Swarajists to Civil Disobedience: Simon Commission, Purna Swaraj, Salt March and the Round Table Conferences

After non-cooperation: Swarajists and No-changers

After Gandhi's arrest in 1922, the Congress was divided on what to do next.

• The Swarajists ("pro-changers"), led by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru, wanted to enter the legislative councils created by the 1919 Act and wreck them from within by obstructing government business. They formed the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party in January 1923 (C.R. Das president, Motilal Nehru secretary).
• The No-changers, led by C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Ansari, wanted to continue Gandhi's constructive programme – khadi, national schools, Hindu–Muslim unity and anti-untouchability work.

The two sides agreed at the Delhi special session (1923) to let the Swarajists contest elections. In the 1923 elections they did well. Vithalbhai Patel became the first Indian President (Speaker) of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1925. The Swarajists defeated several government measures and exposed the hollowness of the 1919 reforms. After C.R. Das died in 1925, the party weakened, and in 1930 it rejoined the Congress for civil disobedience.

The mid-1920s also saw communal riots, the growth of the Hindu Mahasabha and Tablighi and shuddhi movements, the founding of the Communist Party of India (Tashkent 1920; Kanpur conference 1925), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (1925), workers' and peasants' parties, and a radical youth movement led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose.

The Simon Commission (1927–28)

The 1919 Act had promised a review after ten years. In November 1927, the British government appointed the Indian Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon, two years early. All seven members, including Clement Attlee, were British – no Indian was included, which Indians saw as an insult.

The Congress (Madras session, 1927, under M.A. Ansari) decided to boycott it "at every stage and in every form", and the session also passed a resolution for complete independence moved by Nehru. When the Commission landed in Bombay on 3 February 1928, there were hartals and black-flag demonstrations with the slogan "Simon Go Back". In Lahore (October 1928), Lala Lajpat Rai was severely beaten in a police lathi charge and died in November; his words were "every blow on my body is a nail in the coffin of British rule". In Lucknow, Nehru and G.B. Pant were beaten. The Commission's report (1930) recommended provincial autonomy and a federation, ideas later used in the 1935 Act.

The Nehru Report (1928)

Secretary of State Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians to produce an agreed constitution. An All Parties Conference appointed a committee under Motilal Nehru (with Jawaharlal Nehru as secretary), which submitted the Nehru Report in August 1928:

• Dominion status for India.
• Joint electorates with reservation of seats for minorities only where they were a minority (no separate electorates).
• A list of 19 fundamental rights, including equal rights for women and universal adult franchise.
• Linguistic provinces, a responsible government at the centre and in provinces, and a federal form.

Jinnah proposed amendments (one-third seats for Muslims in the central legislature, residuary powers to provinces) at the Calcutta All Parties Convention; when they were rejected, he issued his Fourteen Points (March 1929). Younger leaders like Nehru and Bose opposed the goal of dominion status and formed the Independence for India League. The Calcutta session (December 1928) gave the government one year to accept the report, failing which the Congress would demand complete independence.

Lahore Congress and Purna Swaraj (1929)

Viceroy Lord Irwin announced in October 1929 that dominion status was the natural goal of India and promised a Round Table Conference, but gave no date. The Congress was not satisfied. At the Lahore session (December 1929), presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru:

• Purna Swaraj (complete independence) was declared the goal of the Congress.
• The Congress Working Committee was authorised to launch civil disobedience, including non-payment of taxes.
• The Round Table Conference was to be boycotted.
• On 31 December 1929, the tricolour was hoisted on the banks of the Ravi.
• 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day across India; this is why the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950.

The Civil Disobedience Movement and the Salt March

Gandhi sent Irwin eleven demands (January 1930), including reduction of land revenue and military spending, abolition of the salt tax, release of political prisoners and protective tariffs. When they were ignored, he chose salt as the symbol, because the tax hit every Indian, rich or poor.

• Dandi March: Gandhi set out from Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March 1930 with 78 followers, walked about 385 km (240 miles), and broke the salt law at Dandi on the Gujarat coast on 6 April 1930.
• The movement spread: C. Rajagopalachari led a salt march from Trichinopoly to Vedaranyam (Tamil Nadu); K. Kelappan marched from Calicut to Payyanur (Kerala); Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib and Manilal Gandhi led the raid on the Dharasana salt works (Gujarat), where volunteers were brutally beaten, as reported by the American journalist Webb Miller.
• In the North-West Frontier Province, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi") led the Khudai Khidmatgars ("Red Shirts"); at Peshawar (Qissa Khwani Bazaar, April 1930), troops of the Garhwal Rifles under Chandra Singh Garhwali refused to fire on unarmed crowds.
• In Manipur and Nagaland, Rani Gaidinliu led a rebellion and was imprisoned; Nehru called her "Rani".
• Other forms: no-revenue campaigns in Gujarat, no-chowkidari-tax in Bihar, forest satyagrahas in Maharashtra, Karnataka and the Central Provinces, and boycott of foreign cloth and liquor. Women took part in very large numbers for the first time.

Gandhi–Irwin Pact and the Round Table Conferences

The Gandhi–Irwin Pact (Delhi Pact), 5 March 1931, placed the Congress on equal terms with the government for the first time. The government agreed to release political prisoners not guilty of violence, allow collection of salt for personal use in coastal villages, return confiscated property, and allow peaceful picketing. The Congress agreed to suspend civil disobedience and attend the Second RTC. The pact was endorsed at the Karachi session (March 1931) under Vallabhbhai Patel, which also passed resolutions on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme. It was criticised because it did not save Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, who were hanged on 23 March 1931.

After the failure of the second RTC, Viceroy Willingdon cracked down; Gandhi was arrested in January 1932, and civil disobedience resumed until it was formally withdrawn in 1934.

The Communal Award and the Poona Pact (1932)

British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award (16 August 1932), which extended separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi, then in Yerawada jail, began a fast unto death on 20 September 1932, arguing that this would divide Hindu society permanently. The Poona Pact (24 September 1932) between Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar replaced separate electorates for Depressed Classes with joint electorates and reserved seats – 148 seats in provincial legislatures, compared with 71 under the Award. Gandhi then launched his anti-untouchability campaign and founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh.

Mains practice question

Q. "Salt was a masterstroke of political communication." Explain with reference to the Civil Disobedience Movement. (150 words)

Framework: universal grievance; symbolism of the march; spread to regions and classes; participation of women and the frontier; the Gandhi–Irwin Pact; difference from non-cooperation (law-breaking vs non-cooperation).

Quick self-test

1. Who was the first Indian Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly? *(Vithalbhai Patel, 1925)*
2. Who chaired the committee that drafted the Nehru Report? *(Motilal Nehru)*
3. Where was Purna Swaraj declared? *(Lahore, 1929)*
4. Which RTC did Gandhi attend? *(Second, 1931)*