Struggle for Swaraj 1925–1939 — Complete UPSC Notes

1. Post-Non-Cooperation Landscape 1922–1925

1.1 Chauri Chaura & the Bardoli Resolution — 12 February 1922

On 4 February 1922 a procession of non-cooperators at Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur district, UP) was fired on by police; the crowd burnt down the police station killing 22 policemen. Gandhi was shocked. At the Bardoli session of the Congress Working Committee on 12 February 1922 he unilaterally withdrew the Non-Cooperation movement — over the protests of Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das and Subhas Bose. Gandhi was arrested 10 March 1922, tried by Judge Broomfield at Ahmedabad on 18 March 1922 (the famous "Great Trial"), and sentenced to 6 years simple imprisonment.

1.2 The political vacuum

• Gandhi in jail (until 5 February 1924, released early on medical grounds for appendicitis).
• Khilafat movement collapsed after Mustafa Kemal abolished the Caliphate (3 March 1924).
• Communal tension on the rise — Moplah rebellion (Aug 1921) had already polarised Kerala; Kohat riots (Sep 1924) shook the North.
• Congress lost momentum — the question was: what now?

1.3 The Pro-Changers vs No-Changers debate

• No-Changers — Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, M.A. Ansari — wanted to continue Gandhi's constructive programme (khadi, anti-untouchability, Hindu-Muslim unity).
• Pro-Changers — Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das — wanted to enter the legislatures created by the Government of India Act 1919 and obstruct them from within.
• At the Gaya Congress (December 1922, presided over by C.R. Das), the Pro-Changers were defeated.

2. The Swaraj Party 1923–1926

2.1 Founding

• Founded as the Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party on 1 January 1923 at Allahabad.
• C.R. Das — President; Motilal Nehru — Secretary.
• Functioned as a wing within the Congress, not a breakaway party.
• Endorsed at the special Congress at Delhi in September 1923 (M.A. Ansari presiding).

2.2 Programme

• Contest elections to legislative councils under the GoI Act 1919.
• If elected, obstruct the working of the councils until self-government is granted — "uniform, continuous and consistent obstruction".
• Reject offices and refuse cooperation with reformed councils.

2.3 Performance in the 1923 elections

• Won 42 of 101 elected seats in the Central Legislative Assembly.
• Majority in Central Provinces; second-largest in Bengal and Bombay; minority in UP and Madras.
• In the Centre, allied with Madan Mohan Malaviya's Independent Party and Jinnah's Independent Muslim Party.

2.4 Achievements in the Assembly

• Defeated the official Finance Bill thrice (1925, 1926, 1927).
• Vithalbhai Patel elected first Indian President (Speaker) of the Central Legislative Assembly on 24 August 1925.
• Demanded release of political prisoners, repeal of repressive laws, Indianisation of services.
• Forced the appointment of the Muddiman Committee 1924 to review the working of the 1919 reforms.

2.5 Decline

• C.R. Das died 16 June 1925 — severe blow.
• Communal split — "Responsivists" (Malaviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, N.C. Kelkar) left the Swaraj Party in 1926 over the Hindu-Muslim question and to accept office.
• At the 1926 elections the Swarajists held only 40 seats and the party effectively merged back into the Congress after Lahore 1929.

3. Revolutionary Activities 1924–1931

3.1 Revival of revolutionary terrorism

The collapse of Non-Cooperation in 1922 left many young nationalists disillusioned with Gandhian methods. Two regional clusters revived in the mid-1920s — one in Bengal, one in Punjab/UP.

3.2 Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), 1924

• Founded October 1924 at Kanpur by Sachindranath Sanyal, Ramprasad Bismil, Yogesh Chandra Chatterji, Jogesh Chandra Chatterji.
• Sanyal had earlier (1913) been with the Yugantar; written Bandi Jeevan (1922) — a manual of revolutionary autobiography.
• Manifesto: "The Revolutionary", drafted by Sanyal, circulated January 1925.
• Goal: federal republic of the United States of India by armed revolution.

3.3 Kakori Train Robbery — 9 August 1925

• HRA team led by Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan stopped the 8 Down train at Kakori (near Lucknow), looted Rs 4679 of government treasury cash to fund revolutionary activity.
• Trial at Lucknow 1926–27. Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri hanged (19 December 1927 — Bismil, Roshan, Lahiri; 17 December 1927 — Ashfaqulla at Faizabad).
• Sanyal sentenced to life in the Andamans.
• Bismil's couplet "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai" became the anthem of the revolutionary movement.

3.4 Bengal — Chittagong & Dhaka

• Anushilan and Jugantar revived in mid-1920s after release of prisoners.
• Bengal Volunteers — founded 1928 by Subhas Chandra Bose at the Calcutta Congress; later linked to revolutionary work.
• Chittagong Armoury Raid — 18 April 1930 — led by Surya Sen ("Masterda"); seized police and auxiliary force armouries at Chittagong, hoisted national flag at Jalalabad Hills, declared a "Provisional Revolutionary Government". Battle of Jalalabad 22 April 1930; Surya Sen captured 1933, hanged with Tarakeswar Dastidar on 12 January 1934.
• Pritilata Waddedar — led attack on European Club at Pahartali on 24 September 1932; consumed cyanide rather than be captured.
• Kalpana Datta — another Surya Sen associate, captured 1933, life imprisonment, released 1939.

4. HSRA, Bhagat Singh & the Saunders Killing

4.1 Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA)

• The HRA was reorganised at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on 8–9 September 1928 as the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association with a socialist programme.
• Founding members: Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar, Shivaram Rajguru, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Jaidev Kapoor, Bijoy Kumar Sinha, Phanindra Nath Ghosh, Kundan Lal, Surendra Pandey.
• Goal: socialist republic by armed revolution.
• Manifesto "Philosophy of the Bomb" (1930) drafted by Bhagwati Charan Vohra; "Why I am an Atheist" (1930) by Bhagat Singh.

