Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences

At the Calcutta session of the Congress (December 1928), the Nehru Report was approved but the younger elements in Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose and Satyamurthy expressed their dissatisfaction with dominion status as the goal of Congress. Instead, they demanded that the Congress adopt Purna Swaraj or complete independence as its goal.

The older leaders like Gandhi and Motilal Nehru wished that the dominion status demand not be dropped in haste, as consensus over it had been developed with great difficulty over the years. They suggested that a two year grace period be given to the government to accept the demand for a dominion status.

Later, under pressure from the younger elements, this period was reduced to one year. Now, the Congress decided that if the government did not accept a constitution based on dominion status by the end of the year, the Congress would not only demand complete independence but would also launch a Civil Disobedience movement to attain its goal.

Background to Civil Disobedience Movement

Gandhi travelled incessantly during 1929 preparing people for direct political action, telling the youth to prepare for the fiery ordeal, helping to organise constructive work in villages and redressing specific grievances (on lines of the Bardoli agitation of 1928).

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) organised a Foreign Cloth Boycott Committee to propagate an aggressive programme of boycotting foreign cloth and public burning of foreign cloth. Gandhi initiated the campaign in March 1929 in Calcutta and was arrested. This was followed by bonfires of foreign cloth all over the country.

Other developments which kept the political temperature high during 1929 included the Meerut Conspiracy Case (March), bomb explosion in Central Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt (April) and the coming to power of the minority Labour government led by Ramsay MacDonald in England in May.

Irwin’s Declaration

Before the Simon Commission report came out, the declaration by Lord Irwin was made.

• It was the combined effort of the Labour government (always more sympathetic to Indian aspirations than the Conservatives) and a Conservative viceroy.
• The purpose behind the declaration was to “restore faith in the ultimate purpose of British policy”.
• The declaration was made in the form of an official communique in the Indian Gazette on October 31, 1929.
• It said: “In view of the doubts which have been expressed both in Great Britain and in India regarding the interpretations to be placed on the intentions of the British government in enacting the statute of 1919, I am authorised on behalf of His Majesty’s Government to state clearly that in their judgement it is implicit in the Declaration of 1917 that the natural issue of India’s constitutional progress as they contemplated is the attainment of Dominion status.”

However, there was no time scale. The dominion status promised by Irwin would not be available for a long time to come. There was in reality nothing new or revolutionary in the declaration. Lord Irwin also promised a Round Table Conference after the Simon Commission submitted its report.

Delhi Manifesto

On November 2, 1929, a conference of prominent national leaders issued a ‘Delhi Manifesto’ which put forward certain conditions for attending the Round Table Conference:

i. that the purpose of the Round Table Conference should be not to determine whether or when dominion status was to be reached but to formulate a constitution for implementation of the dominion status (thus acting as a constituent assembly) and the basic principle of dominion status should be immediately accepted;

ii. that the Congress should have majority representation at the conference; and

iii. there should be a general amnesty for political prisoners and a policy of conciliation;

Gandhi along with Motilal Nehru and other political leaders met Lord Irwin in December 1929 (after the viceroy had narrowly escaped after a bomb was detonated meaning to hit the train he was travelling in).

They asked the viceroy for assurance that the purpose of the round table conference was to draft a constitutional scheme for dominion status. Viceroy Irwin rejected the demands put forward in the Delhi Manifesto. The stage for confrontation was to begin now.

Lahore Congress and Demand for Purna Swaraj

Jawaharlal Nehru, who had done more than anyone else to popularise the concept of Purna Swaraj, was nominated the president for the Lahore session of the Congress (December 1929) mainly due to Gandhi’s backing. Nehru was chosen because of the appositeness of the occasion (Congress’ acceptance of complete independence as its goal), and to acknowledge the upsurge of youth which had made the anti-Simon campaign a huge success.

Nehru declared in his presidential address, “We have now an open conspiracy to free this country from foreign rule and you, comrades, and all our countrymen and countrywomen are invited to join it.”

The following major decisions were taken at the Lahore session.

• The Round Table Conference was to be boycotted.
• Complete independence was declared as the aim of the Congress.
• Congress Working Committee was authorised to launch a programme of civil disobedience including non-payment of taxes and all members of legislatures were asked to resign their seats.
• January 26, 1930 was fixed as the first Independence (Swarajya) Day, to be celebrated everywhere.

On December 31, 1929 at midnight on the banks of River Ravi, the newly adopted tricolour flag of freedom was hoisted by Jawaharlal Nehru amidst slogans of Inquilab Zindabad.

