The Round Table Conferences The Freedom Struggle - History for UPSC CSE

Table of Contents
1. The Round Table Conferences
2. The Communal Award and the Poona Pact
3. The Government of India Act, 1935 - Key Features
4. World War II, the August Offer and the Cripps Mission
5. The Quit India Movement (1942)
6. Significance and concluding remarks
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The Round Table Conferences

The Round Table Conferences were a series of three high-level conferences held in London between 1930 and 1932 to discuss constitutional reforms for British India. They brought together British officials, leaders from British Indian provinces, princely states and representatives of various Indian communities. The conferences did not produce a unanimous settlement acceptable to all Indian political groups, but their proceedings and conclusions strongly influenced subsequent constitutional legislation, especially the Government of India Act, 1935.

Background and purpose

• The conferences were convened by the British government to consult Indian leaders and communities on proposals for constitutional reforms after the political turmoil of the late 1920s and early 1930s, including the nationwide civil disobedience campaigns.
• The aim was to reconcile differing Indian demands - for full self-government (Swaraj) on the one hand and safeguards for communal, princely and other particular interests on the other - and to draft arrangements that could be implemented by the British Parliament.

First Round Table Conference (12 November 1930 - 19 January 1931)

• The First Round Table Conference met from 12 November 1930 to 19 January 1931.
• The Indian National Congress did not participate because many of its leaders were imprisoned in India following the Civil Disobedience Movement; as a result, the conference lacked direct representation of the Congress mass movement.
• Prominent attendees included Maulana Muhammad Ali and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who represented Muslim political opinion among others.
• Much of the debate at the first conference centred on communal representation and minority safeguards - especially the issue of separate electorates and the allocation of seats among communities.
• No comprehensive settlement acceptable to all parties emerged from this conference.

Second Round Table Conference (September-December 1931)

• Mahatma Gandhi attended the Second Round Table Conference as the representative of the Congress after the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement and his conditional release from imprisonment. He attended along with leaders such as Madan Mohan Malaviya, Sarojini Naidu and B. R. Ambedkar.
• Despite the presence of Gandhi and other important leaders, the conference failed to reach agreement on communal and national problems.
• Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari was not nominated to this conference despite Gandhi's insistence.
• Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, sought majority agreement among delegates but indicated that the British government expected its conclusions to be decisive on certain issues.
• Gandhi consistently emphasised that political freedom - the attainment of Swaraj - was the essential objective, arguing that independence would be the principal remedy for communal tensions.
• The plenary declaration by Ramsay MacDonald disappointed many Indian delegates because it did not explicitly promise Dominion Status for India, nor did it guarantee responsible government in the provinces and at the centre or explicit protection for fundamental rights.
• The British proposals outlined in December 1931 reserved defence and military affairs to the control of the British Parliament and the Viceroy, which Gandhiji found unacceptable in the light of the Congress Resolution on independence adopted at Lahore in 1929.
• Gandhi was not prepared to enter detailed discussions on monetary and financial arrangements; his priority remained the basic issue of freedom.

Third Round Table Conference (17 November - 24 December 1932)

• The Third Round Table Conference met from 17 November to 24 December 1932.
• It too failed to secure agreement on a constitutional settlement leading to Swaraj.
• Nevertheless, the discussions and papers prepared at the three conferences supplied important material and practical proposals that were used by the British government in drafting the Government of India Act, 1935.

The Communal Award and the Poona Pact

The Communal Award (16 August 1932)

• When the Second Round Table Conference produced no agreement acceptable to all parties, Ramsay MacDonald issued the Communal Award on 16 August 1932.
• The Award determined the allocation of seats among communities in provincial legislatures and extended the system of communal and special electorates.
• Separate electorates were confirmed for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and women.
• Special constituencies and fixed seats were provided for groups such as Labour, Commerce, Industry, Landlords and Universities. Certain regional and communal reservations were also specified (for example, reserved seats for Marathas in Bombay).
• Members of the Depressed Classes (those then officially described as such) who qualified to vote retained the right to vote in the general constituencies, but the Award also provided a specific number of reserved seats to be filled from special constituencies where only electorally qualified members of the Depressed Classes could vote.