4.2 The Saunders Killing — 17 December 1928

• Lala Lajpat Rai was lathi-charged at Lahore on 30 October 1928 leading the anti-Simon protest; died on 17 November 1928 from injuries.
• HSRA vowed revenge. Target: Superintendent of Police James Scott. By mistake, on 17 December 1928, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad shot dead Assistant Superintendent J.P. Saunders outside Lahore Kotwali.
• Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev escaped Lahore in disguise (Bhagat Singh in Western clothes, accompanied by Durga Bhabhi).

4.3 Central Assembly Bomb — 8 April 1929

• Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw two low-explosive bombs into the visitors' gallery of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi as the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill were being voted on.
• Bombs deliberately thrown to empty spaces (no fatalities); leaflets thrown declaring "It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear."
• Bhagat Singh and Dutt voluntarily surrendered, used the trial as a propaganda platform.

4.4 Lahore Conspiracy Case & martyrdom

• Bhagat Singh's identity as the Saunders killer was discovered. Tried in the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case.
• In jail, Bhagat Singh and others undertook a 116-day hunger strike (15 June – 5 October 1929) demanding political prisoner status; Jatin Das died on day 63 (13 September 1929).
• Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar hanged at Lahore Central Jail on 23 March 1931, a day earlier than the scheduled 24 March, to avoid the public.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad shot himself with his last bullet at Alfred Park, Allahabad, on 27 February 1931 to avoid arrest.

4.5 Significance

• Bhagat Singh's "Inquilab Zindabad" became the anthem of Indian revolutionary politics.
• HSRA was the first Indian revolutionary group to formally adopt socialism as goal.
• Bhagat Singh's writings in prison (jail notebook, "Why I am an Atheist", letters) made him the first revolutionary intellectual of modern India.
• His execution, in the middle of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact negotiations, created lifelong bitterness; the Karachi Congress (March 1931) passed a resolution dissociating from political violence but admiring "the valour and sacrifice" of the three martyrs.

5. Simon Commission 1927–1930

5.1 Appointment

• The Government of India Act 1919 required a review after ten years. The Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, fearing a Labour government would appoint a more sympathetic commission, advanced the timetable.
• Announced 8 November 1927; arrived in India 3 February 1928 at Bombay.
• All seven members were British — led by Sir John Simon (Liberal) and Clement Attlee (Labour, future Prime Minister) among the others.
• No Indian member — the entire grievance.

5.2 Indian response — the boycott

• Madras Congress 1927 (M.A. Ansari presiding) resolved to boycott the Commission "at every stage".
• 3 February 1928 — nation-wide hartal; black flags; the slogan "Simon Go Back" first raised by Yusuf Mehrali at the Bombay docks.
• Lahore, 30 October 1928 — Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest procession; lathi-charged by Superintendent J.A. Scott; died on 17 November 1928 of resulting injuries. Lajpat Rai had said: "Every blow that was hurled at us today is a nail in the coffin of the British empire."
• Lucknow, 30 November 1928 — Jawaharlal Nehru and Govind Ballabh Pant were both lathi-charged.
• Pant was permanently injured; Nehru recorded the experience in his autobiography.

5.3 The Commission's report

• Published 1930 (Volume I and Volume II).
• Recommended abolition of dyarchy in provinces & introduction of provincial autonomy.
• Recommended federation including British India and Princely States.
• Recommended retention of communal electorates.
• Did not concede dominion status — the principal Indian demand.

5.4 Significance

• The boycott unified Indian opinion across parties — Congress, League, Hindu Mahasabha, Liberal Federation.
• Made the British realise that no constitutional settlement could be imposed without consulting Indians.
• Drove the Indians to draft their own constitution — the Nehru Report.
• Provided the spark for the Bhagat Singh–Saunders incident and the eventual radicalisation.

6. Nehru Report 1928 & Jinnah's Fourteen Points

6.1 The All-Parties Conference

• February 1928 — in response to Birkenhead's challenge to Indians to "produce a constitution that secures broad-based agreement among themselves".
• Conference held at Delhi (Feb), Bombay (May), and at Allahabad — appointed a sub-committee under Motilal Nehru on 19 May 1928 with Tej Bahadur Sapru, Ali Imam, M.S. Aney, Mangal Singh, Shoaib Qureshi, G.R. Pradhan, N.M. Joshi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Report submitted 10 August 1928 at Lucknow.

6.2 Key recommendations

• Dominion status for India — the central political demand.
• Linguistic reorganisation of provinces.
• Adult suffrage.
• Joint electorates with reservation of seats for Muslims in minority provinces and at the Centre.
• No separate electorates.
• Bill of Fundamental Rights — 19 rights including equality before law, religious freedom, free elementary education.
• Federal structure with residuary powers at the Centre.
• Responsible government at both Centre and provinces.
• Strong Centre with bicameral legislature.
• Hindi as the official language (English permitted for 10 years).

6.3 Significance

• First detailed Indian-drafted constitutional proposal — the practical ancestor of the 1950 Constitution.
• The Fundamental Rights chapter of the Nehru Report is the direct ancestor of Part III of the Constitution of India.
• The Muslim leadership found the report's rejection of separate electorates and weightage unacceptable.

6.4 Jinnah's Fourteen Points — 28 March 1929

Jinnah, then still attempting to reach a settlement, attended the All-Parties Conference at Calcutta in December 1928 with three "amendments" to the Nehru Report:

1. One-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature.
2. Reservation of seats for Muslims in Bengal and Punjab proportional to their population (i.e., majority status).
3. Residuary powers to provinces, not the Centre.

