Simon Commission 1927-1930

Background:

• The Government of India Act of 1919 proposed for reforms

after every ten years.

• In 1927, Lord Birkenhead, Secretary of State India wanted an

early reform.

• To prepare a report for new reforms, he sent a seven-member

commission under the leadership of Sir Simon John.

• The reason for an early reform was linked with his fear of
giving too much power to the Labour government if took a seat
in the office.

• Lord Birkenhead faced opposition in the commission because

he was suggesting entirely British commission with no Indian
representation.

• Moreover, Sir John Simon, also wanted the reforms to move

forward with a slow speed.

• But Lord Birkenhead explained that if they give seats to the

Indians, they will gain power and there will be no decision will
come to an agreement.

•  Lord Birkenhead also appointed other members after careful

consideration making sure the Indians are not given too much
favor and to stall their self-government demands further.

Recommendations by the Simon Commission:

• The National Congress boycotted the Simon Commission
because of no representation by the Indians.

• Many from Muslim League also boycotted it, however, a

section led by Mian Muhammad Shafi fully cooperated with the
commission.

-  The report suggested the abolition of the Diarchy System.

- Separated electorates for Muslims were announced.

- Muslims demand for the separation of Sindh and reforms for

NWFP was postponed but not rejected.

- Muslims demand for one-third seats in Central Legislative was

rejected.

• The recommendations made by the Simon Commission

enraged Congress and they launched the Civil Disobedience
Movement against it.

• The Muslim League made sure to not get involved in the

movement.

• Nehru and Gandhi were arrested.

The Nehru Report 1928

Background:

• In response to the recommendations made by the Simon

Commission, in 1928 a committee was set up under the
leadership of Motilal Nehru by All Parties Conference.
• The Congress boycott the Simon Commission and welcomed
them with black flags.

• The Muslim League was divided into two sections.

• The President of Muslim League, Muhammad Shafi decided to

cooperate with the commission.

• In contrary, another section of the Muslim League led by

Muhammad Ali Jinnah participated in the boycott.
• The Muslim League and Congress worked together, the goal of this
committee was to come up with constitutional reforms that are
suitable for both Muslims and Hindus so that they can represent the
proposal to the British Government.

The Proposal by Nehru Committee:

• The right to vote for every man and woman.

• An All-India Parliament should be established with two houses.

• No extra seats for Muslims.

• India should be given the status of a colony with self-government.

• Muslims can have one-fourth seats in the Central Legislature.

• There will be religious liberty with no need for separate electorates

for Minorities.

• NWFP should be given full provisional status.

• Hindi should be made the official language of India.
Muslims League’s Response:

• In the proposal by the Nehru Committee, the Muslims were

completely ignored.

• Therefore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah suggested four main changes to be

made to make the proposal acceptable for Muslims also:

- Reserved seats for Muslims based on population in Punjab and

Bengal.
- One-third seats for Muslims in the Central Parliament.

- Sindh and NWFP to be given full provisional status.

- The provinces should have the residuary power.

• The Nehru Committee rejected these proposed changes by

Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
• This reaction came as a transitional phase for Jinnah as he was an
idealist who believed Hindu-Muslim unity.
 
Jinnah’s 14 Points 1929

Background:

• In 1929, in response to the Nehru Report, Muhammad Ali Jinnah

proposed his famous ‘14 points’.
Fourteen Points:

• The residuary power will be given to the provinces and the future
constitution will be federal.
• All provinces shall be granted autonomy of uniform measures. 

• There shall be an adequate and effective representation of minorities

in all legislature and elected bodies of the country.
• The separate electorate will continue.
• Sindh will be separated from Bombay and shall be treated will all
provisional rights.
• There shall be one-third seats for the Muslims in the Central
Legislative.
• Full religious liberty shall be given to all the communities.

• The NWFP and Balochistan shall be given full provisional rights.

• The boundary changes shall not affect the Muslim minorities in
Bengal, Punjab, and NWFP.
• Muslims shall have equal job opportunities in the governmental
sector.
• No cabinet shall be formed whether provisional or central without
one-third representation by the Muslims.
• The Muslim rights including their culture, language, education, and
religion must be protected by the constitution and their charity must
receive proper grants.
• The Central Legislative shall not make any changes to the
constitution without the agreement of the State constituting India.
• No law can be passed regarding any religious community unless on-
third people of that group's legislature vote in agreement.
 
Allama Iqbal’s Allahabad Address 1930

Background:

• Following Jinnah’s fourteen points, the Muslims of India became

confident and fully aware of their distinct identity as a nation.
• Besides Jinnah, many other Muslim leaders stand up and asked for a
separate nation.
• In 1930, Allama Muhammad Iqbal in his presidential address at
Allahabad gave the clearest explanation about the Indian Muslims'
feelings.  

The Address:

• He discussed the political conditions in the subcontinent.

• In his address, Iqbal explained why Islam is a major formative factor
and a complete code of life in the lives of Indian Muslims.
• He justified why Muslims must be considered as a separate nation
with arguments.
• He addressed that to maintain peace, the Muslim majority states
must be given the same privileges as the Hindu majority areas to
practice their cultural and religious values with full freedom.

• He proposed that Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan, and Punjab must be

group together and given a separate national status within or outside
the British Empire.

Importance:

• The demand for a separate nation was the t time made from the
platform of the Muslim League.
• Iqbal was the first Muslim leader to make a demand for a separate
nation for Muslims.
• His address inspired and motivated Muslims who feared their rights
to practice their religion and culture.
• In 1934, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali proposed the stan scheme making
Iqbal’s views as the basis.
• In 1940, it also became the basis for Pakistan resolution.