Reaction and the Poona Pact

• Nationalist leaders opposed the attempt to treat the Depressed Classes (now referred to as Dalits) as a separate political community, seeing it as a divisive measure harmful to Hindu unity and the national movement.
• Gandhiji, then imprisoned in Yeravda Central Jail, protested strongly against separate electorates for the Depressed Classes and demanded that their representatives be elected by the general electorate under a common franchise, while accepting a substantial number of reserved seats for them.
• To press his demand, Gandhi began a fast unto death on 20 September 1932; this created intense political activity among leaders of different persuasions, including Madan Mohan Malaviya, M. C. Rajah and B. R. Ambedkar.
• The negotiations resulting from this crisis produced the Poona Pact (also called the Pune Pact), under which the system of separate electorates for the Depressed Classes was abandoned and replaced by an increased number of reserved seats to be filled from the general electorate by a limited electorate arrangement agreed between leaders.
• The Pact raised the number of reserved seats for the Depressed Classes in provincial legislatures from seventy-one as in the Award to 147 and allocated a proportion of seats in the central legislature (the text of the time indicated an increase so that the Depressed Classes had a substantial share; the Poona Pact arrangements were a negotiated compromise rather than adoption of separate electorates).
• The Poona Pact had long-term political consequences: it ended separate electorates for Depressed Classes, but it institutionalised reserved representation within the framework of communal and special representation in legislative bodies.

The Government of India Act, 1935 - Key Features

The deliberations at the Round Table Conferences, and the need to accommodate a range of Indian and British interests, informed the drafting of the Government of India Act, 1935. Important features included:

• Proposal for an All-India Federation composed of British Indian provinces and princely states willing to join.
• Provincial autonomy replaced the earlier system of dyarchy in provinces; provinces were to have their own elected ministries responsible to the provincial legislatures.
• Statutory division of legislative powers into three lists: Federal (Central), Provincial and Concurrent, specifying subject-matter for law-making by centre and provinces.
• The power to amend the constitutional framework as enacted under the Act remained with the British Parliament.
• Elaborate safeguards and reservations were included to protect British imperial interests in India, especially in areas such as defence, foreign affairs and the control of finances.
• The system of communal and special electorates was extended and further formalised, reflecting continued British concern for protecting communal and sectional interests.
• Provisions were made for new federal institutions, including a Federal Court, a Federal Reserve Bank (Federal Bank), a Federal Public Service Commission and a Federal Railway Board or authority, to manage all-India functions.

World War II, the August Offer and the Cripps Mission

Viceroy Linlithgow's statement and early wartime measures

• At the outbreak of the Second World War the question of India's participation in the war without its consent provoked political crisis.
• To placate Indian opinion the Viceroy announced on 17 October 1939 that Dominion Status remained the declared goal of British policy for India, that the constitution would be reviewed after the war, that minorities' interests would be safeguarded, and that an Indian consultative committee would be set up to advise the Viceroy on the war effort.
• The Congress, however, protested against India's involvement in the war without commitments to responsible government and the Congress ministries resigned from eight provinces during October-November 1939 in protest.
• The Muslim League welcomed the resignation of Congress ministries as a "Day of Deliverance", reflecting the communal polarisation of the time.

The August Offer (August 1940)

• In August 1940 the British made the August Offer, a constitutional proposal designed to secure Indian cooperation in the war effort and to mollify Indian political opinion.
• Main points of the August Offer included: recognition of Dominion Status as the goal; expansion of the Viceroy's Executive Council to include more Indians; the setting up of an Advisory War Council; assurances of adequate safeguards for minorities in any future constitutional revision; and a promise that after the war a Constituent Assembly of Indians would be called to frame a new constitution.
• Defence and matters of peace were retained as British responsibilities in the interim.
• The Offer did not satisfy major Indian political formations because it lacked concrete, immediate commitments and left essential powers in British hands.

The Cripps Mission (April 1942) - causes and proposals

• The British government sent Sir Stuart Cripps to India in 1942 with a set of proposals intended to win Indian support for the war effort; the mission is commonly referred to as the Cripps Mission.
• Causes for the mission included strategic reverses suffered by British forces in the Far East, the threat of Japanese advance towards India, the urgent need to secure India's cooperation for defence, and international pressure (including from the U.S.) on Britain to settle matters with India.
• Main points in the Cripps proposals were:
  • to create a new Indian Union with the full status and privileges of a Dominion after the war;
  • to set up, after the war, an elected body of provinces and princely states forming a constituent assembly to frame a new constitution;
  • that the British government would accept the constitution subject to conditions which allowed provinces an option: any province unwilling to accept the new constitution could opt out and form a separate union with its own constitution;
  • to negotiate a treaty between the British government and the new Indian government to settle relations arising from transfer of power;
  • in the interim, the British government would retain responsibility for India's defence.
• The proposals sought a post-war settlement rather than immediate transfer of power and also contained clauses that allowed provincial opt-outs - provisions that raised concern among Indian nationalists.