All three rejected. A bitter Jinnah went to Delhi and on 28 March 1929 issued the famous Fourteen Points through the All-India Muslim League:

• Federal constitution with residuary powers to provinces.
• Uniform provincial autonomy.
• Effective representation of minorities in every province (no majority should be reduced to a minority).
• One-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature.
• Communal representation by separate electorates until Muslims decide to forgo them.
• No constitutional change to be made without consent of provinces.
• Full religious liberty.
• No Bill or resolution to be passed if three-fourths of the affected community oppose it.
• Sindh to be separated from Bombay.
• Reforms in NWFP and Baluchistan on the same footing as other provinces.
• Adequate share for Muslims in the services.
• Protection of Muslim culture, language, religion, personal law, charitable institutions.
• One-third Muslim representation in central and provincial cabinets.
• No central legislature amendment to the constitution without consent of all federating units.

7. Calcutta Congress 1928 & Run-up to Lahore

7.1 Calcutta Congress, December 1928

• Presided by Motilal Nehru.
• Adopted the Nehru Report but with a one-year ultimatum: if Dominion Status is not granted by 31 December 1929, the Congress will launch Civil Disobedience for Purna Swaraj.
• Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to demand complete independence immediately; lost the vote.
• "Independence for India League" formed by Bose, J. Nehru, S. Srinivasa Iyengar (October 1928) to press for complete independence.

7.2 The Irwin Declaration — 31 October 1929

• Viceroy Lord Irwin, returning from London, declared that the goal of British policy was dominion status for India and announced a Round Table Conference to discuss the implementation.
• The declaration was deliberately vague on timeline.

7.3 The Delhi Manifesto — 1 November 1929

• Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, M.A. Jinnah, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Vithalbhai Patel and others met Irwin in Delhi and demanded that the Round Table Conference proceed on the basis that dominion status was the agreed objective.
• Irwin refused; the Conservative opposition in London (Churchill) forced him to disavow any firm commitment.

7.4 Final reckoning

• The All-India Muslim Conference (Jan 1929) and the AIML had already passed resolutions opposing the Nehru Report and demanding Jinnah's 14 Points.
• The British equivocation on dominion status, combined with Lajpat Rai's death, Bhagat Singh's actions, the Meerut Conspiracy arrests (20 March 1929 — 33 trade union leaders including SA Dange, Muzaffar Ahmad, Philip Spratt, Ben Bradley) and the general radicalisation of opinion made the Lahore confrontation inevitable.

8. Lahore Congress & Purna Swaraj — 31 December 1929

8.1 The session

• 44th session of the Indian National Congress, Lahore, 27–31 December 1929.
• Presided by Jawaharlal Nehru, aged 40 — chosen by Gandhi as the symbol of the younger generation. (Gandhi had himself proposed Vallabhbhai Patel; the AICC chose Nehru.)
• Site: banks of the Ravi River.

8.2 The Purna Swaraj resolution — 19 December 1929 (CWC), ratified at Congress

• Congress Working Committee at Lahore passed the Purna Swaraj (complete independence) resolution.
• The Congress under Nehru's presidency formally adopted it on the night of 31 December 1929 / 1 January 1930.
• The Indian tricolour was unfurled at the banks of the Ravi at midnight on 31 December 1929 — the first symbolic raising of the national flag as the flag of a free India.

8.3 The Independence Day Pledge

• The Congress called for 26 January 1930 to be observed as "Purna Swaraj Day" / Independence Day.
• The Independence Day Pledge drafted by Gandhi was read out at meetings in villages and towns across the country on 26 January 1930.
• From 1930 to 1947, 26 January was Independence Day. After 26 January 1950 became Republic Day, the date carried its symbolic weight forward.

8.4 Other Lahore resolutions

• Authorised the Working Committee to launch Civil Disobedience.
• Withdrew Congress representation from legislatures.
• Boycott of the Round Table Conference.

9. Civil Disobedience: The Salt March

9.1 Choice of salt

• Salt was a universal necessity, taxed by the British under the Salt Act 1882; salt manufacture was a government monopoly.
• Salt cut across class, caste and religion — perfect symbol for mass mobilisation.
• Cabinet members and Congress colleagues (Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Patel) were initially baffled by the choice; Gandhi knew exactly what he was doing.

9.2 The Eleven Demands — 31 January 1930

Gandhi addressed an "Eleven Points" letter to Viceroy Irwin (31 January 1930 in Young India) including:

1. Total prohibition.
2. Reduction of land revenue by 50%.
3. Abolition of salt tax and government monopoly.
4. Reduction of military expenditure by half.
5. Reduction of civil service salaries by half.
6. Protective tariffs against foreign cloth.
7. Reservation of coastal shipping for Indians.
8. Rupee–sterling ratio change (from 1s 6d to 1s 4d).
9. Discharge of all political prisoners.
10. Abolition of CID.
11. Issue of firearms licences for self-defence subject to popular control.

9.3 The Dandi March, 12 March–6 April 1930

• Started 12 March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.
• 78 (Gandhi himself plus 78, or 78 including him — both readings exist) selected ashramites including Acharya Vinoba Bhave, P.K. Khare, P.G. Mathai, A. Sastri, Pandit Khare.
• Route: 240 miles to Dandi on the Gujarat coast through Aslali, Bareja, Navagam, Wasna, Matar, Nadiad, Anand, Borsad, Ras, Kankapura, Kareli, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Sajod, Samni, Tralsa, Chhaparia, Karadi (last halt) — passing through 4 districts (Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Bharuch, Navsari) and ~48 villages.
• Pace: about 10–15 miles per day; 24 days.
• Reached Dandi 5 April 1930 evening; at dawn on 6 April 1930 Gandhi picked up a handful of natural salt on the beach — "With this salt, I am shaking the foundations of an empire."

