Hindu nationalism:
1) In the Punjab communalism as a powerful movement had set in completely. In 1924 Lala Lajpat Rai openly advocated the partition of the Punjab into Hindu and Muslim Provinces.
2) The Hindu Mahasabha, represented the forces of Hindu revivalism in the political domain, raised the slogan of' Akhand Hindustan' against the Muslim League's demand of separate electorates for Muslims.
3)  Ever since its inception, the Mahasabha's role in the freedom struggle has been rather controversial. While not supportive of British rule, the Mahasabha did not offer its full support to the nationalist movement either.
4) Since the Indian National Congress had to mobilize the support of all classes and communities against foreign domination, the leaders of different communities could not press for principle of secularism firmly for the fear of losing the support of religious minded groups.
5) The Congress under the leadership of Gandhi held a number of unity conferences during this period, but to no avail.
Muslim nationalism
1) One great outcome of the efforts at unity, however, was an offer by the Conference of Muslims, which met at Delhi on March 20, 1927 to give up separate electorates if four proposals were accepted.
1. the separation of Sind from Bombay
2. Reforms for the Frontier and Baluchistan
3. Representation by population in the Punjab and Bengal and
4. Thirty-three per cent seats for the Muslims in the Central Legislature.
Indian nationalism
1) The nationalism of the Indian National Congress was personified by Mahatma Gandhi, who rejected the narrow nationalism exemplified by the Arya Samaj and the Aligargh movement and strove to evolve a political identity that transcended the different religions.
2) Notwithstanding the state-supported communalism of different hues, the Indian National Congress remained a dominant political force in India.
3) In the 1937 elections, Congress won in seven of the eleven provinces and fonned the largest party in three others. The Muslim League's performance was dismal. It succeeded in winning only 4.8 per cent of the Muslim votes.
4) The Congress had emerged as a mass secular party. Yet the Government branded it a Hindu organisation and projected the Muslim League as the real representative of the Muslims and treated it on a par with the Congress.
5) Hindu nationalism, Muslim nationalism and secular nationalism competed with each other to politicise the people in their fight against British colonialism.

Separate Electorates and the Spread of Communalism
1) The institution of separate electorate was the principle technique adopted by the Government of British India for fostering and spreading communalism. The people were split into separate constituencies so that they voted communally, thought communally, judged the representatives communally and expressed their grievances communally.
2) That the British did this with ulterior motive was evident from a note sent by one of the British officers to Lady Minto: 'I must send your Excellency a line to say that a very big thing has happened today. A work of statesmanship, that will affect Indian History for many a long year. It is nothing less than pulling of 62 million people from joining the ranks of seditious opposition.
3) The announcement of separate electorates and the incorporation of the principle of "divide and rule" into a formal constitutional arrangement made the estrangement between Hindus and Muslims total.
Communalism in United Provinces (UP)
1) The suspension of the non-cooperation movement in 1922 and the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 left the Muslims in a state of frustration.
2) In the aftermath of Non-Co-operation movement, the alliance between the Khilafatists and the Congress crumbled.
3) There was a fresh spate of communal violence, as Hindus and Muslims, in the context of self-governing institutions created under the Act of 1919, began to stake their political claims and in the process vied with each other to acquire power and position.
4) 1920s was a trying period for the Congress. This time the communal tension in the United Province was not only due to the zeal of Hindu and Muslim religious leaders, but was fuelled by the political rivalries of the Swarajists and Liberals.

(a) Hindu Revivalism
1) Some of the early nationalists believed that nationalism could be built only on a Hindu foundation.
2) As pointed out by Sarvepalli Gopal, Hindu, revivalism found its voice in politics through the Arya Samaj, founded ill 1875, with its assertion of superior qualities of Hinduism.
3) The organization of cow protection leagues in large parts of North India in the late nineteenth century gave a fillip to Hindu communalism.
4) The effort of organizations such as Arya Samaj was strengthened by the Theosophical movement led by. Annie Besant from 1891. Besant identified herself with Hindu nationalists and expressed her ideas as follows: The Indian work is first of all the revival, strengthening and uplifting of ancient religions. This has brought with it a new self-respect, a pride in the past, a belief in the future and as an inevitable result, a great wave of patriotic life, the beginning of the rebuilding of a nation.
(b) Rise of Muslims Consciousness
1) Islam on the other hand, to quote Sarvepalli Gopal again, was securing its articulation through the Aligarh movement.
2) The British, by building the Aligarh college and backing Syed Ahmed Khan, had assisted the birth of a Muslim national party and Muslim political ideology.
3) The Wahabi movement had also created cleavage in Hindu-Muslim relations. The Wahabis wanted to take Islam to its pristine purity and to end the superstition which according to them had sapped its vitality. From the Wahabis to the Khilafatists, grassroots activism played a significant role in the politicization of Muslims.
(c) Divide and Rule Policy of British
1) The object of the British was to check the development of a composite Indian identity, and to forestall attempts at consolidation and unification of Indians.
2) The last decades of the nineteenth century was marked by a number of Hindu-Muslim riots. Even in south India, there was a major riot in Salem in July-August 1882.
(d) Cow Slaughter and Communal Riots
1) Gaurakshini Sabhas (cow protection leagues) were becoming more militant and there were reports of forcible interference with the sale or slaughter of cows.
2) The riots over cow-slaughter became frequent after 1893 and 15 major riots of this type broke out in the Punjab alone between 1883 and 1891.
3) Cow protectionists in the Punjab, the activities of Gaurakshini Sabhas in the Central Provinces, the campaigners for the recognition of Devanagiri as official language in courts and government offices in the United Provinces were also involved in the Congress organization.
(e) Failure of Congress and Government to combat Communalism
1) The Indian National Congress, despite its secular and nationalist claims was unable to prevent the involvement of its members in the activities of Hindu communal organisations.
2) This was a major factor in the Muslim distrust of the Congress. Congressmen's participation in shuddhi and sangathan campaigns of the Arya Samaj further estranged Hindus and Muslims.