January 26, 1930: the Independence Pledge 

Public meetings were organised all over the country in villages and towns and the independence pledge was read out in local languages and the national flag was hoisted. This pledge, which is supposed to have been drafted by Gandhi, made the following points:

•  It is the inalienable right of Indians to have freedom.
• The British Government in India has not only deprived economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. India must therefore sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence.
• We are being economically ruined by high revenue, destruction of village industries with no substitutions made, while customs, currency and exchange rate are manipulated to our disadvantage.
• No real political powers are given—rights of free association are denied to us and all administrative talent in us is killed.
• Culturally, the system of education has torn us from our moorings.
• Spiritually, compulsory disarmament has made us unmanly.
• We hold it a crime against man and God to submit any longer to British rule
• We will prepare for complete independence by withdrawing, as far as possible, all voluntary association from the British government and will prepare for civil disobedience through nonpayment of taxes. By this an end of this inhuman rule is assured.
• We will carry out the Congress instructions for puaxwxrpose of establishing Purna Swaraj.

Civil Disobedience Movement and the Salt Satyagraha

Gandhi’s Eleven Demands

To carry forward the mandate given by the Lahore Congress, Gandhi presented eleven demands to the government and gave an ultimatum of January 31, 1930 to accept or reject these demands. The demands were as follows:

1. Reduce expenditure on Army and civil services by 50 per cent.

2. Introduce total prohibition.

3. Carry out reforms in Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

4. Change Arms Act allowing popular control of issue of firearms licences.

5. Release political prisoners.

6. Accept Postal Reservation Bill.

7. Reduce rupee-sterling exchange ratio to 1s 4d

8. Introduce textile protection.

9. Reserve coastal shipping for Indians.

10. Reduce land revenue by 50 per cent.

11. Abolish salt tax and government’s salt monopoly.

With no positive response forthcoming from the government on these demands, the Congress Working Committee invested Gandhi with full powers to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement at a time and place of his choice. By February-end, Gandhi had decided to make salt the central formula for the movement.

Why Salt was Chosen?

As Gandhi said, “There is no other article like salt, outside water, by taxing which the government can reach the starving millions, the sick, the maimed and the utterly helpless... it is the most inhuman poll tax the ingenuity of man can devise.”

• Salt in a flash linked the ideal of swaraj with a most concrete and universal grievance of the rural poor (and with no socially divisive implications like a no-rent campaign).
• Salt afforded a very small but psychologically important income, like khadi, for the poor through self-help.
• Like khadi, again, it offered to the urban populace the opportunity of a symbolic identification with mass suffering.

Dandi March

On March 2, 1930, Gandhi informed the viceroy of his plan of action. According to this plan, Gandhi, along with a band of seventy-eight members of Sabarmati Ashram, was to march from his headquarters in Ahmedabad through the villages of Gujarat for 240 miles.

On reaching the coast at Dandi, the salt law was to be violated by collecting salt from the beach. Even before the proposed march began, thousands thronged to the ashram. Gandhi gave the following directions for future action.

• Wherever possible civil disobedience of the salt law should be started.
• Foreign liquor and cloth shops can be picketed.
• We can refuse to pay taxes if we have the requisite strength.
• Lawyers can give up practice.
• Public can boycott law courts by refraining from litigation.
• Government servants can resign from their posts.
• All these should be subject to one condition—truth and non-violence as means to attain swaraj should be faithfully adhered to.
• Local leaders should be obeyed after Gandhi’s arrest.

The historic march, marking the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement, began on March 12, and Gandhi broke the salt law by picking up a lump of salt at Dandi on April 6. The violation of the law was seen as a symbol of the Indian people’s resolve not to live under British-made laws and therefore under British rule.

Gandhi openly asked the people to make salt from sea water in their homes and violate the salt law. The march, its progress and its impact on the people was well covered by newspapers. In Gujarat, 300 village officials resigned in answer to Gandhi’s appeal. Congress workers engaged themselves in grassroot level organisational tasks.

Spread of the Movement

Once the way was cleared by Gandhi’s ritual at Dandi, defiance of the salt laws started all over the country. Nehru’s arrest in April 1930 for defiance of the salt law evoked huge demonstrations in Madras, Calcutta and Karachi.

Gandhi’s arrest came on May 4, 1930 when he had announced that he would lead a raid on Dharasana Salt Works on the west coast. Gandhi’s arrest was followed by massive protests in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and in Sholapur, where the response was the mostfierce. After Gandhi’s arrest, the CWC sanctioned:

i. non-payment of revenue in ryotwari areas;

ii. no-chowkidara-tax campaign in zamindari areas; and

iii. violation of forest laws in the Central Provinces.

Tamil Nadu

• In April 1930, C. Rajagopalachari organised a march from Thiruchirapalli (Trichinapoly as it was called by the British) to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore (or Thanjavur) coast to break the salt law.
• The event was followed by widespread picketing of foreign cloth shops; the anti-liquor campaign gathered forceful support in interior regions of Coimbatore, Madura, Virdhanagar, etc.
• Although, Rajaji tried to keep the movement non-violent, violent eruptions of masses and the violent repressions of the police began. To break the Choolai mills strike, police force was used.
• Unemployed weavers attacked liquor shops and police pickets at Gudiyattam, while the peasants, suffering from falling prices, rioted at Bodinayakanur in Madura. 