9.4 Coverage & impact

• Covered by Indian and international press as no Indian event had been.
• American journalist Webb Miller at Dharasana (21 May 1930) reported the brutal lathi-charge on satyagrahis to American papers — turned US opinion sharply against British rule.
• Photograph of Gandhi at Dandi became iconic — Time magazine named him "Man of the Year" 1930.

9.5 Dharasana Salt Satyagraha — 21 May 1930

• After Gandhi's arrest on the night of 4–5 May 1930, the next planned action was the raid on the Dharasana Salt Works (Surat district).
• Led by Abbas Tyabji (after his arrest, by Sarojini Naidu, and after her arrest, by Manilal Gandhi and Imam Saheb).
• Webb Miller's despatch: "Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows… the police rushed out and methodically and mechanically beat down the second column."

10. Civil Disobedience: National & Mass Spread

10.1 Regional spread

• Tamil Nadu — C. Rajagopalachari led salt march from Trichy to Vedaranyam (13 April–30 April 1930).
• Malabar — K. Kelappan led march from Calicut to Payyanur (April 1930).
• Andhra — Tanguturi Prakasam (April 1930).
• Bombay — Sarojini Naidu, Manilal Gandhi led the salt satyagraha at Wadala.
• Assam — agitation against the "Cunningham Circular" requiring students to give a good-conduct pledge.
• Bengal — movement of dock workers in Calcutta; chowkidari (village watchman) tax refusal in Midnapore.
• UP — no-rent campaign in Rae Bareli, Agra, Allahabad.
• Bihar — no-chowkidari-tax campaign.
• Gujarat — no-revenue campaign at Bardoli, Borsad and Kheda (where Patel had already won the Bardoli Satyagraha 1928).
• NWFP — the most dramatic episode — see below.
• Nagaland — Rani Gaidinliu (then 16 years old) led the Heraka movement against British rule in the Naga Hills 1930–32; sentenced to life imprisonment by the British; released 1947 by Nehru. (Nehru gave her the title "Rani".)

10.2 Khudai Khidmatgar & Peshawar — 23 April 1930

• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi") founded the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) in NWFP in 1929 — the famous "Red Shirts".
• Arrested on 23 April 1930; massive demonstration at Kissa Khani Bazaar (Peshawar) the same day.
• Two platoons of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on unarmed Pashtun protestors — the legendary Chandra Singh Garhwali incident.
• Peshawar was effectively in nationalist hands for over a week (23 April – 4 May 1930).

10.3 Forms of struggle

• Manufacture of salt by Indians.
• Boycott of foreign cloth, liquor shops, government schools and colleges.
• Non-payment of revenue and chowkidari tax.
• Picketing of liquor shops and foreign-cloth shops by women.
• Violation of forest laws by tribals in Maharashtra, CP, Karnataka.
• Resignations from government services (rare).

10.4 Repression

• Approximately 90,000 arrests by end-1930.
• Press Ordinance March 1930, Working Committee declared unlawful, ban on Congress organisations.
• Gandhi arrested 5 May 1930 under Regulation XXV of 1827; lodged at Yerwada Jail.

10.5 Distinctive features

• Women's participation — massive; Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Sarojini Naidu, Mridula Sarabhai, Hansa Mehta — tens of thousands of women picketed shops, courted arrest.
• Geographic reach — first all-India mass movement involving NWFP, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, UP, CP, Bombay, Gujarat — simultaneously.
• Muslim participation — lower than in Non-Cooperation; significant in NWFP (Khudai Khidmatgar), Bengal (Chittagong) and parts of UP.
• Business community — FICCI (founded 1927) and Bombay merchants supported the movement, contributed funds.

11. First Round Table Conference Nov 1930 – Jan 1931

11.1 Setting

• 12 November 1930 – 19 January 1931, St James's Palace, London.
• Inaugurated by King George V; chaired by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald (Labour).
• 89 delegates — 16 British (3 parties), 16 princes, 57 from British India.
• Congress did not attend — entire Working Committee was in jail; the Congress had decided in Lahore (1929) to boycott.

11.2 Key delegates

• Liberals: Tej Bahadur Sapru, M.R. Jayakar, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, C.Y. Chintamani.
• Muslim League: Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Aga Khan III, Maulana Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Shafi.
• Hindu Mahasabha: B.S. Moonje, M.R. Jayakar.
• Depressed Classes: B.R. Ambedkar, Rao Bahadur Srinivasan.
• Princely States: Maharaja of Bikaner, Nawab of Bhopal, Maharaja of Patiala — their willingness to join a federation was a major surprise.

11.3 Outcomes

• Broad agreement on a federal structure including princely states.
• Provincial autonomy with responsible government.
• Dyarchy at the Centre (rather than full responsibility).
• NWFP & Sindh to become full provinces.
• Ambedkar formally demanded separate electorates for Depressed Classes — the seed of the 1932 Communal Award.
• No concrete decision — the absence of Congress made any settlement impossible.

11.4 Why it mattered

The Conference made clear to all parties — British government, princes, Liberals, Hindu Mahasabha, League, Depressed Classes — that no constitutional settlement could happen without the Congress. This created the political pressure that led to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

12. Gandhi-Irwin Pact 5 March 1931

12.1 The negotiations

• Sapru, Jayakar and Sastri brokered initial contact between the imprisoned Congress leadership and the government in early 1931.
• Gandhi released unconditionally on 26 January 1931 (along with other CWC members); discussions with Viceroy Irwin began on 17 February 1931 and continued for 14 sittings.
• Signed at New Delhi on 5 March 1931 — the "Delhi Pact".

