The power was then transferred to the British Crown. 1 Since the major challenge to the British rule was from the Muslims, they began a campaign of oppression and ideological warfare against the muslims, and " fanned the fires of hatred in the heart of the Hindus.2 Under the Crown, India was dived into two distinct entities when under British rule, British India and the Indian states. In British India the authority of the British Government was direct. It was implemented by the British Parliament, the Secretary of State of India, Governor General in Council or Provincial Governors. The Indian states were ruled by Indian princes. The queen's proclamations of 1858, promised not to extend British territories in India by annexing Indian (Princely) states. This showed that British policy had two main principles : a territorial and constitutional standstill, and an intent to bring the States along with British India in a social and economic advance. By the act of 1876, Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India. This implied that Britain would protect the Indian states from internal as well as external danger and get the unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affairs of the State. .
After the 1857 mutiny or First War of Independence, they followed the Divide and Rule policy, in a aim to create a rift between the Indian Hindus and Muslims. They based their knowledge of the peoples of India on the basic religious texts and the inherent differences they found in them instead of on the way they coexisted in the present. Bitterness towards the British developed as Hindus and Muslims were denied jobs and high positions in the government and army. By the beginning of the 1990s the British were becoming fearful of the potential threat from the Muslims, in order to win them over to their side, the British helped support the All-India Muslim Conference. They instilled the notion that the Muslims were a separate political entity and gave the Muslims separate electorates in local government all over British India.
