Civil Disobedience Movement (Spectrum Digest, Ch 11)

The road to the movement

• Simon Commission (1927 to 1928): an all-British commission to review the working of the 1919 Act, with no Indian member. It was boycotted with the cry "Simon, go back". At Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai was injured in a lathi charge (1928) and died soon after; the revolutionaries' killing of the police officer Saunders followed.
• Nehru Report (1928): drafted by a committee under Motilal Nehru, it was the first major Indian-authored constitutional scheme, demanding dominion status, a bill of rights, and rejecting separate electorates. It was contested by Jinnah, who countered with his Fourteen Points (1929).
• Lahore session (December 1929): under Jawaharlal Nehru as president, the Congress adopted Purna Swaraj (complete independence) as its goal and decided to launch civil disobedience. Independence Day was first observed on 1930-01-26 (the pledge), a date later chosen for the Republic.

The Salt March and civil disobedience

• The movement began with the Dandi Salt March: Gandhi and 78 followers walked from the Sabarmati Ashram to the coast at Dandi, 1930-03-12 to 1930-04-06, where he broke the salt law by making salt from sea water, a brilliantly chosen symbol of an unjust tax touching every household.
• Civil disobedience spread nationwide: making and selling salt, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, refusal to pay taxes (the Bardoli-style no-revenue campaigns), and the famous Dharasana Salt Works Satyagraha. Women participated in large numbers. The North-West Frontier saw the Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts) under Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi").

Round Table Conferences and pacts

• First Round Table Conference (1930 to 1931, London): boycotted by the Congress.
• Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931-03-05): the Congress agreed to suspend civil disobedience and attend the second conference; the government agreed to release political prisoners (not those guilty of violence) and allow salt-making for personal use.
• Second Round Table Conference (1931): Gandhi attended as the sole Congress representative, but it failed over the question of minority representation.
• Civil disobedience was resumed (1932) and met with severe repression; it petered out by 1934.
• Third Round Table Conference (1932): held without the Congress.

The Communal Award and the Poona Pact

• The British Communal Award (1932, Ramsay MacDonald) granted separate electorates to various communities, including a separate electorate for the Depressed Classes.
• Gandhi opposed a separate electorate for the Depressed Classes (fearing it would split Hindu society) and undertook a fast unto death in Yerwada jail. The resulting Poona Pact (1932) between Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats within the general (joint) electorate, with an enhanced number of seats.

The Government of India Act, 1935

The major constitutional outcome was the Government of India Act 1935:

• proposed an All-India Federation of provinces and princely states (which never came into being, as the princes did not accede);
• introduced provincial autonomy, ending dyarchy in the provinces and establishing dyarchy at the centre;
• extended the franchise and provided for a Federal Court (established 1937) and the Reserve Bank of India. Under it, the 1937 provincial elections were held, and the Congress formed ministries in most provinces.

The security and human-rights angle

The Poona Pact is a landmark in the constitutional politics of social justice and minority rights, the debate over how best to secure the political voice of the Depressed Classes that culminated in the Constitution's reserved seats and protective provisions. The repression of the Salt Satyagraha (mass arrests, lathi charges at Dharasana) again illustrates the use of force against non-violent resistance, a permanent theme for the human-rights essay.

Common traps

• Lahore session (1929), Jawaharlal Nehru president, adopted Purna Swaraj.
• The Dandi March was 1930-03-12 to 1930-04-06; Gandhi attended only the Second Round Table Conference.
• The Poona Pact (1932) was between Gandhi and Ambedkar, replacing separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats.
• The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy; the proposed federation never came into force.

Authored practice

1. The Poona Pact (1932) was an agreement between: (a) Gandhi and Jinnah (b) Gandhi and Ambedkar (c) Nehru and Jinnah (d) Gandhi and Irwin. Answer: (b) Gandhi and Ambedkar. Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.
2. Which Round Table Conference did Gandhi attend? (Answer: the Second, 1931.) Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.