every Indian state has a regional party devoted solely to the culture of the native people of that state . </P>

A characteristic of the period of british rule over india was that