 According to Singh , " the events of 1937 had a tremendous , almost a traumatic effect upon Jinnah " . Despite his beliefs of twenty years that Muslims could protect their rights in a united India through separate electorates , provincial boundaries drawn to preserve Muslim majorities , and by other protections of minority rights , Muslim voters had failed to unite , with the issues Jinnah hoped to bring forward lost amid factional fighting . Singh notes the effect of the 1937 elections on Muslim political opinion , " when the Congress formed a government with almost all of the Muslim MLAs sitting on the Opposition benches , non @-@ Congress Muslims were suddenly faced with this stark reality of near @-@ total political powerlessness . It was brought home to them , like a bolt of lightning , that even if the Congress did not win a single Muslim seat ... as long as it won an absolute majority in the House , on the strength of the general seats , it could and would form a government entirely on its own ... " 