12.2 Terms — Government side

• Withdrawal of all repressive ordinances and prosecutions.
• Release of all political prisoners except those convicted of violence.
• Return of confiscated properties of satyagrahis.
• Permission for peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign-cloth shops.
• Permission for inhabitants of villages along the coast to make salt for domestic use (a face-saving concession).
• Restoration of dismissed government servants who had resigned.

12.3 Terms — Congress side

• Suspend Civil Disobedience.
• Participate in the Second Round Table Conference.
• Withdraw the boycott of British goods (boycott as a political weapon to be suspended).
• No demand for enquiry into police excesses.

12.4 The exception that became a tragedy

• Gandhi tried to secure commutation of the death sentence of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Irwin refused; the executions went ahead on 23 March 1931, eighteen days after the pact was signed.
• Gandhi was greeted at the Karachi Congress (29 March 1931) with black flags by youth shouting "Down with Gandhism" and "Bhagat Singh Zindabad".
• The Karachi Congress passed the Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme resolution — the most radical Congress economic programme to date.

12.5 Assessment

• British recognition of the Congress as the negotiating party — Irwin was the first Viceroy to meet Gandhi as equal.
• Churchill in London called the pact "nauseating to see Mr Gandhi… striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor."
• However, in retrospect the pact gave away much (suspending mass movement) for little (release of jailed leaders, cosmetic salt concession).

13. Second Round Table Conference Sep–Dec 1931

13.1 Setting

• 7 September – 1 December 1931, St James's Palace, London.
• Gandhi sailed on the S.S. Rajputana from Bombay (29 August 1931); reached London 12 September.
• Stayed at Kingsley Hall, East End slum (Muriel Lester's settlement).
• Famously met Charlie Chaplin, Bernard Shaw, Romain Rolland, Lancashire mill workers.

13.2 Gandhi as sole Congress representative

• Gandhi was the only Congress delegate; carried the burden of representing all of "Indian opinion".
• Insisted that Congress was a "national" body representing all Indians regardless of community.

13.3 Conflict over communal representation

• Other delegations — Muslim League (Aga Khan), Sikhs, Depressed Classes (Ambedkar), Anglo-Indians — insisted on separate communal arrangements.
• Gandhi-Ambedkar conflict — the central drama. Ambedkar formally demanded separate electorates for Depressed Classes. Gandhi insisted Depressed Classes were part of the Hindu community and the Congress alone could represent them.
• The deadlock was unbridgeable.

13.4 The political situation in Britain

• Labour government had collapsed in August 1931; replaced by a Conservative-dominated "National Government" under MacDonald.
• The new government had no appetite for major concessions.
• Samuel Hoare became Secretary of State for India.

13.5 Outcome

• Two committees set up: Federal Structure & Minorities.
• No agreement on minorities; MacDonald announced he would make a "Communal Award" if Indians could not agree among themselves.
• Gandhi returned empty-handed to Bombay on 28 December 1931.
• Found that the new Viceroy Lord Willingdon had launched repression in his absence — arrest of J. Nehru (26 Dec 1931), suppression of Khudai Khidmatgar in NWFP, restrictions on Congress in UP.

14. Communal Award & Poona Pact 1932

14.1 The MacDonald Communal Award — 16 August 1932

• British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award unilaterally.
• Separate electorates extended to: Muslims (already had), Sikhs (already had), Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans — and Depressed Classes.
• Depressed Classes were to elect their own representatives in 71 reserved provincial seats, with a double vote — one in the special Depressed Classes constituency and one in the general (Hindu) constituency.

14.2 Gandhi's fast unto death — 20 September 1932

• Gandhi was in Yerwada Jail at the time.
• He wrote to MacDonald on 11 March 1932 and again to British government, warning he would fast unto death against separate electorates for Depressed Classes.
• Began fast at noon on 20 September 1932 at Yerwada Central Jail.
• Massive national mobilisation; temples opened to Depressed Classes; emergency meetings of Hindu leaders with Ambedkar, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Rajagopalachari, M.C. Rajah, Sapru, Birla.
• By 24 September, Ambedkar agreed under intense pressure to give up separate electorates in exchange for greatly expanded joint-electorate reservations.

14.3 Poona Pact — 24 September 1932 (signed at Yerwada Jail)

• Signatories: B.R. Ambedkar (for Depressed Classes) and Madan Mohan Malaviya (for Caste Hindus). Gandhi was a moral guarantor.
• Provisions:
• Joint electorates — no separate electorates for Depressed Classes.
• 148 reserved seats for Depressed Classes in provincial legislatures (up from 71 in the Award).
• 18% reservation for Depressed Classes in the Central Legislature.
• Primary elections: within Depressed Classes, the four highest scorers in a primary election would stand in the final constituency.
• Adequate representation in services; "educational facilities" for Depressed Classes.
• Gandhi ended his fast on 26 September 1932 after the British government accepted the pact.

14.4 The deeper question

• Ambedkar's view: he had been blackmailed into surrendering a political instrument (separate electorates) that would have given Depressed Classes genuine political independence.
• Gandhi's view: separate electorates would permanently divide Hindu society and consign Depressed Classes to perpetual minority status.
• The Poona Pact established the model of reserved seats with joint electorates that became the constitutional template (Article 330–332) for SC/ST representation after 1950.
• The Ambedkar-Gandhi confrontation defined the trajectory of Indian Dalit politics for the next century.