Responses to the Cripps proposals

• Congress objections: Congress criticised the Cripps proposals for leaving major powers (notably defence), the Viceroy's veto and other controls in British hands during the interim; for offering only post-war settlement terms rather than immediate transfer of authority; and for allowing provinces the right to secede, which threatened the idea of a united India.
• Muslim League objections: The League opposed the idea of a single government for the whole of India under the Cripps plan and demanded the right of self-determination for Muslims; it felt the proposals did not meet the League's demand for a separate Muslim homeland.
• The Cripps offer was ultimately unacceptable to both Congress and the League and was rejected; it therefore failed to secure the broad Indian cooperation sought by the British government.

The Quit India Movement (1942)

Causes and context

• The Quit India Movement (also called the 1942 Revolt) must be seen as the culmination of long-standing grievances and recent wartime developments rather than a sudden eruption. The global wartime context acted as a catalyst.
• Key causes included the refusal of the British to grant responsible government or a clear timetable for transfer of power while involving India in the war; the failure of the Cripps Mission; strong Indian resentment at racial discrimination shown in wartime relief and evacuation measures; and wartime economic hardships such as scarcity, inflation, hoarding and profiteering.
• Specific grievances included discriminatory evacuation arrangements for refugees from Burma (described contemporaneously as separate routes for Europeans and Indians), the expansion of emergency executive powers by wartime legislation such as the Defence of India Act and amendments to the Government of India Act giving extensive powers to the central executive, and the forced collection of war funds.
• There was also fear of direct Japanese invasion and anxiety about devastation in India's eastern provinces, combined with Indian inability to organise volunteer defensive forces because of British policy.

The Quit India resolution and programme

• The Congress Working Committee passed the Quit India resolution on 14 July 1942; it was endorsed by the All-India Congress Committee on 8 August 1942.
• The resolution demanded the immediate withdrawal of British rule from India, affirmed that a free India would defend itself against aggression and oppose Fascism and Imperialism, and called for the formation of a provisional government of free India after British withdrawal.
• The resolution authorised mass civil disobedience and non-cooperation on a nationwide scale and named Mahatma Gandhi as the leader of the struggle.
• The slogan and programme were summed up in the call to "Do or Die", signalling a commitment to sustained mass agitation against British authority.

Course and effects of the movement (1942-43)

• After the Quit India resolution was passed, the British arrested the Congress high command and many local leaders, severely disrupting central direction of the movement.
• Although the movement did not immediately oust the British and was suppressed violently in many places, it had several important political and social consequences.
• The movement revealed the depth of anti-colonial feeling across Indian society and demonstrated that India's youth and populace were prepared to take bold action against imperial rule.
• Its moral and political lessons strengthened the case for complete independence and made it clear to both the British and various Indian political formations that continuing British rule would be increasingly difficult to sustain after the war.
• Though some groups - including both the Communists and the Muslim League, as well as the Akalis and some leaders of the Depressed Classes - did not support the 1942 movement, the revolt enjoyed a broad territorial and popular base and was particularly intense in areas where earlier anti-colonial uprisings (notably the 1857 struggles) had deep roots.
• The movement contributed to a political climate that, together with wartime realities, made the British reassessment of their Indian policy and eventual negotiations over transfer of power unavoidable.

Significance and concluding remarks

The Round Table Conferences, the Communal Award, the Poona Pact, the Government of India Act, the wartime constitutional offers and missions, and the Quit India Movement form a linked sequence of events that mark the final complex phase of the Indian freedom struggle before the decisive negotiations of 1946-47. They illustrate the following points:

• constitutional reform in the late colonial period was shaped by competing aims: the British desire to protect imperial and sectional interests; nationalist demands for self-government; and communal and sectional groups' demands for safeguards;
• the politics of representation - separate electorates, reserved seats and communal weightage - were central to debates and had long-term consequences for Indian political institutions;
• wartime exigencies accelerated and transformed political pressures in India; offers that deferred key decisions to the post-war period failed to satisfy Indian leaders demanding immediate change;
• mass movements such as the Quit India campaign, even when suppressed, significantly altered political conditions and public mobilisation, paving the way for eventual transfer of power.

Overall, while none of the Round Table Conferences produced a final settlement acceptable to all parties, their deliberations and outcomes influenced the constitutional framework offered by the British and shaped the strategies and alliances of Indian political actors in the decisive years leading to independence.