Describe the policy of the British government towards the formation of the gymkhanas on the communal lines.

The British government in India regarded religious communities as separate nationalities. They did not consider colonial India as a nation. They treated it as a collection of castes and races and religious communities. The government, therefore, encouraged establishment of communal institutions. For example, the Governor of Bombay Presidency while dealing with an application from the Islam Gymkhana for land on Bombay’s seafront wrote, “… we can be certain that in a short time we shall get a similar application from some Hindu Gymkhana … I
don’t see how we are to refuse these applications; but I will… refuse any more grants once a Gymkhana has been established … by each nationality (emphasis added).” It is obvious from this letter that colonial officials regarded religious communities as separate nationalities. Applications for setting up gymkhana on communal lines were favoured by the colonial state.