15. Civil Disobedience Resumed & Withdrawn 1932–34

15.1 The second phase of CDM, January 1932 onwards

• On Gandhi's return from London (28 Dec 1931), the new Viceroy Willingdon refused to meet him.
• On 4 January 1932, Gandhi was arrested under Regulation XXV of 1827; Civil Disobedience resumed under the leadership of Vallabhbhai Patel (also arrested), Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari.
• "Government by Ordinance" — the government issued four major ordinances in a single day (4 Jan 1932): Special Powers, Unlawful Instigation, Unlawful Association, Prevention of Molestation and Boycotting.

15.2 Repression

• By March 1933 over 120,000 arrests; the entire Congress organisation declared illegal.
• Congress newspapers banned; thousands of properties confiscated.
• Press was muzzled by the Indian Press Emergency Powers Act 1931.
• The movement was sustained through 1932 but by 1933 it was clearly exhausted.

15.3 Withdrawal

• Gandhi suspended mass civil disobedience on 8 May 1933 and confined it to individual satyagraha.
• Released from jail temporarily for his fast for anti-untouchability work.
• Conducted the Harijan Tour (Nov 1933–Aug 1934) covering 12,500 miles.
• Founded the All India Harijan Sangh (30 September 1932) and the weekly Harijan (11 February 1933).
• Mass Civil Disobedience formally withdrawn on 7 April 1934.

15.4 Gandhi's withdrawal from Congress

• At the Bombay Congress, October 1934, Gandhi formally resigned from Congress membership to focus on constructive work (khadi, untouchability, village industries).
• The "Gandhian period" of mass agitation ended; he retained moral authority but the formal Congress leadership passed to Nehru, Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Bose.

15.5 The Third Round Table Conference — 17 Nov – 24 Dec 1932

• Held without Congress and without the Labour Party.
• Only 46 delegates attended; produced the White Paper of March 1933 — the basis of the GoI Act 1935.
• British government wanted to draft an Act that could be passed by a Conservative-dominated Parliament — the result was a deeply conservative document.

16. Government of India Act 1935

16.1 Background

• White Paper March 1933 → Joint Select Committee (Lord Linlithgow chair, Nov 1933 – Nov 1934) → Bill introduced in Commons Dec 1934 → Royal assent 2 August 1935.
• Longest Act of British Parliament ever passed at that time — 321 sections, 10 schedules, ~250 pages.
• Churchill in opposition called it "a monstrous monument of shame built by the pygmies".

16.2 Key features

A. Federation

• All-India Federation of British Indian provinces and princely states.
• Accession of princely states required signature of Instrument of Accession by rulers representing 50% of states' population.
• Federation never came into existence — princes refused to accede; the federal part of the Act remained on paper. (Provincial part did operate from 1 April 1937.)

B. Provincial autonomy

• Abolition of dyarchy in provinces; dyarchy introduced at the Centre instead.
• Provincial governments fully responsible to provincial legislatures.
• Governor retained "discretionary" and "individual judgement" powers as safeguards.
• 11 provinces (NWFP, Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, CP, Bombay, Madras, UP, Assam, Sindh — Sindh separated from Bombay; Orissa separated; Bihar from Orissa; Burma separated entirely 1937).

C. Federal Subjects

• Three lists: Federal (59 subjects), Provincial (54), Concurrent (36) — the direct ancestor of the Constitution's Union/State/Concurrent Lists.
• Residuary powers with the Governor-General.

D. Bicameralism

• Federal Legislature: Council of States (260, of whom 156 from British India & 104 from states) and Federal Assembly (375, of whom 250 from BI & 125 from states).
• Provincial bicameral legislatures in 6 provinces; unicameral in 5.

E. Franchise

• Extended to ~14% of adult population — ~35 million voters — a major expansion from 7 million in 1919.
• First time women got vote on equal terms with men (subject to property/education qualifications).

F. Communal representation

• Separate electorates extended — Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans, Depressed Classes (reserved seats post Poona Pact).

G. Federal Court

• Established at Delhi — began functioning on 1 October 1937; first Chief Justice Sir Maurice Gwyer.
• Jurisdiction in federal disputes; appellate jurisdiction from High Courts in constitutional matters; final appeal still lay with the Privy Council in London.
• The direct ancestor of the Supreme Court of India (28 January 1950).

H. Reserve Bank of India

• RBI established as central bank on 1 April 1935 under the RBI Act 1934 (preceding the GoI Act); the Act formalised its position.

I. Burma separation

• Burma separated from British India and given its own constitution — effective 1 April 1937.

J. Other

• Abolition of Indian Council of the Secretary of State; replaced by a small advisory body.
• Public Service Commissions: Federal, Provincial, Joint — the basis of present UPSC and State PSCs.

16.3 Reactions

• Congress — rejected the Act as "totally disappointing"; Jawaharlal Nehru called it "a machine with strong brakes but no engine", "a new charter of slavery".
• Muslim League — ambivalent; later participated in the 1937 elections.
• Princes — refused to sign the Instruments of Accession; the federation never came into being.
• Liberals — welcomed cautiously.

16.4 Significance

• The provincial part operated 1937–1939 (and 1946–47); gave Indian politicians their first real experience of governing.
• The administrative framework of post-1947 India — federal structure, lists, governors, public service commissions, federal court — was inherited almost wholesale.
• Of the 395 articles of the original Constitution of India (1950), an estimated 250 are derived from the GoI Act 1935.

17. Provincial Elections 1937 & Congress Ministries

17.1 The election — February–March 1937

• First elections under the GoI Act 1935 — 35 million voters.
• Congress contested 1161 of 1585 seats; won 716 — majority in 5 provinces (Madras, Bombay, UP, CP, Bihar, Orissa) and largest party in 3 more (NWFP — in coalition with Khudai Khidmatgar; Assam).
• Muslim League contested 482 Muslim seats but won only 109 — failed to win majority in any Muslim-majority province.