Malabar

• K. Kelappan, a Nair Congress leader famed for the Vaikom Satyagraha, organised salt marches
• P. Krishna Pillai, the future founder of the Kerala Communist movement, heroically defended the national flag in the face of police lathi-charge on Calicut beach in November 1930.

Andhra

• District salt marches were organised in east and west Godavari, Krishna and Guntur.
• A number of sibirams (military style camps) were set up to serve as the headquarters of the Salt Satyagraha.
• The merchants contributed to Congress funds, and the dominant caste Kamma and Raju cultivators defied repressive measures.
• But the mass support like that in the non-cooperation movement (1921-22) was missing in the region.

Orissa

• Under Gopalbandhu Chaudhuri, a Gandhian leader, salt satyagraha proved effective in the coastal regions of Balasore, Cuttack and Puri districts.

Assam

• The civil disobedience failed to regain the heights attained in 1921-22 due to divisive issues: the growing conflicts between Assamese and Bengalis, Hindus and Muslims, and the tensions developing from the inflow of Muslim peasants from the densely populated east Bengal.
• However, a successful student strike against the Cunningham Circular, which banned students’ participation in politics, was seen in May 1930.
• Chandraprabha Saikiani, in December 1930, incited the aboriginal Kachari villages to break forest laws, which was, however, denied by the Assam Congress leadership.

Bengal

• The Bengal Congress, divided into two factions led by Subhas Bose and J.M. Sengupta, was involved in the Calcutta Corporation election.
• This resulted in alienation of most of Calcutta leaders from the rural masses.
• Also, communal riots were seen in Dacca (Dhakha) and Kishoreganj, and there was little participation of Muslims in the movements.
• Despite this, Bengal provided the largest number of arrests as well as the highest amount of violence.
• Midnapur, Arambagh and several rural pockets witnessed powerful movements developed around salt satyagraha and chaukidari tax.

During the same period, Surya Sen’s Chittagong revolt group carried out a raid on two armouries and declared the establishment of a provisional government.

Bihar

Champaran and Saran were the first two districts to start salt satyagraha. In landlocked Bihar, manufacture of salt on a large scale was not practicable and at most places it was a mere gesture.

• In Patna, Nakhas Pond was chosen as a site to make salt and break the salt law under Ambika Kant Sinha.
• However, very soon, a very powerful no-chaukidaritax agitation replaced the salt satyagraha (owing to physical constraints in making salt).
• By November 1930, sale of foreign cloth and liquor dramatically declined, and administration collapsed in several parts like the Barhee region of Munger.
• The tribal belt of Chhotanagpur, saw instances of lower-class militancy.
• Bonga Majhi and Somra Majhi, influenced by Gandhism, led a movement in Hazaribagh which combined socio-religious reform along ‘sanskritising’ lines, in which followers were asked to give up meat and liquor, and use khadi.
• However, the Santhals were reported to be taking up illegal distillation of liquor on a large scale under the banner of Gandhi!
• It was observed that while most big zamindars remained loyal to the government, small landlords and better-off tenants participated in the movement.

But several times, increased lower-class-militancy lowered the enthusiasm of the small landlords and betteroff tenants.

Peshawar

Here, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan’s educational and social reform work among the Pathans had politicised them.

• Gaffar Khan, also called Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi, had started the first Pushto political monthly Pukhtoon and had organised a volunteer brigade ‘Khudai Khidmatgars’, popularly known as the ‘Red-Shirts’, who were pledged to the freedom struggle and non-violence.
• On April 23, 1930, the arrest of Congress leaders in the NWFP led to mass demonstrations in Peshawar which was virtually in the hands of the crowds for more than a week till order was restored on May 4.
• This was followed by a reign of terror and martial law.
• It was here that a section of Garhwal Rifles soldiers refused to fire on an unarmed crowd.
• This upsurge in a province with 92 per cent Muslim population left the British government nervous.

Sholapur

• This industrial town of southern Maharashtra saw the fiercest response to Gandhi’s arrest.
• Textile workers went on a strike from May 7 and along with other residents burnt liquor shops and other symbols of government authority such as railway stations, police stations, municipal buildings, law courts, etc.
• The activists established a virtual parallel government which could only be dislodged with martial law after May 16.

Dharasana

• On May 21, 1930, Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib and Manilal (Gandhi’s son) took up the unfinished task of leading a raid on the Dharasana Salt Works.
• The unarmed and peaceful crowd was met with a brutal lathicharge which left 2 dead and 320 injured.
• This new form of salt satyagraha was eagerly adopted by people in Wadala (Bombay), Karnataka (Sanikatta Salt Works), Andhra, Midnapore, Balasore, Puri and Cuttack.

Gujarat

The impact was felt in Anand, Borsad and Nadiad areas in Kheda district, Bardoli in Surat district and Jambusar in Bharuch district.