 
The Round Table Conferences 1930 – 1932

Background:

• In 1930, the Simon Commission report was received with resentment

by both Hindus and Muslims.
• Under the leadership of Gandhi, Congress started a Civil
Disobedience Movement.
• Muslim League split into two, the section led by Quaid-e-Azam also
boycotted the commission.
• The British organized three Round Table Conferences in 1930, 1931
and 1932 to discuss constitutional reforms in India.
• The main aim of these Conferences was to discuss the Simon
Commission report and to resolve the constitutional issues of India.
• However, these conferences failed to achieve much success in
resolving constitutional problems.

First Round Table Conference:

• It was held on November 12, 1930, at London.

• Congress did not attend this conference as its leaders were in jail on
account of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

• Around 89 members attended the conference.

• The prominent Muslim delegates in the conference were Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Sir Agha Khan, Sir
Muhammad Shafi, and Maulvi Fazl-i-Haq.

• In this conference, the representative government for provinces and

the Federal System of government for India was successfully accepted
contrary to Congress' demands of ‘Unitary Form' of government.
• In comparison, this conference was more successful than the other
two.
Second Round Table Conference:

• On September 7, 1931, the Second Round Table Conference was

held in London.
• Congress attended this congress on Lord Irwin’s invitation to
Gandhi.
• Gandhi declared that only the National Congress has the right to
speak on behalf of the Indian people.
• Gandhi also emphasized that there are no minority problems in India.

• However, Muslims and other minorities’ leaders disagreed with him.

• The second conference did not achieve much success because of
Congress’ attitude and minorities problems remained unresolved.
• The only success that it achieved was that Sindh, Orissa, and NWFP
will have full provincial status.

Third Round Table Conference:

• The Third Round Table Conference was short and did not achieve
anything of significance.
• It was held in November in London.

• The Labour Association, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Congress were

absent from it.

 
The Communal Award 1932
• The British Government gave the Indian leadership time to come up
with a solution to resolve communal issues, but they failed.

• In 1932, Ramsay MacDonald, the Prime Minister of Britain

introduced his scheme to resolve the issues termed as the ‘Communal
Award’.
• Ramsay’s Communal Award retained separate electorates for
Muslims.
• However, the seats in the Muslim majority areas such as Punjab and
Bengal were reduced.
• Both the Muslim League and Congress were unhappy with the
scheme but Muslim League despite its shortcomings accepted it.
 
The Government of India Act 1935

Background:

• After the Round Table Conferences failed to achieve a successful

outcome, a joint committee was established to propose a new set of
reforms.

• Under the leadership of Lord Linlithgow, the committee spent one

and a half year to complete the bill.

• The bill was then discussed in the House of Commons and the House
of Lords for 43 and 13 days respectively.
• In July 1935, after approval, it was enforced as the Government of
India Act 1935.

Main Features:

• A federal system for the government was promised for India.

• Full-spectrum powers remained for the Governor-General

concerning finance, legal and legislature.
• In the Central Legislature without Governor General’s agreement
and consent, any finance bill cannot be placed.

• The Federal Legislature will comprise of two houses i.e. Federal

Assembly and Council of State.

• The Council of State will have 260 members, 104 to be nominated

by the princely states and 156 to be elected.

• The Federal Assembly will have 375 members, 250 to be elected and
125 to be nominated by the princely states.

• Advisors were placed to help the Secretary of State instead of the

Indian Council.

• The Secretary of State cannot interfere in the Governor General’s

matters and work.

• The Diarchy system in the provinces was dropped.

• Full provincial status, authority, and power were given to provinces.

• Orissa and Sindh were declared as provinces.

• Separate electorates for minorities remained.
• In the Central Legislature, one-third seats were reserved.

• The Reserve Bank of India was established.

• The Federal Court was established in the Center.

 
1937 Elections

Background:

• In 1936 – 1937, the British Government announced to hold the

provincial assemblies’ elections.

• Both the Muslim League and Congress despite their rejection to the
Government of India Act 1935 decided to compete in the elections.

• Congress achieved a clear victory in five provinces and the results

came as a shocking blow for the Muslim League.

Reasons for Muslim League’s Defeat:

• It was the first major election of Muslim league as a mass party and
it has lack of funds.
• On the contrary, Congress was old and known political party with
enough funds.
• Muslims League failed to have any connection between the masses
and the high-class society.
• The leaders of Muslim league became over-confident after the
provincial status given in the Government of India Act 1935 and did
not consider Congress a threat in Muslim majority provinces.
 
Congress Rule 1937 -1939

Background:

• After winning the elections, Congress leaders adopted a dictatorship

attitude to impose their will on Muslims.

• All Congress ministries were formed because the Muslim League

rejected their unfair demands.

• They took offices in eight provinces including NWFP and Bengal.

Steps Taken by Congress:

• Congress started imposing its will on minorities as soon as it took

the offices.
• The Muslims were forbidden to slaughter ‘mother cow’ and were not
allowed to eat beef.
• Hindi was announced as the official language of India.

• Azaan was banned, and during prayer intended noisy processions

were passed.

• Mosques were also attacked during the prayer time.

• Congress adopted Bande Matram as the national anthem and insisted
on the commencement of the day with this song i.e. uses inappropriate
remarks regarding Islam and Muslims.
• Widdia Mandir Policy was introduced in the educational institutes
that were intended to convert students to Hinduism. 
• During the Congress rule, the Muslims faced many hardships, their
homes were set on fire and women and children were abducted.
• Even a Muslim mass contact campaign was initiated that was
focused on removing the Muslim League and winning the Muslim
masses over to congress