17.2 The "office acceptance" debate

• Lucknow Congress (April 1936) and Faizpur Congress (December 1936, first rural session) had postponed the decision.
• March 1937 — CWC decided to accept office only if the governor undertook not to use his "special powers" to override ministers.
• Viceroy Linlithgow gave a vague assurance on 21 June 1937; on 7 July 1937 the CWC formally authorised acceptance of office.

17.3 Congress ministries

• Sworn in between 7 July and 14 July 1937 in seven provinces; Sindh in 1938; NWFP October 1937 (Dr Khan Sahib).
• Key Premiers: G.B. Pant (UP), B.G. Kher (Bombay), C. Rajagopalachari (Madras), Govind Vallabh Pant (UP), Sri Krishna Sinha (Bihar), N.B. Khare/Pant (CP), Dr Khan Sahib (NWFP), Biswanath Das (Orissa).
• Bengal under A.K. Fazlul Huq (Krishak Praja Party + League coalition); Punjab under Sikander Hyat Khan (Unionist Party); Sindh under Allah Bakhsh.

17.4 Performance & achievements 1937–39

• Release of political prisoners (over 1500 released).
• Repeal of repressive press laws.
• Tenancy legislation favouring peasants — Bihar (1937), UP (1939), Bombay.
• Promotion of basic (Wardha) education.
• Encouragement of cooperative movement, khadi, prohibition.
• Industrial relations: arbitration committees.
• National Planning Committee set up under Nehru (1938) at Subhas Bose's initiative.

17.5 Limitations & tensions

• Tensions with Muslim League over coalition (League had hoped for share of UP cabinet; Congress refused).
• Internal tension between Gandhi loyalists and Bose-Nehru socialists.
• Inability to deliver radical economic reform within constitutional limits.

17.6 Resignation — "Day of Deliverance"

• 3 September 1939 — Viceroy Linlithgow declared India at war with Germany without consulting Indian leaders.
• Congress demanded a clear British commitment that the war was being fought for democracy and that India would be a free nation thereafter.
• Linlithgow refused; Congress ministries resigned in protest 22 October–15 November 1939.
• Jinnah called 22 December 1939 the "Day of Deliverance" — Muslims would celebrate liberation from Congress rule. The phrase electrified the League rank-and-file and was the rhetorical run-up to the Lahore Resolution (23 March 1940) for Pakistan.

18. Tripuri Crisis 1939 & Bose's Resignation

18.1 Haripura Congress — February 1938

• 51st session at Haripura (Gujarat) — presided by Subhas Chandra Bose.
• Famous "Haripura address" — programme of seizure of state power, planned industrial development, scientific socialism, federation including princely states.
• Set up the National Planning Committee under Jawaharlal Nehru.

18.2 Bose's re-election — January 1939

• Gandhi opposed Bose's re-election for a second term; backed Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
• Election held at end-January 1939: Bose 1580, Sitaramayya 1377 — Bose won by 203 votes.
• Gandhi: "Sitaramayya's defeat is my defeat." — effectively withdrawing Mahatma's blessing from Bose's presidency.

18.3 Tripuri Congress — 8–12 March 1939

• 54th session at Tripuri (Jabalpur, CP).
• Bose was ill with high fever; presided from a stretcher.
• Gandhi did not attend; Working Committee dominated by Gandhi loyalists (Patel, Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Kripalani).
• The "Pant Resolution" (moved by Govind Ballabh Pant) effectively required Bose to form his Working Committee in consultation with Gandhi.

18.4 Bose's resignation — 29 April 1939

• Bose tried for two months to negotiate with Gandhi on the composition of the Working Committee — rebuffed.
• Resigned the Congress presidency at the AICC meeting at Calcutta, 29 April 1939.
• Rajendra Prasad took over as president for the rest of the term.

18.5 Forward Bloc — 22 June 1939

• Bose founded the All India Forward Bloc at Calcutta on 22 June 1939 as a left-wing party within the Congress.
• Programme: complete national independence by all means including non-constitutional, opposition to imperialism, socialism.
• Aligned with the Congress Socialist Party (Acharya Narendra Dev, Jayaprakash Narayan), Communist Party of India, Royists (M.N. Roy).

18.6 Bose's expulsion & the road to INA

• August 1939 — Bose suspended from Congress for three years for indiscipline.
• Detained by British in July 1940 at Calcutta; placed under house arrest.
• Escaped on 17 January 1941 in disguise via Peshawar to Kabul → Moscow → Berlin; then in 1943 by German U-boat and Japanese submarine to Japan; took over INA on 4 July 1943 from Rash Behari Bose.

18.7 Significance

• The Tripuri crisis marked the first major rupture between Gandhian leadership and the left within the Congress.
• The Forward Bloc carried Indian nationalism into a distinctly socialist-revolutionary direction.
• Bose's later leadership of the INA (1943–45) and its post-war trials at the Red Fort (Nov 1945–May 1946) became one of the precipitating factors of the British decision to leave (1947).

19. Princely States, Workers, Peasants & Left

19.1 Princely States movement

• All India States Peoples' Conference (AISPC) — founded December 1927 at Bombay; presidents included Diwan Bahadur Ramaswami Mudaliar, Jawaharlal Nehru (1939 Ludhiana).
• Major state-people's struggles 1937–39: Mysore (1938), Hyderabad (1938 — Vande Mataram movement), Travancore (1938 — against Diwan C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer), Rajkot (1938–39 — Patel led, Gandhi fasted), Kashmir (Sheikh Abdullah's Quit Kashmir movement; National Conference 1939, renamed from Muslim Conference of 1932).
• Haripura Congress (1938) for the first time formally backed the states' people's struggles.