• A determined no-tax movement was organised here which included refusal to pay land revenue.
• Villagers crossed the border into neighbouring princely states (such as Baroda) with their families and belongings and camped in the open for months to evade police repression.
• The police retaliated by destroying their property and confiscating their land.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Central Provinces

• These areas saw defiance of forest laws such as grazing and timber restrictions and public sale of illegally acquired forest produce.

United Provinces

• A no-revenue campaign was organised; a call was given to zamindars to refuse to pay revenue to the government.
• Under a no-rent campaign, a call was given to tenants against zamindars.
• Since most of the zamindars were loyalists, the campaign became virtually a no rent campaign.
• The activity picked up speed in October 1930, especially in Agra and Rai Bareilly.

Manipur and Nagaland

These areas took a brave part in the movement.

• At the young age of thirteen, Rani Gaidinliu, a Naga spiritual leader, who followed her cousin Haipou Jadonang, born in what is now the state of Manipur, raised the banner of revolt against foreign rule.
• She urged the people not to pay taxes or work for the British, in the tradition established by the freedom struggle in the rest of India.
• As the reformist religious movement steadily turned political, the British authorities caught Haipou Jadonang and hanged him on charges of treason in 1931.
• A manhunt was launched for Rani Gaidinliu. She outwitted the British till October 1932 when she was finally captured.

She was later sentenced to life imprisonment. She was finally released by the Interim Government of India set up in 1946 that ordered her release from Tura jail.

Impact of CDM

i. Imports of foreign cloth and other items fell.

ii. Government suffered a loss of income from liquor, excise and land revenue.

iii. Elections to Legislative Assembly were largely oycotted.

Mobilisation of masses was also carried out through prabhat pheries, vanar senas, manjari senas, secret patrikas and magic lantern shows.

Extent of Mass Participation

Several sections of the population participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Women

• Gandhi had specially asked women to play a leading part in the movement. Soon, they became a familiar sight, picketing outside liquor shops, opium dens and shops selling foreign cloth.
• For Indian women, the movement was the most liberating experience and can truly be said to have marked their entry into the public sphere.

Students

• Along with women, students and youth played the most prominent part in the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor.

Muslims

• The Muslim participation was nowhere near the 1920-22 level because of appeals by Muslim leaders to stay away from the movement and because of active government encouragement to communal dissension.
• Still, some areas such as the NWFP saw an overwhelming participation. Middle class Muslim participation was quite significant in Senhatta, Tripura, Gaibandha, Bagura and Noakhali.
• In Dacca, Muslim leaders, shopkeepers, lower class people and upper class women were active. The Muslim weaving community in Bihar, Delhi and Lucknow were also effectively mobilised.

Tribals: Tribals were active participants in Central Provinces, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Workers: The workers participated in Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Sholapur, etc.

Peasants: were active in the United Provinces, Bihar and Gujarat.

British Government’s Response

Worried by the developments, the colonial government began arresting the Congress leaders one by one. This led to violent clashes in many palaces.

• A frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression.
• Peaceful Satyagrahis were attacked, women and children were beaten, and about 60,000 people were arrested. Big leaders like C Rajagopalachari, Vallabhai, Jawahar, Madan Mohan Malviya, J M Sengupta etc were also arrested.
• Gandhi too was arrested in May 1930 and leadership was transferred to Abbas Tyabji and he too was arrested.
• Later Sarojini took the lead, but she was also arrested. Government came up with many ‘repressive resolutions’, ‘Congress was declared illegal’.

The government repression and publication of the Simon Commission Report, which contained no mention of dominion status and was in other ways also a regressive document, further upset even moderate political opinion.

In July 1930 the viceroy, Lord Irwin, suggested a round table conference and reiterated the goal of dominion status. He also accepted the suggestion that Tej Bahadur Sapru and M.R. Jayakar be allowed to explore the possibility of peace between the Congress and the government.

In August 1930 Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru were taken to Yeravada Jail to meet Gandhi and discuss the possibility of a settlement. The Nehrus and Gandhi unequivocally reiterated the demands of:

• a. right of secession from Britain;
• b. complete national government with control over defence and finance; and
• c. an independent tribunal to settle Britain’s financial claims.

However, talks broke down at this point.

Achievements of the Movement

• It rallied masses like never before.
• Import of foreign goods was effectively boycotted.
• Students and Women participated in masses.
• Workers also joined the movement big time.

Failures of the Movement

• Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of swaraj. One such group was the nation’s ‘untouchables’, who from around the 1930s had begun to call themselves dalit or oppressed.
• For long the Congress had ignored the dalits, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus. Dr B R Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits.
• Muslims – except in NWFP under Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan – show apathetic response. They were polarized by communal rhetorics of leaders as well as government’s positive response to their demands. After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress. From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha. As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each community organised religious processions with militant fervour, provoking Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in various cities.
• Lukewarm Support from Industrial Class
• Poor participant from peasants.

Non-Cooperation vs Civil Disobedience Movement

People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British, as they had done in 1921-22, but also to break colonial laws. So, it was an ideological progression.

• i. The stated objective this time was complete independence and not just remedying two specific wrongs and a vaguely-worded swaraj.
• ii. The methods involved violation of law from the very beginning and not just non-cooperation with foreign rule.
• iii. There was a decline in forms of protests involving the intelligentsia, such as lawyers giving up practice, students giving up government schools to join national schools and colleges.
• iv. Muslim participation was nowhere near that in the Non-Cooperation Movement level.
• v. No major labour upsurge coincided with the movement.
• vi. The massive participation of peasants and business groups compensated for decline of other features.
• vii. The number of those imprisoned was about three times more this time.
• viii. The Congress was organisationally stronger.

This movement, however, catapulted Gandhi on international arena and for the first time women also participated in large number in a national movement.

Gandhi – Irwin Pact or Delhi Pact (March 1931)

Background

As British repression became harder during Civil Disobedience Movement, it led to sufferance of common people.

• In such a situation, Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the movement and he along with many others was arrested only to be released in 1931.
• Congress didn’t participate in first Round Table Conference which was though attended by Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, Chamber of Princes, the Liberals and Dalits and it was speculated that any agreement without the participation of Congress will be futile.
• Irwin was also anxious to find a solution and in a gesture he released the political prisoners and decided to directly talk to Gandhi.

In this backdrop, Gandhi entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931. The Pact and direct Gandhi-Irwin talks put Congress on equal terms with government and this move of Irwin was also criticized in Britain for shedding too much space.

Below were the proposed conditions:

i. Discontinuation of the civil disobedience movement by the Indian National Congress

ii. Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference

iii. Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the British Government imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress

iv. Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement

v. Removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use.

Things that were not accepted by British as a part of Gandhi Irwin pact or Delhi Pact:

i. However, Congress demand for a police enquiry into arrests and atrocities made during Civil Disobedience movement was rejected.

ii. Commutation of sentences of Bhagat Singh and his comrades

iii. The pact also didn’t accept demand of immediate return of the lands confiscated during movement (this caused much resentment among the radicals)

By this Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Gandhiji consented to participate in a Round Table Conference in London and the government agreed to release the political prisoners.

The pact was criticized by radicals for not extracting definite gains from government and compromising on the demand of Swaraj by agreeing to participate in Round Table Conference. Gandhiji was perhaps aware that mass movements are essentially short lived and he tried to leverage the situation by extracting some gains from British government.

Karachi Session (March 1931)

Background

The Gandhi-Irwin pact was criticised by radical nationalists, for Gandhiji was unable to obtain from the Viceroy a commitment to political independence for Indians; he could obtain merely an assurance of talks towards that possible end.

It was organised even as many Congress leaders opposed the Gandhi-Irwin pact, for the government had not accepted even one of the major nationalist demands (viz – demand for police enquiry, return of confiscated peasant lands). It had not agreed even to the demand that the death sentence on Bhagat Singh and his two comrades be commuted to life imprisonment. It was termed as a bourgeoise agreement, which ignored masses. However, the session aimed at approving Gandhi Irwin Pact.

Gandhiji prevailed upon the session to approve the agreement. He was greeted with black flag and flowers by angry protestors. Further, Gandhiji and Congress as national representatives in that congress was disputed by three sections –Muslim League, Princly states and BR Ambedkar (he accused congress of ignoring the welfare of lower castes).

However, the session is significant from following point of views:

i. It endorsed Delhi Pact or Gandhi Irwin Pact

ii. For the first time it moved a resolution on Fundamental Rights and the draft resolution was prepared by Jawahar Lal Nehru (session was presided over by Vallabhai Patel)

iii. It for the first time explained the concept of Purna Swaraj and reiterated it as goal

iv. It also declared that interests of minority will be looked after and their culture will be preserved

v. It acknowledged the brave sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and others

Two resolutions were adopted—one on Fundamental Rights and the other on National Economic Programme—which made the session particularly memorable.

The Resolution on Fundamental Rights guaranteed:

• free speech and free press
• right to form associations
• right to assemble
• universal adult franchise
• equal legal rights irrespective of caste, creed and sex
• neutrality of state in religious matters
• free and compulsory primary education
• protection to culture, language, script of minorities and linguistic groups

The Resolution on National Economic Programme included:

• substantial reduction in rent and revenue in the case of landholders and peasants 
• exemption from rent for uneconomic holdings 
• relief from agricultural indebtedness 
• control of usury 
• better conditions of work including a living wage, limited hours of work and protection of women workers in the industrial sector
• right to workers and peasants to form unions
• state ownership and control of key industries, mines and means of transport

Significance of the Karacahi Resolution

• This was the first time the Congress spelt out what swaraj would mean for the masses—”in order to end exploitation of masses, political freedom must include economic freedom of starving millions.”
• The Karachi Resolution was to remain, in essence, the basic political and economic programme of the Congress in later years.