19.2 Working class movement

• All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) founded 31 October 1920 at Bombay — Lala Lajpat Rai first president; first general secretary Diwan Chaman Lall.
• Meerut Conspiracy Case 1929–33 — 33 trade union leaders arrested for "conspiring to deprive the King-Emperor of his sovereignty"; defendants included S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmad, Shaukat Usmani, Philip Spratt, Ben Bradley. Trial lasted 4 years; sentences ranged from 3 years to transportation for life.
• AITUC splits: AITUC vs Indian Trade Union Federation (Joshi, 1929); reunited 1938.
• Major strikes: Bombay textile strike 1928–29 (5 months), Tata Iron and Steel 1928, Calcutta jute 1929, GIP Railway 1928, Bombay 1934 textile.

19.3 Peasant movement

• All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) founded 11 April 1936 at Lucknow — first president Swami Sahajanand Saraswati; first general secretary N.G. Ranga.
• Adopted the Kisan Manifesto at Faizpur Congress (Dec 1936); demanded abolition of zamindari, 50% reduction in revenue, fair rent, occupancy rights, abolition of feudal dues.
• Major peasant struggles: Avadh peasant movement (Baba Ramchandra, 1920s), Bardoli (Patel 1928), Champaran (Gandhi 1917), Kheda (Gandhi 1918), Punjab Kisan Sabha (1937), Andhra Ryot Sangham (N.G. Ranga), Bihar Kisan Sabha (Sahajanand), Kerala Karshaka Sangham (E.M.S. Namboodiripad).

19.4 The Left within the Congress

• Congress Socialist Party (CSP) — founded 17 May 1934 at Patna; Acharya Narendra Dev (president), Jayaprakash Narayan (general secretary); members Achyut Patwardhan, Yusuf Mehrali, Asoka Mehta, Minoo Masani, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sampurnanand. Worked as a left bloc within the Congress.
• Communist Party of India (CPI) — founded 26 December 1925 at Kanpur (Tashkent group of M.N. Roy 1920 was earlier but distinct); leaders Singaravelu Chettiar, S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmad, Shaukat Usmani.
• Communists worked within Congress and within AITUC/AIKS.
• M.N. Roy — expelled from Comintern (1929); returned to India 1930; founded Radical Democratic Party 1940; significant theoretical influence.

19.5 The radical Karachi Resolution — 29 March 1931

The Karachi Congress (immediately after Bhagat Singh's execution) adopted the Resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme drafted by Jawaharlal Nehru — the most detailed Congress economic programme to date. Provisions:

• Free speech, free press, free assembly, free conscience.
• Equality before law irrespective of caste, creed, sex.
• Universal adult franchise.
• Free and compulsory primary education.
• Living wage for industrial workers.
• Land reform; reduction of land revenue and rent.
• Nationalisation of key industries.
• Protection of women workers.
• Right to form trade unions.
• State to own or control key industries, mineral resources, railways, shipping.

The Karachi resolution is the closest the pre-1947 Congress came to a socialist programme; many of its provisions became Directive Principles in 1950.

20. Eve of WWII — Continuity to 1939–47

20.1 The strategic position at end-1939

• Congress — the dominant nationalist party; held 8 of 11 provincial ministries until October 1939; led by an uneasy combination of Gandhi (moral authority, in semi-retirement), Nehru (left-leaning, anti-imperialist internationalist), Patel (organisational master), Rajendra Prasad (consensus-builder), with Subhas Bose having broken away to the Forward Bloc.
• Muslim League — revived spectacularly after the 1937 elections debacle; Jinnah's "Day of Deliverance" (22 Dec 1939) had marshalled Muslim political opinion; the Lahore Resolution of 23 March 1940 (often called the "Pakistan Resolution") was less than four months away.
• British — mobilising India for war; would soon make the August Offer (1940), send the Cripps Mission (1942), face Quit India (1942), the INA trials (1945) and the Naval Mutiny (1946).
• Left — CSP, CPI, Forward Bloc — positioned for the radical post-war moment.

20.2 What 1925–39 had achieved

1. Goal-clarification: Purna Swaraj (1929) replaced dominion status as the demand — never to be retracted.
2. Mass politics: Civil Disobedience (1930–34) demonstrated that an Indian movement could shut down a continent of administration.
3. Constitutional achievement: Provincial autonomy (1937) gave Indians their first experience of self-government — the rehearsal for 1947.
4. Constitutional template: The GoI Act 1935 supplied the structural skeleton of the 1950 Constitution.
5. Ideological elaboration: Karachi 1931 (Fundamental Rights), the Nehru-Bose socialism, the Gandhian constructive programme, the Ambedkar Depressed Classes agenda — the range of post-independence political possibility was already mapped.
6. Mass leadership cadre: Nehru, Patel, Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Rajagopalachari, J.B. Kripalani, G.B. Pant, B.G. Kher, Sri Krishna Sinha, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan — all in place and tested.
7. Communal fracture: Lucknow Pact (1916) unity had decisively broken; Jinnah-Congress relations were beyond repair; the two-nation theory was a few months away.

20.3 The questions still open

• Could the Hindu-Muslim question be resolved short of partition?
• Would the British leave by force, by transfer, or after the empire's exhaustion in war?
• Could the princely states be integrated into a federal India?
• Would the post-independence state be a Gandhian decentralised polity, a Nehruvian planned developmental state, a Bose-style authoritarian-socialist state, or something else?
• Could the Indian Constitution embody both Fundamental Rights for all and protective discrimination for Depressed Classes?

All of these were answered — in some cases positively, in some painfully — in the eight years between September 1939 and 15 August 1947.

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