The Round Table Conferences

The Viceroy of India Lord Irwin, and the Prime Minister of Britain, Ramsay MacDonald, agreed that a round table conference should be held, as the recommendations of the Simon Commission report were clearly inadequate.

First Round Table Conference

The first Round Table Conference was held in London between November 1930 and January 1931. It was opened officially by King George V on November 12, 1930 and chaired by Ramsay MacDonald. This was the first conference arranged between the British and the Indians as equals.

The Congress and some prominent business leadersrefused to attend, but many other groups of Indians were represented at the conference.

• The Indian princely states were represented by the Nawab of Bhopal, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja of Patiala (Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes), Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Khan (Gwalior) and others.
• The Muslim League sent Aga Khan III (leader of British-Indian delegation), Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah etc.
• The Hindu Mahasabha and its sympathisers were represented by B.S. Moonje, M.R. Jayakar.
• The Sikhs were represented by Sardar Ujjal Singh and Sardar Sampuran Singh.
• For the Parsis, Phiroze Sethna, Cowasji Jehangir and Homi Mody attended.
• Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz and Radhabai Subbarayan represented Women.
• The Liberals were represented by J.N. Basu, Tej Bahadur Sapru, etc.
• The Depressed Classes were represented by B.R. Ambedkar and Rettamalai Srinivasan. The Justice Party sent Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, Bhaskarrao Vithojirao Jadha.
• Labour was represented by N.M. Joshi. K.T. Paul represented the Indian Christians, while Henry Gidney represented the Anglo-Indians. There were also representatives of the landlords.
• The Government of India was represented by Bhupendra Nath Mitra, C.P. Ramaswami Iyer and M. Ramachandra Rao.

Outcome

Nothing much was achieved at the conference.

• It was generally agreed that India was to develop into a federation, there were to be safeguards regarding defence and finance, while other departments were to be transferred. But little was done to implement these recommendations and civil disobedience continued in India.
• The British government realised that the participation of the Indian National Congress was necessary in any discussion on the future of constitutional government in India.

Second Round Table Conference

Members of the Indian Liberal Party such as Tej Bahadur Sapru, C.Y. Chintamani etc. appealed to Gandhi to talk with the Viceroy. Gandhi and Irwin reached a compromise which came to be called the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (the Delhi Pact). The second Round Table Conference was held in London from September 7, 1931 to December 1, 1931.

The Indian National Congress nominated Gandhi as its sole representative. A. Rangaswami Iyengar and Madan Mohan Malaviya were also there. There were a large number of Indian participants, besides the Congress.

• The princely states were represented by Maharaja of Bikaner, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja of Patiala, Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Khan (Gwalior) etc.
• The Muslims were represented by Aga Khan III, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Shafi, etc.
• Hindu groups were represented by M.R. Jayakar, B.S. Moonje and Diwan Bahadur Raja Narendra Nath. 
• The Liberals at the conference were C.Y. Chintamani, Tej Bahadur Sapru, etc.
• The Justice Party sent Raja of Bobbili, Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, etc.
• The Depressed Classes were represented by B.R. Ambedkar and Rettamalai Srinivasan. Sardar Ujjal Singh and Sardar Sampuran Singh represented the Sikhs.
• The Parsis were represented by Homi Mody and Phiroze Sethna. Indian Christians were represented by Surendra Kumar Datta and A.T. Pannirselvam.
• Industry was represented by Ghanshyam Das Birla, Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas. Labour was represented by N. M. Joshi.
• The representatives for Indian women were Sarojini Naidu, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz and Radhabai Subbarayan.
• The Government of India was represented by C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, and others.

Reasons for Deadlock at Second RTC

Not much was expected from the conference because of the following reasons:

• Lord Irwin was replaced by Lord Willingdon as viceroy in India. Just before the conference began, the Labour government in England had been replaced by a National Government, a coalition between Labour and Conservatives. The British were also angered by the increased revolutionary activities which had claimed many European lives in India.
• The Right Wing or Conservatives in Britain led by Churchill strongly objected to the British government negotiating with the Congress on an equal basis. They, instead, demanded a strong government in India.
• At the conference, Gandhi (and therefore the Congress) claimed to represent all people of India against imperialism. The other delegates, however, did not share this view. Because of the participation of a large number of groups, the British government claimed that the Congress did not represent the interests of all of India.
• Gandhi pointed out that there was a need of a partnership between Britain and India on the basis of equality. He put forward the demand for the immediate establishment of a responsible government at the centre as well as in the provinces. He also reiterated that the Congress alone represented political India.
• Saying that the untouchables were Hindus, and thus not to be treated as a minority, Gandhi discarded the idea of a separate electorate for them. He also said there was no need for separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities. Many of the other delegates disagreed with Gandhi.
• The session soon got deadlocked on the question ofthe minorities. Separate electorates were being demanded by the Muslims, depressed classes, Christians and Anglo-Indians.
• The princes were also not too enthusiastic about a federation, especially after the possibility of the formation of a Congress government at the centre had receded after the suspension of civil disobedience movement.

Outcome

The lack of agreement among the many delegate groups meant that no substantial results regarding India’s constitutional future would come out of the conference. The session ended with MacDonald’s announcement of:

(i) two Mulsim majority provinces—North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Sindh;

(ii) the setting up of an Indian Consultative Committee;

(iii) setting up of three expert committees—finance, franchise and states; and

(iv) the prospect of a unilateral British CommunalAward if Indians failed to agree.

The government refused to concede the basic Indian demand of freedom. Gandhi returned to India on December 28, 1931.

Third Round Table Conference

The third Round Table Conference, held between November 17, 1932 and December 24, 1932, was not attended by the Indian National Congress and Gandhi. It was ignored by most other Indian leaders.

• The Indian States were represented by Wajahat Hussain (Jammu and Kashmir), Sir Sukhdeo Prasad (Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur), Raja of Sarila (small states) etc.
• Other Indian representatives were Aga Khan III, B.R. Ambedkar, , Nanak Chand Pandit, Muhammad Iqbal, M.R. Jayakar, Cowasji Jehangir, N.M. Joshi, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas, etc.

Outcome

Again, like in the two previous conferences, little was achieved.

• The recommendations were published in a White Paper in March 1933 and debated in the British Parliament afterwards.
• A Joint Select Committee was formed to analyse the recommendations and formulate a new Act for India, and that committee produced a draft Bill in February 1935 which was enforced as the Government of India Act of 1935 in July 1935.

Second Phase of Civil Disobedience Movement

Back in India, Gandhi discovered that the government had begun a new cycle of repression.

• Gaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in jail, the Congress had been declared illegal, and a series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations and boycotts.
• Press was gagged and Congress was still facing ban.
• New Viceroy Willington and Secretary of State had adopted a tough stance against Gandhi and they decided not to negotiate any further like the former Viceroy Irwin did earlier.

On the failure of the second Round Table Conference, the Congress Working Committee decided on December 29, 1931 to resume the civil disobedience movement. With great apprehension, Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement. For over a year, the movement continued, but by 1934 it lost its momentum due to severe repression by government.

Government Response

• A series of repressive ordinances were issued which ushered in a virtual martial law, though under civilian control, or a ‘Civil Martial Law’.
• Congress organisations at all levels were banned; arrests were made of activists, leaders, sympathisers; properties were confiscated; Gandhi ashrams were occupied.
• Repression was particularly harsh on women. Press was gagged and nationalist literature, banned.

People’s Response

People responded with anger. Though unprepared, the response was massive. In the first four months alone, about 80,000 satyagrahis, mostly urban and rural poor, were jailed.

Other forms of protest included picketing of shops selling liquor and foreign cloth, illegal gatherings, nonviolent demonstrations, celebrations of national days, symbolic hoistings of national flag, non-payment of chowkidara tax, salt satyagraha, forest law violations and installation of a secret radio transmitter near Bombay.

This phase of the civil disobedience movement coincided with upsurges in two princely states—Kashmir and Alwar. But this phase of the movement could not be sustained for long because:

• Gandhi and other leaders had no time to build up the tempo; and
• the masses were not prepared.

Finally, in April 1934, Gandhi decided to withdraw the civil disobedience movement. Though people had been cowed down by superior force, they had not lost political faith in the Congress—they had won freedom in their hearts.

Causes of Failure of Second Phase of Civil Disobedience Movement

• Major Leaders were behind bars
• Poor Support from Peasantry
• Inertia and apparent disappointment from Gandhian politics

To break the lull in activities, council entry was suggested on the line of Swarajists by Satayamurti which was later endorsed by likes of Bhulabhai Desai, M A Ansari. As a result Congress participated in Central Legislative Elections of 1934 and it won a heavy majority.

Within Congress as well, an alternative ideological development happened and Congress Socialist Party was born as a left leaning faction.

New Viceroy Willigdon who replaced Irwin believed that government did a major mistake by reaching a truce with Congress and by putting Gandhi on equal par. He was determined this time to crush Congress.

Communal Award (1932) And Poona Pact (1933)

Background

In the wake of inconclusive Round Table Talks, British government had declared that, if a consensus was not reached on separate representation of minorities, a unilateral communal award will be made. Government kept its promise in form of Communal Award of 1932.

The Communal Award was by the British Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald on 4 August 1932 to grant separate electorates to minority communities in India, including Muslims, Sikhs, and Dalit (then known as the Depressed Classes or Untouchables) in India (during Round Table Discussions, separate electorate was demanded by not only Muslim Leaders but by Ambedkar and other minorities as well).

The depressed classes were assigned a number of seats to be filled by election from special constituencies in which voters belonging to the depressed classes only could vote. The award was opposed for provision of separate electorate by Congress and other nationalist leaders and was viewed as a part of ‘Divide and Rule’ policy of Britain.

Gandhi’s Response

The Award was highly controversial and opposed by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi called the award as – ‘English Attack on Hindu-Muslim Unity’.

• He argued that what Dalits need is eradication of untouchability and discrimination and not further division.
• In the award he saw similar consequences of Muslim having separate electorate and ultimately demanding a separate nation.
• He began an indefinite hunger strike at Yerwada Central Jail from September 20, 1932 to protest this Award.

Communal Award was supported by many among the minority communities, most notably the Dalit leader, Dr. B R Ambedkar. Madan Mohan Malviya acted as a mediator between Gandhi and Ambedkar and after lengthy negotiations, Gandhi reached an agreement with Dr. Ambedkar to have a single Hindu electorate, with Dalits having seats reserved within it (in fact, seats for Dalits were increased after the Pact). This is called the Poona Pact. Electorates for other religions like Muslim and Sikh remained separate.

Poona Pact

Signed by B.R. Ambedkar on behalf of the depressed classes on September 24, 1932, the Poona Pact abandoned the idea of separate electorates for the depressed classes. But the seats reserved for the depressed classes were increased from 71 to 147 in provincial legislatures and to 18 per cent of the total in the Central Legislature.

The Poona Pact was accepted by the government as an amendment to the Communal Award

Impact of Poona Pact on Dalits

The Poona Pact, despite giving certain political rights to the depressed classes, could not achieve the desired goal of emancipation of the depressed class. It enabled the same old Hindu social order to continue and gave birth to many problems.

• The Pact made the depressed classes political tools which could be used by the majoritarian caste Hindu organisations.
• It made the depressed classes leaderless as the true representatives of the classes were unable to win against the stooges who were chosen and supported by the caste Hindu organisations.
• This led to the depressed classes to submit to the status quo in political, ideological and cultural fields and not being able to develop independent and genuine leadership to fight the Brahminical order.
• It subordinated the depressed classes into being part of the Hindu social order by denying them a separate and distinct existence.
• The Poona Pact perhaps put obstructions in the way of an ideal society based on equality, liberty, fraternity and justice.
• By denying to recognise the Dalits as a separate and distinct element in the national life, it preempted the rights and safeguards for the Dalits in the Constitution of independent India.

Gandhi’s Efforts Towards Upliftment of Dalits

After the Poona pact, Gandhi put renewed effort towards upliftment of Dalits. While in jail, he set up the All India Anti-Untouchability League in September 1932 and started the weekly Harijan in January 1933. After his release, he shifted to the Satyagraha Ashram in Wardha as he had vowed in 1930 not to return to Sabarmati Ashram unless swaraj was won. He also spent one year in community service of Dalits and spreading the message of untouchability.

Throughout his campaign, Gandhi was attacked by orthodox and reactionary elements. These elements disrupted his meetings, held black flag demonstrations against him and accused him of attacking Hinduism. They also offered support to the government against the Congress and the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The government obliged them by defeating the Temple Entry Bill in August 1934. Orthodox Hindu opinion in Bengal was against the acceptance of permanent caste Hindu minority status by the Poona Pact. Throughout his Harijan tour, social work and fasts, Gandhi stressed on certain themes:

• He put forward a damning indictment of Hindu society for the kind of oppression practised on Harijans.
• He called for total eradication of untouchability symbolised by his plea to throw open temples to the untouchables.
• He stressed the need for caste Hindus to do ‘penance’ for untold miseries inflicted on Harijans. For this reason, he was not hostile to his critics such as Ambedkar.
• His entire campaign was based on principles of humanism and reason. He said that the Shastras do not sanction untouchability, and if they did, they should be ignored as it was against human dignity.

Gandhi was not in favour of mixing up the issue of removal of untouchability with that of inter-caste marriages and inter-dining because he felt that such restrictions existed among caste Hindus and among Harijans themselves, and because the all-India campaign at the time was directed against disabilities specific to Harijans.

Gandhi’s Harijan campaign included a programme of internal reform by Harijans covering education, cleanliness, hygiene, giving up eating of beef and carrion and consumption of liquor, and removing untouchability among themselves.

Impact of the Campaign

• Gandhi repeatedly described the campaign as not a political movement but as being primarily meant to purify Hinduism and Hindu society.
• Gradually, the campaign carried the message of nationalism to Harijans who also happened to be the agricultural labourers in most parts of the country, leading to their increasing participation in the national and peasant movements.

Soon after that in 1934, Gandhi renounced the membership of Congress and expressed his desire to put Jawahar in as next leader. As a result, Jawahar was elected president in 1935 and 1936.

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